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The Petry Family Focus of Upcoming Talk, Documentary

On Wednesday, Feb. 21 at 7 p.m., author Liz Petry with lead a discussion of her mother’s background and the remarkable family who shaped her. Petry’s family includes two of the first licensed African American Pharmacists in the state of Connecticut and her mother, Ann Petry who was the first best-selling female African American author. The discussion will also provide information on the progress of Ann Petry and the James Family Letters, the documentary being developed by Liz Petry and her cousins.

Elisabeth “Liz” Petry was born in Old Saybrook, Connecticut, the only child of George D. Petry and Ann (Lane) Petry.

Liz Petry worked for more than 15 years as a journalist at the Middletown Press, the Meriden Record-Journal, and The Hartford Courant. She is the editor of Can Anything Beat White?: A Black Family’s Letters, based on some four hundred letters that her grandmother saved. She is the author of At Home Inside: A Daughter’s Tribute to Ann Petry. She conducts a writing workshop for military veterans at Russell Library in Middletown.

With her cousins Ashley James and Kathryn Golden, Liz Petry is developing a documentary film based on the letters collected in Can Anything Beat White?

Petry has an A.B. from Vassar College and a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. She lives in Middletown with her husband, Larry Riley, who is a dog trainer and commander of the American Legion Post 75.

The program is free, but advance sign-up is required. For more information, call the Killingworth Library at 860-663-2000 or visit www.killingworthlibrary.org. The library is located at 301 Route 81 in Killingworth. In the event of snow, the talk will be held on Wednesday, Feb. 28 at 7 p.m.