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Events
Events listed in white are at the bookshop; events listed in yellow are elsewhere.
Unless noted otherwise all events are free & open to the public.
(Click on a picture or a title to check our inventory or to purchase.)
- Thursday, November 4th at 8:00 P.M.(Poetry reading)
Bernadette Mayer will read at Memorial Hall at the University of Massachusetts as part of the M.F.A. Program’s Visiting Writer Series. Often associated with the New York School of poets, Mayer has taught at the New School for Social Research & The Poetry Project at St. Mark’s Church. She is author of numerous collections of poetry, including,
Poetry State Forest,
Scarlet Tanager; &
A Bernadette Mayer Reader. (Originally scheduled September 30th.)
- Friday, November 5th at 5:00 P.M.(Book launch party)
John University of Massachusetts professor
Shawn Shimpach in celebrating the publication of his new book,
Television in Transition: The Life & Afterlife of the Narrative Action Hero. Shimpach’s new book examines the return in television programming to action narratives with individual (super) heroes & explores how television programming ‘translates’ to new spatial geographies: different nations, cultures, broadcast systems; & different formats, distribution outlets, & screen sizes.
- Friday, November 5th 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.
- Tuesday, November 9th at 8:00 P.M. (Reading)
Amherst resident
Thérèse Soukar Chehade will read from her new novel,
Loom. Thérèse Soukar Chehade was born & raised in Beirut, Lebanon. She is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts M.F.A. Program & teaches at the Wildwood School.
- Wednesday, November 10th at 8:00 P.M. (Talk)
Christine Becker & her son
Johnny Becker will talk about a new collection of essays, lectures & interviews by Jurek Becker—
My Father, the Germans & I. Becker (1937–1997) was a well–known German author who wrote about the Holocaust, East Germany, & the reunification of Germany. In the U.S. he is primarly known as the author of
Jacob the Liar & the movie that was based on it. Since Becker’s death his widow, Christine, has continued compiling, translating & discussing his work. No stranger to Amherst, Christine Becker has previously talked here about Jurek Becker & such films as
Jacob the Liar,
Bronstein’s Children, &
The Hiding Place; tonight, she will be joined by their son in discussing the new book.
- Thursday, November 11th at 8:00 P.M. (Poetry reading)
Polina Barskova will read from her first collection of poetry in English,
This Lamentable City. Barskova, who has published six volumes of poetry in her native Russian, teaches Russian literature at Hampshire College.
The New York Times noted that her “words flicker—strange, elegant—a russian evanescence. Heat lighning pulses between her lines.” Sponsored by Amherst College’s Creative Writing Center.
- Sunday, November 14th at 3:00 P.M.(Poetry reading)
“Jubilat/Jones Reading Series” Kimiko Hahn &
Ben Lerner 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. Hahn, who has written & recorded voice-overs for film, is author of many volumes of poetry, the most recent of which is
Toxic Flora. Lerner, who won the Hayden Carruth prize, is also author of several volumes of poetry. His most recent collection is
Mean Free Path.
The reading will be preceded by a ‘Poetry Swap' at 2:00 PM.
- Tuesday, November 16th at 7:00 P.M. (Poetry reading)
Two alums of the University of Massachusetts M.F.A. Program,
Michael Earl Craig &
Natalie Lyalin, will read from their recent poetry in the
August Savage Gallery (NEW AFRICA HOUSE) at the University of Massachusetts as part of the M.F.A. Program's Visiting Writers Series. Craig is author of three volumes of poetry,
Can You Relax in My House;
Yes, Master; & most recently,
Thin Kimono. Lyalin is author of a collection of poetry,
Pink & Hot Pink Habitat & a new chapbook,
Try a Little Time Travel.
Thursday, November 18th at 7:30 P.M. (Reading)
CANCELEDPoet & novelist
Frank X. Gasper will read in the
Trustees’ Room at the Jones Library. Gaspar’s four volumes of poetry have won him numerous awards, including including the Brittingham Prize, the Edward Stanley Prize for Poetry, the Samuel French Morse Prize & three Pushcart Prizes for Poetry. His most recent collection of poetry is
Night of a Thousand Blossoms. His first novel,
Leaving Pico, won a Barnes & Noble Discovery Award, the Borders Books of Distinction Award, & the California Book Award for First Novel. His recent, second novel is
Stealing Fatima.
- Friday, November 19th 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, November 26th at 4:00 P.M. (Book launch party)
Join
Peter Chametzky in celebrating the publication of his new book,
Objects as History in Twentieth-Century German Art: Beckmann to Beuys. It provides a stimulating overview of twentieth-century German art, focusing on some of the period’s key works by Max Beckmann, George Grosz, Hannah Höch, Willi Baumeister, Arno Breker, Joseph Beuys, & Gerhard Richter. He demonstrates how the works (& in some cases, the artists themselves) interacted with, & even enacted, historical events, processes, & ideas. He asserts the continued historical role of material art works in an era when less material forms—photography, film, television, video, digital images—have assumed the function of visually depicting contemporary history. Chametzky, who grew up in Amherst, teaches at Southern Illinois University.