• Thursday, March 4th at 8:00 P.M.(Poetry Reading)

Rae Armantrout will read in Memorial Hall at the University of Massachusetts as part of the M.F.A. Program’s Visiting Writers Series.   Armantrout is the author of ten books of poetry, including, most recently, Versed; Next Life, which was selected by Publishers Weekly as one of the best poetry books of 2007; Up to Speed, selected by Publishers Weekly as one of the best poetry books of the year in 2003; & Veil, which was a finalist in the Poetry category for the 2002 PEN Center USA Literary Awards.   She has been published in many anthologies, including The Oxford Book of American Poetry & Scribner’s Best American Poetry, in such magazines as Harpers, The New Yorker, American Poetry Review, Boston Review, Chicago Review, & the Los Angeles Times Book Review.

• Thursday, March 11th at 8:00 P.M.

"Anne Halley Poetry Prize Reading"   Donald Morrill will read as winner of the 2010 annual Anne Halley Poetry Prize, sponsored by the Massachusetts Review.   Morrill is author of two collections of poetry, At the Bottom of the Sky, winner of the Mid-List Press First Series Award for Poetry; & With Your Back to Half the Day; as well as the recent prose collection, Impetuous Sleeper.   For many years, he directed the Writers at the University series at the University of Tampa, & has been a poetry editor of Tampa Review & the University of Tampa Press Poetry Series.   He is currently Interim Dean of the College of Arts & Letters at the University of Tampa.

The Anne Halley Poetry Prize is named in memorial for Anne Halley, to honor her 25 years of work as poetry co-editor of the Massachusetts Review as well as her work as a poet & writer.   Her last collection of poetry, Rumors of the Turning Wheel, was published by University of Massachusetts Press in 2003.

• Friday, March 12th at 8:00 P.M.(Reading)

“Live Lit”   Students in the M.F.A. Program at the University of Massachusetts will read from their recent work.   Evenings usually include a mix of poetry & fiction.

• Friday, March 19th at 8:00 P.M.(Reading)

Robert Redick will read from Book II of the “Chathrand Voyage Series,” The Ruling Sea.   The Los Angeles Times said of Book I, The Red Wolf Conspiracy, “Immediately & satisfyingly complex...Redick has shown himself to be as inventive as anyone else writing today.”   Now, with Book II, Redick has continued his great saga!   Publishers Weekly says, “This exciting follow-up to 2009’s The Red Wolf Conspiracy features enough plot twists & double-crosses to satisfy the most demanding lover of suspense....Vivid characterizations & Redick’s brilliant depiction of the microcosmic world aboard Chathrand will captivate readers.”

• Sunday, March 21st at 3:00 P.M.(Poetry reading)

“Jubilat/Jones Reading Series”   David Berman & Dave Brinks will read from their recent work as part of the jubilat/Jones Reading Series in the Trustees Room at the Jones Library, 43 Amity Street in Amherst.   Berman is a song-writer & poet.   His band, Silver Jews, released four albums, before disbanding last year.   He is author of the poetry collection, Actual Air, of which James Tate wrote, “David Berman’s poems are beautiful, strange, intelligent, & funny.   They are narratives that freeze life in impossible contortions.   They take the familiar & make it new, so new the reader is stunned & will not soon forget.”   Brinks, publisher of Trembling Pillow Press & the journal YAWP; founder of the 17 Poets Literary & Performance Series at the Gold Mine Saloon in New Orleans, is author of Caveat Onus, a complex, four-volume poem cycle rooted in Mayan mythology.

The reading will be preceded by a ‘Poetry Swap' at 2:00 PM.

• Tuesday, March 23rd at 8:00 P.M.(Reading)

Stanley Crawford & Valerie Martin will read from their recent work as part of the the Going Public Contemporary Lit Series presented by the Juniper Initiative for Literary Arts & Action.   Crawford is the author five novels, including Petroleum Man and Log of the S.S. The Mrs. Unguentine, & three books of nonfiction, including Garlic Testament: Seasons on a Small New Mexico Farm & A River in Winter: New & Selected Essays.   His essays & reviews have appeared in the New York Times & the Los Angeles Times.   Crawford has been the recipient of numerous honors, including the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Foundation Writing Award & fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts & the Lannan Foundation.   Martin is the author of ten novels, including Trespass; Mary Reilly, which won the Kafka Prize; Italian Fever; Property, which won Britain’s;prestigious Orange Prize; & most recently, The Confessions of Edward Day; three collections of short fiction; & a biography of St. Francis of Assisi.

• Wednesday, March 24th at 7:00 P.M.(Talk)

Amherst resident & prolific cookbook author Betty Rosbottom will talk on “If You Can't Take the Heat... Hard Work & Delicious Rewards in the Food World” at the Sunderland Public Library at 20 School Street, Sunderland.   Rosbottom is author of many cookbooks, including Sunday Soup: A Year's Worth of Mouth-Watering, Easy-to-Make Recipes; Big Book of Backyard Cooking: 250 Favorite Recipes for Enjoying the Great Outdoors; Coffee: Scrumptious Drinks & Treats; & American Favorites: All-American Cooking for a New Generation; among other books.   She writes weekly food column called “That‘s Entertaining” for the LA Times Syndicate (now Tribune Media Services) & has been a frequent contributor to Bon Appetit Magazine.

• Thursday, March 25th at 7:00 P.M.(Talk)

Family Outreach of Amherst Eight Annual “Salute to Families” Benefit
David Lovelace will talk at the Cole Assembly Room, Converse Hall, Amherst College, on “Unexpected Gifts: Balancing Wellness & Creativity in the Face of Mental Illness.” Lovelace, who lives in Northampton & was a long-time owner of the Montague Book Mill is author of Scattershot: My Bipolar Family.

• Friday, March 26th at 8:00 P.M.(Reading)

“Live Lit”   Students in the M.F.A. Program at the University of Massachusetts will read from their recent work.   Evenings usually include a mix of poetry & fiction.