To be seen and not heard was never going to happen for Barbara Worton, a.k.a. Chatterbox.

Talking is in Barbara’s DNA. Her Italian American mother was a champion talker. Her German Dutch father had to be a listener. Her mother’s parents and ten brothers and sisters all talked at once. Music played constantly. Life was noisy.

As only a true chatterbox knows how, Barbara winds and weaves through stories from her Long Island childhood to life in the present. Each of her forty-three mini-memoirs paints a portrait of what makes the everyday beautiful, giving readers a wonderfully detailed glimpse into memories like being in her grandmother’s kitchen (where making pasta sauce was almost a “military maneuver”).

Life spills onto the page in all its noisy, glorious, and messy detail. In Barbara’s both intimate and chatty voice, her stories take us from Buster Browns and Tonette Permanents to supermarket lines, John Travolta, the Tappan Zee Bridge, and the sleepless nights of adulthood. Anyone who has a family will see something of themselves in this book. Anyone who loves spaghetti and meatballs will need to go out for Italian food after reading Worton’s ode to both. Each story in Chatterbox: Stories from a Noisy Life is a moment to refresh and presents a mirror for readers to reflect on their own pasts, presents, and futures.

Barbara Worton is an author, poet, playwright, blogger, and songwriter. Her books include Bedtime Stories: The Short, Long and Tall Tales of a Sleepwriter and the children’s book Too Tall Alice. She coauthored If I’m Talking, Why Aren’t You Listening? with Linda Dini Jenkins and the web  memoir and blog The Adventures of The Baker’s Daughter with Rochelle Udell. Barbara’s story “London Calling” appears in Memories of John Lennon, edited by Yoko Ono. Her writing has appeared in literary journals and women’s service and business publications, including The Haight-Ashbury Literary Journal, Ovunque Siamo, The Paterson Literary Review, VIA: Voices in Italian Americana, and Platform Review. She lives in New Jersey.

Lunchbox Learning is a series of programs that are supported by the Friends of the Wayne Public Library.  It originated to provide daytime programming that seniors would be able to attend.  The series consists of musical programs, history lectures, and occasional dramatic programs. 

Doors open at noon--feel free to bring a bag lunch. The programs starts at 12:30 PM.

Registration is required.