Massachusetts Authors Display
The 2026 Chelmsford One Book Author Talk is almost here, featuring Massachusetts author and artist Ben Shattuck. If you haven't read it yet, The History of Sound is a moving collection of interconnected short stories set across three centuries in New England. If you have finished the book and are hankering for more local Massachusetts authors, we've got you covered. These authors have all lived, worked, or gone to school in Massachusetts at one time or another. Many of these titles have also been nominated or won the Massachusetts Book Award for fiction, presented to current residents of the Commonwealth. Take a peek at some of these titles upstairs, across from the circulation desk:
The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst is the first in a series of interconnected cozy fantasy books full of whimsy, magic, and sweet romance. "Kiela has always had trouble dealing with people. Thankfully, as librarian at the Great Library of Alyssium, she and her assistant Caz--a magically sentient spider plant--have spent the last decade sequestered among the empire's most precious spellbooks, preserving their magic for the city's elite. Then a revolution begins and the library goes up in flames. She and Caz flee with all the spellbooks they can carry and head to a remote island Kiela never thought she'd see again: her childhood home. Taking refuge there, Kiela discovers, much to her dismay, a nosy--and very handsome--neighbor who can't take a hint and keeps showing up day after day to make sure she's fed and help fix up her new home. In need of income and reluctantly inspired by the beauty and people of the island who have welcomed her into their hearts, Kiela discovers something that even the bakery in town doesn't have: jam. With the help of an old recipe book her parents left her and a bit of illegal magic, her cottage garden is soon covered in ripe berries that become the town's, and her handsome neighbor's, new favorite confection. But magic can do more than make life a little sweeter, so Kiela decides to open the island's first-ever and much-needed secret spellshop. Her plan comes with risks--the empire condemns the use of unsanctioned magic, and the consequence of sharing spells with commoners is death. But Kiela has only just found a place that feels like home and people who feel like family, and she'll risk anything for a chance at happiness."
If you enjoy historical fiction, especially from the WWII era, you may like The Lilac People by Milo Todd. The ALA Stonewall Honor Book and Mass Book Award Nominee tells the story of a trans man forced to give up his prewar freedoms in order to survive both the Nazis and the Allies. "In 1932 Berlin, Bertie, a trans man, and his friends spend carefree nights at the Eldorado Club, the epicenter of Berlin's thriving queer community. An employee of the renowned Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld at the Institute of Sexual Science, Bertie works to improve queer rights in Germany and beyond, but everything changes when Hitler rises to power. The institute is raided, the Eldorado is shuttered, and queer people are rounded up. Bertie barely escapes with his girlfriend, Sofie, to a nearby farm. There they take on the identities of an elderly couple and live for more than a decade in isolation. In the final days of the war, with their freedom in sight, Bertie and Sofie find a young trans man collapsed on their property, still dressed in Holocaust prison clothes. They vow to protect him-not from the Nazis, but from the Allied forces who are arresting queer prisoners while liberating the rest of the country. Ironically, as the Allies' vise grip closes on Bertie and his family, their only salvation becomes fleeing to the United States."
For the romance lovers, we've got Single Player by Tara Tai. Tara currently resides in Boston and their debut is perfect for anyone who spends all their time romancing the NPCs in video games -- especially those of us romancing Haley in Stardew Valley playthroughs. "Cat Li cares about two things: video games and swoony romances. The former means there hasn't been much of the latter in her (real) life, but when she lands her dream job writing the love storylines for Compass Hollow--the next big thing in games--she knows it's all been worth it. Then she meets her boss: the infamous Andi Zhang, who's not only an arrogant hater of happily-ever-afters determined to keep Cat from doing her job but also impossibly, annoyingly hot."
Danzy Senna grew up in Boston and currently teaches English at the University of Southern California. Her novel Colored Television was named one of The New York Times Notable Books of 2024. "A brilliant dark comedy about second acts, creative appropriation, and the racial identity-industrial complex Jane has high hopes her life is about to turn around. After years of living precariously, she, her painter husband, Lenny, and their two kids have landed a stint as house sitters in a friend's luxurious home high in the hills above Los Angeles, a gig that coincides magically with Jane's sabbatical. If she can just finish her latest novel, Nusu Nusu, the centuries-spanning epic Lenny refers to as her "mulatto War and Peace," she'll have tenure and some semblance of stability and success within her grasp. But things don't work out quite as hoped. In search of a plan B, like countless writers before her Jane turns her desperate gaze to Hollywood. When she finagles a meeting with a hot young producer with a seven-figure deal to create "diverse content" for a streaming network, he seems excited to work with a "real writer" to create what he envisions as the greatest biracial comedy ever to hit the small screen. Things finally seem to be going right for Jane--until they go terribly wrong."
You'll find these and other titles in our "Massachusetts Authors" display. For additional title suggestions, see the lists below:
