Friends Annual Meeting and Program: Author Stephanie Schorow - Fire! Fire!, The Great Fire of Boston

Join author Stephanie Schorow  on Sunday, June 11, 2023, for a presentation about the raging inferno that 150 years ago ravaged and reshaped the city of Boston.

For two days in November 1872, a massive fire swept through the city, leaving the downtown in ruins and the population traumatized. Coming barely a year after the infamous Chicago fire, Boston’s inferno turned out to be one of the most expensive fires per acre in U.S. history. Using illustrations, photos and other media, Ms. Schorow will explore the fire’s history from the foolish decisions that precipitated it to the heroics of firefighters who fought it.

Stephanie Schorow is a journalist, writing instructor, and the author of eight nonfiction books on a variety of topics in Boston history. They include: The Great Boston Fire: The Inferno that Nearly Incinerated the City and The Cocoanut Grove Fire: A Boston Tragedy. Other titles by Ms. Schorow include Inside the Combat Zone: The Stripped Down Story of Boston's Most Notorious Neighborhood; Drinking Boston: A History of the City and its Spirits, and, with Beverly Ford, The Boston Mob Guide: Hitmen, Hoodlums and Hideouts. Her novel Cat Dreaming will be published in 2023 by Small Town Girl Press.

Ms. Schorow currently coordinates a Citizen Journalism Program for Malden’s Urban Media Arts and serves as a communication writer for Ariadne Labs in Boston. She has worked as an editor, reporter and/or freelance correspondent for the Boston Herald, the Associated Press, the Boston Globe, and other newspapers.

“Fire! Fire!” will be presented by the Friends of the Needham Free Public Library in the library’s Community Room from 2-3:30 PM, Sunday, June 11, after a very brief annual meeting. A question-and-answer period will follow the presentation. Books will be available for purchase and autographing.

Registration is required , as we have a current capacity limit of 100.

***IF YOU DO NOT RECEIVE A CONFIRMATION E-MAIL AFTER REGISTERING, PLEASE CALL THE REFERENCE DEPARTMENT (781-455-7559 X2) TO CHECK REGISTRATION STATUS***