The 10th annual History Book Festival will host events from Friday to Sunday, Sept. 25 to 27, in Lewes.

Attendees can access their choice of 21 author presentations Saturday, Sept. 26, all free of charge. Three of these writers will discuss their books about struggle
and persistence throughout history.

Samiha Hoque will present her novel, “Slums of Paradise.” Rooted in the complexities of Bangladesh’s Liberation War against West Pakistan, the story centers on two people from vastly different worlds who are changed by a chance encounter.

Sumaya is the daughter of a wealthy aristocrat, while Murshed lives under the hopeless shadow of his father’s religious and political stance that marks his family as traitors. Connected by the far reaches of tyranny and tradition, these families discover what is found and lost – dreaming of a Bangladesh free from dictatorship and holding the silent hope of paradise.

Michael Kimmel will discuss his book, “Playmakers: The Jewish Entrepreneurs Who Created the Toy Industry in America.” 

Mattel, Hasbro, Lionel and Ideal are all 20th-century American toy companies founded by first-generation Jewish Americans. The poor, often Yiddish-speaking, tenement-dwelling children of immigrants invented an enchanted world, full of wild creatures and struggles between good and evil, with realms of fantasy and beauty. 

Elizabeth Letts will present her book, “Fallen for France: A Novel." As World War I dawns, a magnificent horse is born in the palace of the sultan of Morocco. First loved and lost by a small Amazigh boy named Beddou, the mare is taken to France by a soldier while Beddou embarks on a quest to rescue her. Time and again, the horse touches the lives of people as they navigate the horrors and heartbreaks of war.

To learn more, go to historybookfestival.org.