CNN anchor and author Alisyn Camerota will be at The Westport Library on Wednesday, March 27, at 7 pm to launch her new memoir, Combat Love.
This free event will be held in the Library’s Trefz Forum and feature Camerota in conversation with fellow memoirist and Westporter Gabi Coatsworth. Registration is strongly encouraged.
Wednesday evening is the first of two upcoming appearances for Camerota at the Library. The two-time Emmy Award winner will return on Saturday, April 6, for VersoFest 2024, in conversation with The Doors drummer John Densmore about his book, The Doors Unhinged: Jim Morrison's Legacy Goes on Trial.
“We’re remarkably fortunate to have Alisyn Camerota in the Library, and to have her twice in the span of 10 days is incredible for us and a real treat for everyone who loves great music and first-rate storytelling,” said Westport Library Executive Director Bill Harmer.
Combat Love is Camerota’s story of growing up longing for stability and attachment as the foundation of her family crumbled. Set on the Jersey Shore in the 1980s, Combat Love centers around Camerota’s relationship with a local punk rock band named Shrapnel — the book title derives from one of their songs — and the band’s diehard fans. Camerota's memoir chronicles her near-misses and misadventures at clubs like CBGB and Max’s Kansas City, coupled with the sex, drugs, and punk rock of 1980s New Jersey.
“The story is about my long search for belonging — and home,” Camerota said in a social media post announcing the book's release.
The early reviews of the book are dazzling.
“Combat Love is far more than an audacious coming-of-age story; it’s a reminder that beneath a successful adult’s polished exterior is the wildness of youth, vulnerability, and loss,” wrote Adrienne Brodeur, the best-selling author of Wild Game: My Mother, Her Lover, and Me. “Camerota shows us the hard-earned work of finding your voice. So, while you might pick up Combat Love because of the author’s familiar face, you won’t be able to put it down for her candor, wit, and storytelling. In an embarrassment of riches, Alisyn Camerota is as singular a writer as she is a broadcast journalist.”
Kirkus Reviews, meantime, called Combat Love “a candid chronicle of hard-won survival.”
Related: Where Westport Meets the World Podcast Conversation: Alisyn Camerota
Camerota is a journalist, author, anchor, and correspondent for CNN. In her three decades in journalism, she has covered stories nationally and internationally, earning two Emmy Awards and the prestigious Edward R. Murrow Award. Her debut novel, Amanda Wakes Up, was selected by National Public Radio as one of the best books of 2017 and deemed a “must-read” by Oprah Magazine.
Coatsworth is the author of the memoir, Love's Journey Home, and a novel, A Beginner's Guide to Starting Over, as well as a contributor to several anthologies. She runs monthly meetings for writers at The Westport Library.