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Amherst Books
8 Main Street  Amherst, MA 01002   ·  413.256.1547 ·  800.503.5865 · books @ amherstbooks.com   
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Events

Please note: all events are canceled until further notice.


< March 2020 >

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.

Fifth Annual Amherst College LitFest   “Writing at the White House: An Insider’s Account“ Obama aide Ben Rhodes & his Random House editor Andy Ward ’74 will talk with Cullen Murphy ’74 in Johnson Chapel, Amherst College.   For more information: LitFest Calendar.
Abdi Nor Iftin will read from his new memoir, Call Me American, at the Amherst Regional Middle School Auditorium here in Amherst, as part of the Jones Library’s “On the Same Page” program.   For more information see here.
POSTPONED until March 24thNoontime Book Conversation This month the group will discuss The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid.   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.   April’s book is the Ann Carson translation of Sophocles’ Antigone.
CANCELED Help Amherst College professor Aneeka Henderson celebrate the publication of her new book, Veil & Vow: Marriage Matters in Contemporary African American Culture, in the Bassett Gallery, Mead Art Museum, Amherst College.   Henderson places familiar, often politicized questions about the crisis of African American marriage in conversation with a rich cultural archive that includes fiction by Terry McMillan & Sister Souljah, music by Anita Baker, & films such as The Best Man.   Seeking to move beyond simple assessments of marriage as “good” or “bad” for African Americans, Henderson examines contemporary texts alongside legislation such as the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act & the Welfare Reform Act, which masked true sources of inequality with crisis-laden myths about African American family formation.
Erika Lee will speak about “Xenophobia in America: How We Got Here & What’s At Stake” at the Integrative Learning Center, N151, UMass, Amherst, as the 2020 Distinguished Annual Lecture sponsored by the UMass History Department.   Lee is author of The Making of Asian America: A History & At America’s Gates: Chinese Immigration During the Exclusion Era, 1882-1943.   For more information see here.
CANCELED Franny Choi & Fatimah Asghar will read from recent work.   Choi is a writer of poems, essays, & plays.   She is the author of two poetry collections—most recently, Soft Science.   Asghar, author of the new poetry collection, If They Come for Us, is a nationally touring poet, performer, educator, & writer.   She is the writer of Brown Girls, an Emmy-nominated web series that highlights friendships between women of color.
Emily Dickinson reading at bookstore
CANCELED“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.
CANCELED CHI Salon: What is a Short Story? Beth Piatotewill read from her new collection of stories, The Beadworkers, at the Center for Humanistic Inquiry, Frost Library, Amherst College.   Piatote is author of numerous scholarly essays & creative works, & is the recipient of multiple awards & fellowships.   She is Nez Perce enrolled with Colville Confederated Tribes & lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Noontime Book Conversation This month the group will discuss The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid.   Meeting ordinarily on the second Tuesday (today’s conversation was originally schueduled on March 10th) 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.   April’s book is the Ann Carson translation of Sophocles’ Antigone.
POSTPONED Local author Jennifer Rosner will read from her first novel, The Yellow Bird Sings.   Rosner is the author of If A Tree Falls: A Family's Quest to Hear & Be Heard, a memoir about raising her deaf daughters in a hearing, speaking world.   Her children’s book, The Mitten String, is a Sydney Taylor Book Award Notable.  Rosner’s writing has appeared in the New York Times, The Massachusetts Review, The Forward, & elsewhere.   PLEASE NOTE, THIS EVENT HAS BEEN POSTPONED UNTIL MAY 28.
CANCELEDKristin Bock & Janaka Stucky will read from recent poetry.   Bock is the author of Cloisters & the forthcoming Dear Life Form.   She received her MFA from the University of Massachusetts, & has published widely in many literary magazines & journals, including Columbia, The Seattle Review, Prairie Schooner, The Black Warrior Review, & Fence.   Stucky is a mystic poet, performer, & founding editor of the award-winning press, Black Ocean.   He has performed in over 60 cities around the world & his poems have appeared in such journals as Denver Quarterly, Fence, & North American Review.   He is also a two-time National Haiku Champion.   His most recent book is Ascend Ascend.
POSTPONED Margo Stever & Stephanie Stickland will read from recent poetry.   Stever is the author of The Lunatic Ball, Frozen Spring, & most recently, Cracked Piano. She is the founding & current co-editor of Slapering Hol Press, the small press imprint of The Hudson Valley Writers’ Center.   Strickland, a poet, essayist & reviewer, has published nine volumes of print poetry & co-authored eleven digital poems, including How the Universe Was Made: Poems New & Selected.   Her latest collection of poetry is Ringing the Changes.  

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