• Sunday, February 2nd at 6:00pm (Reading)

John Sayles will read from his new novel, Yellow Earth.   Sayles is an American independent film director, screenwriter, editor, actor, short story writer, & novelist.   He has twice been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, for Passion Fish & Lone Star.   His film Men with Guns was nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film.   His directorial debut, Return of the Secaucus 7, has been added to the National Film Registry.   His novels include Pride of the Bimbos & Union Dues.   Sayles’ marvelous short story, “The Anarchists’ Convention,” is included in a collection with the same name.

• Wednesday, February 5th at 4:30pm (Reading)

Kate Lilley will talk at the Center for Humanistic Studies, Frost Library, Amherst College,   Lilley is an award-winning Australian poet, author of Versary & Tilt.   She is also a well-known scholar of queer feminist literary history, editor of Margaret Cavendish: The Blazing World & Dorothy Hewett: Selected Poems, & Director of Creative Writing at the University of Sydney.

• Thursday, February 6th at 8:00pm (Poetry reading)

CA Conrad & Dawn Lundy Martin will read at the Old Chapel, UMass, Amherst, as part of the UMass MFA Visiting Writers Series.   Conrad received a 2019 Creative Capital grant to complete their nationwide (Soma)tic poetry ritual entitled, “Resurrect Extinct Vibration.”.   Author of may volumes of poetry, including While Standing in Line for Death, The Book of Frank, & Ecodeviance, CA Conrad is an author in residence at UMass this Spring.   Martin is a poet, essayist, & conceptual video artist.   She is the author of four books of poems, including, mostly recently Good Stock Strange Blood.   She is the recipient of the 2019 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award.

• Thursday, February 6th at 8:00pm (Conversation)

Tara Westover & Anthony Jack will talk with Amherst College professor Leah Schmalzbauerabout “What Would Equality in Education Look Like?” in Johnson Chapel, Amherst College.   Westover is author of the highly acclaimed Educated: A Memoir & Jack, an Amherst College alum, is author of The Privileged Poor: How Elite Colleges Are Failing Disadvantaged Students.  For more information, go to Amherst College’s calendar.

• Sunday, February 9th at 3:00pm (Poetry reading)

jubilat/Jones Reading Series at the Jones Library, Amherst.   Heather Christle & Arisa White will read.   Meet the poets at an informal Q & A session that follows the reading.

• Monday, February 10th at 1:30pm (Talk)

Marty Norden will talk about his new book, Lois Weber: Interviews, at the Amherst Women’s Club, 35 Triangle Street, Amherst.   Norden teaches film history & screenwriting at UMass.   Weber (1879-1939) was one of early Hollywood’s most successful screenwriter-directors.

• Tuesday, February 11th at 12:00 noon - 1:00pm (Noontime Book Conversation)

Noontime Book Conversation This month the group will discuss The Invention of Morel by Adolfo Bioy Casares.   This short novella has a prelude by Jorge Luis Borges.   Meeting ordinarily on the second Tuesday of every month from 12:00pm until 1:00pm, the group has no fixed members (although quite a few regulars).   Readers are urged to nominate a book to be read, especially if they are willing to lead the discussion.   We focus on fiction & drama with occasional foray into the graphic novel.   We limit the length of our selections to about 200 pages, although this is a guideline rather than a fixed rule.   We believe in the joy of re-reading, so some of our selections are works that many have already read at least once.   The noontime book group is under the general oversight of Michael Greenebaum (mlgreenebaum33@gmail.com) who selects the books & leads the discussions.   He is happy to hear from those with ideas or questions.   Amherst Books offers a 10% discount on the month’s book for those who plan to join the group.   March’s book is The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid.

• Wednesday, February 12th at 5:00pm (Talk)

Erica Dunbar will talk about her book, Never Caught: The Washingtons’ Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge, at the Commonwealth Honors College Events Hall, UMass, Amherst.   Dunbar is the Charles & Mary Beard Professor of History at Rutgers University.   Never Caught was a National Book Award Finalist & won the Frederick Douglass Book Award.   For more information, go here.

