Once again, WestportREADS returns to unite Westport’s community through the impact of a great book that sparks imagination, invites conversation, and resonates long after the last page is turned. As the 2026 WestportREADS selection, All the Water in the World by Whiting Award-winning author Eiren Caffall does all of this and more.
The Westport Library is thrilled to announce an exciting lineup of thematic programming that promises to enhance readers’ immersion — culminating on Thursday, February 19, in the Library’s Trefz Forum as Caffall joins the community for a keynote conversation on her debut novel with moderator Catherine Shen, host of CT Public’s Where We Live.
The full collection of copies of All the Water in the World will be available for borrowing Wednesday, December 10 (including as an e-book and an audiobook).
Launched in 2002, WestportREADS remains one of the Library’s most cherished annual traditions: a chance for neighbors to meet over a shared reading experience, for new and old friends to delight in discussion, and for the entire community to reflect together on literature that challenges, inspires, and stays with us.
From January through March, there will be discussion groups, including a lively Book Pub at Walrus Alley; screenings of thematically resonant films; an expert environmental talk that will connect the novel to our own lives; and even more communal happenings in the WestportREADS 2026 run of events.
In true community spirit, more than 550 attended the 2025 WestportREADS keynote address with Pulitzer Prize-winning author Hernan Diaz, and in 2024 Michael Finkel drew almost 400 for his keynote conversation about The Art Thief.
Selected for its masterful storytelling that speaks to the enduring human condition in the face of disaster, All the Water in the World follows the journey of Nonie, a girl with an intuitive connection to water, in a flooded future New York where a small group of families have built a makeshift settlement atop the American Museum of Natural History. As the group works to safeguard the remnants of humanity’s stories and knowledge, a catastrophic storm forces them north up the Hudson River in search of safety, community, and the possibility of a life rebuilt.
“Eiren Caffall created a fully imaginable world within a horrific new future that wasn’t all doom and gloom within a flooded city," said Jennifer Keller, one of the members 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 in some way.”
Released in January 2025, this captivating literary thriller blends climate fiction, adventure, and family drama with stunning prose poignant as it is hopeful. By drawing parallels to real-life stories of curators in Iraq and Leningrad who protected their cultural collections during times of war, Caffall asks the reader to consider how we endure, what we value, and how we care for one another in uncertain times.
Best-selling author Rene Denfield praised the novel, urging, “Each sentence is a treasure. Read this and be changed.”
From a PageTurners discussion group to weekly Tell a Yarn… read-aloud crafting circle sessions to a conversation at the Westport Center for Senior Activities, WestportREADers will have several opportunities to read and discuss the book with others at the Library and around town.
A complementary film series offers a cinematic interpretation of the novel’s shared themes, exploring stories of climate, family, and adaptation with screenings of The Day After Tomorrow (2004), 2040 (2019), Waterworld (1995), and Night at the Museum (2006).
Prefacing Caffall’s keynote conversation is a special talk on Thursday, February 12 with executive director of CIRCA (the Connecticut Institute for Resilience and Climate Adaptation) James O’Donnell, who will bring local context to the global themes woven throughout the novel. Using calculated projections, O’Donnell will share the real impact of rising sea levels and offer practical changes we can make to offset the effects of climate change on Connecticut’s shoreline and the Long Island Sound — areas that Caffall herself has a long history with, outlined in her award-winning 2024 memoir The Mourner's Bestiary.
All the Water in the World promises to take the reader on a journey that offers hope in the survival of what matters most — love, community, and knowledge. These themes speak to the true mission behind WestportREADS: to share a love of reading and connect with your fellow readers.
Cozy up with your community and enjoy a good book with us this winter!
Past WestportREADS selections include Diaz’s In the Distance, Finkel’s The Art Thief, Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab, Towards a More Perfect Union: Confronting Racism by Layla Saad, and Exit West by Moshin Hamid, among others.
For more past WestportREADS selections, and to learn more about the annual event, visit the WestportREADS homepage on The Westport Library website.
WestportREADS is supported through a generous bequest by the estate of Jerry A. Tishman.
