Grammy Award winning singer Judy Collins is bringing her magical soprano voice and unique blend of folk and contemporary songs to One World Theatre on Aug. 27.

Two performances at the theater at 7 and 9 p.m. will follow an appearance by the artist at Book People at 3 p.m. Collins will be promoting her new children’s book, “Over the Rainbow,” and her new CD, “Paradise,” both released in June.

Collins’ 1968 version of the Joni Mitchell song, “Both Sides Now,” was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2003, and her recording of Stephen Sondheim’s “Send in the Clowns” won Grammy Song of the Year in 1975. The legendary singer-songwriter has also authored five books, including a 2003 memoir “Sanity and Grace and a 1995 novel, “Shameless.” She has a new book due to be released later this year by Random House called “Sweet Judy Blue Eyes.”

One of the songs contained on the new “Paradise” CD is “Over the Rainbow,” a song which has captured the hearts of and been performed by countless singers since it’s creation by Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg for the 1939 movie, “The Wizard of Oz.”

Judy Garland immortalized the song in a number of recordings.

“It’s one of those unusual songs; it just does it for everybody,” Collins said. “It flies through the years untouched, unblemished, unchanged. It lifts my heart today as it did the first time I heard it as a little girl with my pigtails tied on top of my head.”

The song is about hope, about a dream and about believing in your dreams, Collins said.

“It’s the humanness of it that makes it timeless,” she said. “We are all human. We may have our differences, but we all have the same idea that life will be better – better somewhere in the future. Unless you’ve got hope, you’ve got nothing honey.”

Music can inspire people to reach inside themselves and find that hope, and the find inspiration to give back to the world, Collins said.

“When you put time into it – into listening to the music and being still – you find comfort, but you also find stimulation,” she said. “I listen, and I think of my own life and experience, and I get inspired.”

Collins said that the time she spends writing books helps her in her songwriting.

“I access things during storytelling that are very powerful,” she said.

Asked how she manages to successfully create new songs and books and travel the road in performances, Collins, now 70, expressed little patience with people who let busy schedules overwhelm them.

“Life is time consuming,” she said. “You have been given talents you have to find. You have to find out how to balance your life. You keep looking for a way to include the things you love and the friends you want to be with. To do that, you have to manage your time – set priorities and set boundaries. Those boundaries cannot be broken.”

To keep herself centered, Collins said she makes sure she nourishes herself in many ways, including with exercise, prayer and meditation, reading and good nutrition.

“I also nourish myself with time alone, time to dream,” she said. “And I stay away from negative people. You have to do that – stay far, far away from people who bring that kind of negative thinking to you. That negativity can be very destructive; it can be devastating.”