Judy Collins sat at a table on the third floor of BookPeople Friday afternoon, casually sipping a cold Diet Coke. Known for singing alongside some of the great folk artists of the ’60s like Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and Joni Mitchell, Collins, 71, prepared herself before going on stage to sing some of her classic songs and talk about her new children’s book, “Over the Rainbow.”
Though its title may evoke thoughts of lost love, don’t expect any romantic narratives in “Elegies for the Brokenhearted,” the story of a woman’s life told through the elegies of five people who have died during her lifetime, from a minor summer friend to her neglectful mother.