• Wednesday, February 12th at 8:00pm (Reading)

Steven Dunn will read from his recent novel, Water & Power.   Dunn is also author of the novel, Potted Meat.   Co-sponsored by the Amherst College Creative Writing Center.   For more information to their calendar

• Friday, February 14th 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.

• Wednesday, February 19th at 8:00pm (Performance)

Dao Strom will read & perform at the Powerhouse, Amherst College.   Strom is a performer & author of the recent collection of stories, The Gentle Order of Girls & Boys, & a volume of poetry, You Will Always Be Someone from Somewhere Else.   Sponsored by the Amherst College Creative Writing Center.   For more information to their calendar

• Thursday, February 20th at 7:00pm (Poetry reading)

Rescue Press authors, Tessa Micaela, Caren Beilin, Hanna Brooks-Motl, & Melissa Dickey, will read from recent work.   Micaela writes poems & letters, often to inanimate objects.   They are the author of there are boxes and there is wanting, Crude Matter, & Where Bells Begin .   Beilin is the author of Spain, Blackfishing the IUD, & The University of Pennsylvania.   Brooks-Motl is the author of the poetry collections The New Years, M, & Earth.   Dickey is the author of two books of poems, Dragons & The Lily Will.   Her poetry, nonfiction, & reviews have appeared recently in Bennington Review, the Spectacle, the Laurel Review, & Kenyon Review Online, among other publications

• Wednesday, February 26th at 6:00pm (Talk)

Vijay Prashad will talk in the Flavin Auditorium, UMass, Amherst.   Prashad, who is author of more than 40 books, including Red Star Over the Third World, Darker Nations: A Possible History of the Third World & Strongmen: Trump / Modi / Erdoğan / Duterte / Putin, will give the UMass History Department’s Annual Writer-in-Residence talk.   For more information, see here.

• Thursday, February 27th at 4:00pm (Discussion)

“Reproductive Rights & Justice Stories: From Roe v. Wade to Young v. UPS” with Linda Greenhouse, Reva Siegel, & Kate Shaw, at the Bernie Dallas Room, Goodell Hall, UMass, Amherst.   For more information see here.

• Thursday, February 27th at 4:30pm (Presentation)

“Teaching for Black Lives: A Keynote Event with Wayne Au & Dyan Watson”   In this interactive keynote presentation in Carney Family Auditorium, Furcolo Hall, UMass, Amherst, Dr. Dyan Watson & Dr. Wayne Au, two of the editors of the book, Teaching for Black Lives, will discuss their book & the overall project of making Black lives matter in schools.  This presentation will include a discussion between Dr. Watson & Dr. Au, a classroom activity, & an audience Q/A. Presented by the UMass Amherst Department of Teacher Education & Curriculum Studies.   For more information see the UMass Events Calendar.

• Thursday, February 27th at 8:00pm (Reading)

Shayla Lawson will read as part of the UMass Visiting Writers Series in the Old Chapel, UMass, Amherst.   Lawson is the poet in residence at Amherst College.   She is author of the poetry collection, I Think I’m Ready to See Frank Ocean & the forthcoming collection of essays, This Is Major: Notes on Diana Ross, Dark Girls, & Being Dope. For more information, see the Events Calendar for the MFA for Poets & Writers at UMass.

• Friday, February 28th at 7:30pm (Reading)

Fifth Annual Amherst College LitFest   “A Conversation with National Book Award Winner Susan Choi & Finalist Laila Lalami will be held in the Johnson Chapel, Amherst College.   For more information: LitFest Calendar.

• Saturday, February 29th at 11:00am (Conversation)

Fifth Annual Amherst College LitFest   A conversation with Amherst poet Karen Skolfield in the Center for Humanistic Inquiry, Frost Library (second floor), Amherst College.   For more information: LitFest Calendar.

• Saturday, February 29th at 4:00pm (Discussion)

Fifth Annual Amherst College LitFest   “An Afternoon with Jesmyn Ward in conversation with Jennifer Acker in Johnson Chapel, Amherst College.   For more information: LitFest Calendar.