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

Noontime Book Conversation This month the group will discuss Brian Dillon’s book, Essayism: On Form, Feeling, & Nonfiction.   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.

• Tuesday, June 11th at 7:00pm (Talk)

North Star: Self-Directed Learning for Teens co-founder Kenneth Danford will talk about his new book, Learning is Natural, School is Optional: The North Star Approach to Offering Teens a Head Start on Life.   For as long as there has been compulsory schooling, students have asked, “Do I really have to go to school through 12th grade?   Isn’t there some other way?” The conventional answer, “No, there is no other way.   You just have to make the best of it,” didn’t satisfy Kenneth Danford & Joshua Hornick.   In 1996, they left their public school teaching jobs to help students live, learn, & grow in a different environment.   The method is simple, powerful, & relatively easily accessible, but most teens & families need some support to choose this path.   This is the story of North Star—which began here in Amherst & is now located in Sunderland— & how it has provided support to hundreds of students over the past two decades.

• Wednesday, June 12th at 7:00pm (Talk)

Christopher Ives will talk about his new book, Zen on the Trail: Hiking as Pilgrimage.   Ives is a professor of religious studies at Stonehill College.   In his teaching & writing he focuses on ethics in Zen Buddhism & Buddhist approaches to nature & environmental issues.   He is author of several books, including Imperial-Way Zen: Ichikawa Hakugen’s Critique & Lingering Questions for Buddhist Ethics; Zen Awakening & Society; as well as several translations.   He is on the editorial board of the Journal of Buddhist Ethics & is serving on the steering committee of the Religion & Ecology Group of the American Academy of Religion.   Evoking the writings of Gary Snyder, Bill Bryson, & Cheryl Strayed, Zen on the Trail explores the broad question of how to be outside in a meditative way.

• Friday, June 14th at 7:00pm (Film, talk, panel)

“Personal Change through Climate Change” at the Amherst Middle School Auditorium, 170 Chesnut Street, Amherst:

4:00-5:30pm —Documentary Film: Unfractured, featuring Sandra Steingraber, NY biologist & ecologist
5:30-6:00pm — break & tabling by advocacy groups
6:00-7:00pm — Ray Bradley, world-renowned climatologist, will discuss the good news & the bad news about global warming
7:00-8:00pm — Panel Conversation: Finding Our way through Climate Change, with Congressman James McGovern, Jane Winn, & Ray Bradley

For more information go to the website of the Berkshire Environmental Action Team.

• POSTPONED until Friday June 28 Friday, June 14th at 7:00pm (Poetry reading)

Local poet, writer, life & confidence coach, Sabrina Suarez will read from her new collection of poetry, Hallelujah.   Suarez’s poems shed light on the thoughts & experiences of those who are often forgotten in the struggle with mental illness—the supporters.   What started out as Suarez’s way of coping with the downfall of a relationship & the deterioration of a dear friend’s mental health, turned into a powerful, yet vulnerable tale of love, loss, recovery, & peace.

• Sunday, June 16th at 7:30pm (Reading)

Mitchell Jackson & Khadijah Queen will read in the Old Chapel, UMass, Amherst, as part of the Juniper Summer Writing Institute.   The venue is wheelchair accessible, free, & open to the public.   For more information, go here.

• Monday, June 17th at 7:30pm (Reading)

Dara Wier & Joy Williams will read in the Old Chapel, UMass, Amherst, as part of the Juniper Summer Writing Institute.   The venue is wheelchair accessible, free, & open to the public.   For more information, go here.

• Tuesday, June 18th at 7:30pm (Reading)

Ross Gay & Jordy Rosenberg will read in the Old Chapel, UMass, Amherst, as part of the Juniper Summer Writing Institute.   The venue is wheelchair accessible, free, & open to the public.   For more information, go here.

• Wednesday, June 19th at 7:30pm (Reading)

Jaquira Díaz, Safiya Sinclair, & Bianca Stone will read in the Old Chapel, UMass, Amherst, as part of the Juniper Summer Writing Institute.   The venue is wheelchair accessible, free, & open to the public.   For more information, go here.

• Thursday, June 20th at 5:30pm (Reading)

CA Conrad & LeAnne Howe will read in the Old Chapel, UMass, Amherst, as part of the Juniper Summer Writing Institute.   The venue is wheelchair accessible, free, & open to the public.   For more information, go here.

• Friday, June 21st at 7:30pm (Reading)

Noy Holland & Ocean Vuong will read in Bezanson Recital Hall, Fine Arts Center, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, as part of the Juniper Summer Writing Institute.   The venue is wheelchair accessible, free, & open to the public.   For more information, go here.

• Tuesday, June 25th at 7:00pm (Talk)

Jill Franks will talk about her new book, Woody Allen & Charlie Chaplin: Little Men, Big Auteurs.   Frank is a film studies & English literature professor at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee.   She is author of numerous books, including Islands and the Modernists: The Allure of Isolation in Art, Literature & Science; & British & Irish Women Writers & the Women’s Movement: Six Literary Voices of Their Times.   Her new book looks at the comic archetype of the Little Man--a “nobody” who stands up to unfairness; exploring Chaplin & Allen’s films as barometers of their respective historical moments, marking cultural shifts from modernism to postmodernism.

• Friday, June 28th at 7:00pm (Poetry reading)

Local poet, writer, life & confidence coach, Sabrina Suarez will read from her new collection of poetry, Hallelujah.   Suarez’s poems shed light on the thoughts & experiences of those who are often forgotten in the struggle with mental illness—the supporters.   What started out as Suarez’s way of coping with the downfall of a relationship & the deterioration of a dear friend’s mental health, turned into a powerful, yet vulnerable tale of love, loss, recovery, & peace.