Sara Lawrence Lightfoot, a MacArthur prize-winning sociologist and Emily Hargroves Fisher Professor of Education at Harvard University, will be at the South End branch Tuesday night to talk about her book, The Third Chapter: Passion, Risk and Adventure in the 25 Years After 50. Written a few years ago when she had entered her sixties, Lawrence Lightfoot discards the notion that being over fifty means acting enthusiastic about new adventures and directions is either "inappropriate" or "undignified," or that just playing golf and leading a life of self-centered leisure is the recipe for successful retirement. Instead, she explores how the bulge of healthy but aging baby-boomers in the population snake is forcing a reconsideration of the options available in the --now extended-- later stages of life.

In her interviews with forty educated and financially stable men and women, the South End resident explored what motivates people in their 'Third Chapter' of life to want to learn something new, even when they have been very successful up till then and even if the new direction is difficult and has a high risk of failure. She asserts her subjects were no longer interested in making it to the top of the ladder of individual achievement but wanted to find a way "to use their privilege, skills, networks, and access for the benefit of the broader community."

Lawrence Lightfoot wants to know what "institutional innovations, cultural priorities, and educational reforms might support the translations from individual gain to public good?"

You wondered about that yourself? The South End library is the place to find the answer Tuesday night, where the author will be introduced by health coach and wellness counselor, Colette Bourassa.

Lawrence Lightfoot has written nine books, including The Good High School: Portraits of Character and Culture (1983), which received the 1984 Outstanding Book Award from the American Educational Research Association and Balm In Gilead: Journey of A Healer (1988), which won the 1988 Christopher Award.Her most recent book, Exit: The Endings That Set Us Free, was published in May 2012. Her selection of five favorite books can be found at The South End Reads. The event starts at 6:30 p.m.

Future South End Writes authors are listed below:

Tuesday, October 16, 6:30 p.m. BPD Archivist Margaret Sullivan and Sgt. Detective Dr. Kim L. Gaddy"Boston's Fairest," an exhibit and lecture about the first 50 years of women in the Boston Police Department by the BPD's archivist, documenting the careers of wives and mothers who took on gangsters and bootleggers.

Thursday, October 25, 6:30 p.m. Maryanne O'Hara a former associate editor at Ploughshares and oft-published short-story writer, O'Hara will read from her debut novel Cascade, a recent People magazine pick, and described as "richly-satisfying" by the Boston Globe.

Tuesday, October 30, 6:30 p.m. Margot LiveseyThe Flight of Gemma Hardy, the seventh novel of Scottish-born Livesey which just came out in paperback, is modeled on the English classic, Jane Eyre, a "risky move" at which she for the most part succeeds, according to the New York Times. Introduction by novelist Sue Miller

Thursday, November 1, 6:30 p.m. Stephen DavisMore Room in a Broken Heart: the True Adventures of Carly Simon, the unauthorized biography of one of the most gifted folk singers by a former Rolling Stone magazine's editor and (now former) Simon family friend.

Tuesday, December 4, 6:30 p.m. Victor Howes A South End poet, decades-long college professor of literature and World War II veteran who published poems and book reviews in the Christian Science Monitor for many years, will read from his selected work.

January 15, 2013, 6:30 p.m. Leah Hager CohenThe Grief of Others The author, who publishes both fiction and non-fiction, will read from her latest novel which the New York Times described as "her best work yet." With an introduction by Sue Miller

Tuesday, February 5, 6:30 p.m. April Bernard The poet (Romanticism)and novelist, most recently of history (Miss Fuller), is currently the director of creative writing at Skidmore College. With an introduction by South End author Doug Bauer

Tuesday, February 26, 6:30 p.m. Andre Dubus IIITownie, a memoir The examination of the author's violent past has been described "best book" of non-fiction of 2011 and 2012 by many literary-gate guardians, and was preceded by his previous novelsHouse of Sand and Fog (made into a movie by the same name) and The Garden of Last Days. Sue Miller will introduce the author.

Tuesday, March 19, 6:30 p.m. Mari Passananti will read from her second novel, The K Street Affair.

Tuesday, April 18, 6:30 p.m. Doug Bauer Editor, writer of numerous books of fiction and non-fiction, and revered professor of English at Bennington College (to where he commutes from the South End), Bauer will read from his most recent collection of essays, What Happens Next?, to be published in the fall of 2013 by the University of Iowa Press.

Tuesday, May 21, 6:30 p.m. Alice HoffmanThe Dovekeepers, a historical novel describing the AD70 massacre at Masada from the point of view of four women at the fortress before it fell during the Jewish-Roman war, is the most recent of the nearly two dozen novels by Hoffman and just came out in paperback. To be introduced by Sue Miller.

Tuesday, June 11, 6:30 p.m. Alice Stone, the local filmmaker whose mesmerizing documentary, Angelo Unwritten, has followed the life of a teenager adopted out of foster care when he was twelve, will return with an update of new material gathered since December 2011.

Tuesday, June 18, 6:30 p.m. Philip Gambonewill return to read from his current work-in-progress, retracing the steps of his father who, as a soldier, was sent to Europe during the Second World War.