• Thursday, February 1st at 6:00pm (Book launch party)

Join Lisa Brooks, Amherst College professor, in celebrating the publication of her new book, Our Beloved Kin: A New History of King Philip’s War, in the Alumni Hall, Amherst College.   Brooks is also author of The Common Pot: The Recovery of Native Space in the Northeast.

• Wednesday, February 7th at 7:00pm (Talk)

POSTPONED UNTIL FEBRUARY 19th Local author Charles Mann will read from his new book, The Wizard & the Prophet: Two Remarkable Scientists & Their Dueling Visions to Shape Tomorrow’s World—the fascinating story of two forgotten men whose ideas changed our understanding of humanity’s place in nature.   Mann is author of numerous books, including 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus & 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created.

• Thursday, February 8th at 8:00pm (Poetry reading)

CA Conrad will read from recent poetry in the Great Hall, Old Chapel, UMass, Amherst, as part of the University of Massachusetts MFA Program’s Visiting Writers Series.   Conrad is the author of nine books of poetry, including While Standing in Line for Death, The Book of Frank, & Ecodeviance.

• Saturday, February 10th at 7:00pm (Reading)

Steve Benson will perform & hold a Q&A.   Benson has written, improvised, & shared his writing across diverse media & formats throughout the past half-century.   He wrote or transcribed from orally improvised performances the material contained in Blindspots, Blue Book, Open Clothes, & other books.   He co-authored the Grand Piano series of autobiographical essays (2006-10) with nine friends also associated with San Francisco Bay Area language poetry in the late 1970s.

• Tuesday, February 13th at 12:10pm - 1:00pm (Noontime Book Conversation)

Amherst Books Noontime Book Conversation Diana Peelle will lead a discussion of Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes were Watching God.   The Conversation is not a book group in the traditional sense: it expects readers to come & go as their schedules & interests allow.   If you can, purchase your copy from Amherst Books with a 10% discount.   The group meets on the second Tuesday of every month.   Feel free to bring your lunch; water will be provided.

• Tuesday, February 13th at 8:00pm (Reading)

Joseph Scapellato will read from recent work.   Scapellato is author of the debut short story collection, Big Lonesome, which has been described as Wallace Stegner on peyote.   Co-sponsored by the Amherst College Visiting Writers Series.

• Wednesday, February 14th at 4:00pm (Book launch party)

Join University of Massachusetts historians Sigrid Schmalzer & Daniel Chard in celebrating the publication of their new book, Science for the People: Documents from America’s Movement of Radical Scientists.

• Friday, February 16th at 7:00pm (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.

• Monday, February 19th at 7:00pm (Talk)

Local author Charles Mann will read from his new book, The Wizard & the Prophet: Two Remarkable Scientists & Their Dueling Visions to Shape Tomorrow’s World—the fascinating story of two forgotten men whose ideas changed our understanding of humanity’s place in nature.   Mann is author of numerous books, including 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus & 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created.

• Tuesday, February 20th at 4:30pm (Talk)

Bill Porter, a.k.a. Red Pine, will talk about “The Search for Solitude” in Pruyne Lecture Hall, Fayerweather, Amherst College.   The search for solitude has been at the core of Chinese civilization ever since it began 5,000 years ago.   Spending time alone, usually in the mountains, has been an essential part of all three major spiritual traditions in China.   Porter, a renowned scholar of Chinese poetry & Buddhist texts, will give a slide presentation & talk about this tradition.   Porter is author of numerous books, including Road to Heaven: Encouters with Chinese Hermits & Finding Them Gone: Visiting China’s Poets of the Past.

• Tuesday, February 20th at 7:00pm (Reading)

Introduced by UMass professorJeff Parker, Arthur Flowers & Shane Hinton will read from recent books.   Flowers’ new book Brer Rabbit Retold re-tells the Brer Rabbit stories as wisdom tales for a contemporary audience, bringing them back to us as one of the sturdy roots of African-American literature.   Flowers is a novelist, essayist, & blues-based performance poet.   Hinton’s We Can't Help It If We’re from Florida: New Stories from a Sinking Peninsula is an anthology of new writing from Florida writers including Lidia Yuknavitch, Sarah Gerard, Kevin Moffett, Laura van den Berg, Lindsay Hunter, John Brandon, Jaquira Díaz, Alissa Nutting, Jeff Parker, & many more. .   Hinton is also author of a collection of short stories, Pinkies.

• Thursday, February 22th at 6:00pm (Reading)

Bella Halsted & contributors, will read from Halsted’s recent collection, Views from the Bridge: Exploring Old Age, “a book by people our age dealing the being our age.”   As Alice Scheffley, a contributor, writes, “Standing here on the bridge, I know it is not a crossroads but a shrine.   It is a shrine offering a place to kneel, to make a prayer of thanks for the vision of what has been most essential & poignant in my life....”

• Monday, February 26th at 8:00pm (Reading)

Hermione Hoby will read from her recent novel, Neon in Daylight .   Ann Patchett wrote that “Hoby paints a garish world that drew me in & held me spellbound.   She is a marvel.”   Co-sponsored by the Amherst College Visiting Writers Series.

• Tuesday, February 27th at 5:00pm (Book launch party)

Help us celebrate the publication of a new book by Amherst College professor Amy Cox Hall—Framing a Lost City: Science, Photography, & the Making of Machu Picchu.   Drawing on science & technology studies, Cox Hall explores how photography transformed an Incan archaeological ruin into “Machu Picchu,” a world heritage site & crown jewel of Peruvian national patrimony.

• Wednesday, February 28th at 4:30pm (Reading & conversation)

Award-winning contemporary Russian writer Linor Goralik will read from recent work in the Center for Russian Culture, Webster Hall 2nd Floor, Amherst College.   Goralik’s most recent book is Found Life: Poems, Stories, Comics, a Play, & an Interview.