Go behind the scenes of Christopher Castellani's critically-acclaimed novel, Leading Men, which dramatizes the tempestuous relationship between Tennessee Williams, his longtime partner Frank Merlo, and their protégé, an aspiring Swedish actress named Anja Bloom. Set in 1950s Italy as well as contemporary Boston, the novel features a collision of fiction and reality that Castellani will illuminate with a brief reading as well as archival photos and audio. Leading Men is both a queer love story about the greatest American playwright of the 20th Century and an unsentimental investigation of fidelity, the burdens of fame, and the complex negotiations of life in the shadows of greatness. It is currently being adapted to film by the producer-director team that made Call Me By Your Name.

Register at:

https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIvcOqorjIjHdX3vcaZJ0Q79Yf-DmxF0wBg#/registration

This program is sponsored by the Friends of the Joshua Hyde Public Library in Sturbridge, Charlton Public Library and the Jacob Edwards Library in Southbridge, in partnership with a multitude of MA libraries for this event.