Library to Host “The Wire” Screenwriter During Evening of Readings and Music

Tompkins County Public Library, in partnership with Cornell University Press and Buffalo Street Books, will host Rafael Alvarez, screenwriter for the award-winning HBO drama, “The Wire,” during “HAYWIRE,” a special multi-author reading and musical program, Thursday, July 27 from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the BorgWarner Community Room.

Alvarez, a Baltimore native, is the author of “Crabtown, USA” and “Tales From the Holy Land.” He writes stories that comprise a narrative of the working-class history of Baltimore, a city whose history of prosperity and glamour remains almost omnipresent in spite of its modern struggles with violence, drug abuse and racial tension. A former City Desk reporter for “The Baltimore Sun,” Alvarez brought his knowledge and love of Baltimore to life through “The Wire.”

Joining Alvarez during his TCPL debut will be fellow Baltimorean, Dean Smith and Jeffrey Barken.

Smith is the director of Cornell University Press and author of “Never Easy, Never Pretty: A Fan, A City, and A Championship Season,” which pays tribute to the 2012 Baltimore Ravens’ unlikely Super Bowl winning season and the immeasurable impact of a sports team on a city searching for something positive to rally behind. Smith’s book of poems, “American Boy,” won the 2000 Washington Writer’s Prize and the 2001 Maryland Prize for Literature, earning recognition as the year’s best book published by a Maryland writer.

Barken is the founder of Monologging.org and the author of “All the Lonely Boys in New York,” based on the unsolved terrorist attack that damaged the U.S. Army Recruitment Center in Times Square on March 6, 2008. This gritty political thriller points to a conspiracy among former Marines and chronicles New York’s early influence on the global financial crisis.

In addition to readings and signings by these acclaimed authors, “HAYWIRE” will include a performance by the Pelotones, an Ithaca-based quartet specializing in danceable swing jazz and rhythm and blues.

This program is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Information and Learning Services Librarian Teresa Vadakin at tvadakin@tcpl.org.