Evening with an Author

Evening With an Author

Featuring Kelly Corrigan & George Sweetland

Kelly Corrigan (Right) and Claire Corrigan Lichty (Left) pose with art supplies to promote their book Marianne the Maker.

Otis Library is proud to present the 21st Annual Evening with an Author, featuring New York Times bestselling author Kelly Corrigan and George Sweetland!

Join us for a lively discussion about their brand-new book, Marianne the Maker, and the importance of connecting to creativity.

Connecting to Creativity: The Case for Making
Friday, June 6, 2025, at 6 PM
Otis Library, 261 Main Street, Norwich, CT

Interested in becoming an event partner? We would love to have you!

Kelly and George are hooked on making and have come to believe that making is an irreplaceable part of everyday life- not only as a driving factor in individual well-being (it always works for them) but also for societal progress.

Thanks to widely celebrated, peer-reviewed research in neurosciences, we also know that making is key to brain health – and who doesn’t want more of that?

Join the host of Tell Me More, Kelly Corrigan and illustrator George Sweetland as they lay out the case for making as essential to health and progress.

About the Presenters

Kelly Corrigan

Kelly Corrigan is a New York Times bestselling author of four books about family life, the host of her own PBS show, and a podcast called Kelly Corrigan Wonders. Like Claire, she can’t stop making – books, paintings, TV Shows, podcasts, meals, mistakes… During this book launch, she will be running around with Claire, heading back to TED and writing another book.

George Sweetland

George Sweetland is an illustrator, an elementary school teacher, a boy dad twice over, and a world-class maker. “I want illustrations that are strategically connected to the text to create impactful humor and most importantly, to build a love for reading,” says George.

About the Book

From bestselling author Kelly Corrigan and her daughter debut author Claire Corrigan Lichty comes a new picture book about a determined young inventor!

Marianne’s days are filled with schedules, structure, and soccer. There’s just one problem: Marianne is a maker. She needs every minute of her weekends to scheme and dream, draw and design, to build and rebuild! This is the story of how a creator with a crackerjack imagination finds a not-so-great way to skip practice and create her masterpiece. But will her dad understand?

Told in delightful rhyme that bounces across George Sweetland’s gorgeous collage-style illustrations (chock full of hidden gems,) Marianne the Maker is sure to kindle the creative spark that lives inside all of us.