WestportREADS will return in 2026 with a community-wide reading of All the Water in the World, a debut novel by Whiting Award–winning author Eiren Caffall that blends climate fiction, family drama and survival storytelling. Copies of the book — including e-book and audiobook editions — are available now at The Westport Library.
The annual program, launched in 2002, encourages residents to engage with one another through shared reading, discussion and cultural programming. This year’s events will culminate Feb. 19 with a keynote conversation at the Library’s Trefz Forum, where Caffall will discuss the novel with Catherine Shen, host of Connecticut Public’s Where We Live.
From January through March, the Library will host a slate of programming connected to the novel’s themes, including discussion groups, film screenings and a climate-focused lecture. Events include a PageTurners discussion group, the Book Pub at Walrus Alley, a weekly “Tell a Yarn” read-aloud crafting circle and a conversation at the Westport Center for Senior Activities.
A companion film series will explore parallel themes of climate resilience and adaptation with screenings of The Day After Tomorrow, 2040, Waterworld and Night at the Museum.
Ahead of the keynote, James O’Donnell, executive director of the Connecticut Institute for Resilience and Climate Adaptation, will lead a Feb. 12 talk connecting the book’s climate-driven narrative to projections for Connecticut’s shoreline and the Long Island Sound. O’Donnell will also offer practical strategies for mitigating rising sea levels, a topic underscored in Caffall’s 2024 memoir The Mourner’s Bestiary.
All the Water in the World, released in January 2025, follows Nonie — a girl with an instinctive connection to water — as she navigates a submerged future New York. When disaster forces her tight-knit group to flee their settlement atop the American Museum of Natural History, they head north in search of safety, knowledge and community. The novel draws inspiration from real stories of curators who protected cultural history in times of war.
“Eiren Caffall created a fully imaginable world within a horrific new future that wasn’t all doom and gloom,” said Jennifer Keller, a member of the WestportREADS 2026 selection committee. “All the Water in the World explores family and climate change in a rich coming-of-age story that we can all relate to.”
The program continues to draw strong interest from the community. More than 550 people attended the 2025 WestportREADS keynote with Pulitzer Prize–winning author Hernan Diaz, and nearly 400 attended Michael Finkel’s 2024 event for The Art Thief.
WestportREADS is supported by a bequest from the estate of Jerry A. Tishman.
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