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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.)
- Monday, November 3rd at 5:00 P.M.(Book launch party)
Join
Richard Gassan in celebrating the publication of his new book,
The Birth of American Tourism: New York, the Hudson Valley, & American Culture, 1790-1835. Gassan, who earned his Ph.D. at the University of Massachusetts, taught there & at Bay Path College, is now assistant professor of history at the American University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates.
The Birth of American Tourism traces the origins of American tourism in the Hudson Valley & shows that a confluence of historical accidents—including the proximity of the region to the most rapidly growing financial & population center in the country, an expanding middle class, the construction of an efficient transportation network, & the remarkable beauty of the valley itself, led to the idea of tourism in the young United States.
- Wednesday, November 5th at 4:00 P.M. (Talk)
Feinberg Family Distinguished Lecture Series, 2008-2009: “Measuring the Value of Human Life”Jennifer Hamilton, Assistant Professor of Legal Studies, Hampshire College;
Daniel Gordon, Professor of History, University of Massachusetts; &
Gary Garrison, Ph.D. candidate, History Department, University of Massachusetts, will speak to “Injury: New Perspectives on American Ideas of Suffering & Compensation” in Herter Hall, Room 601, University of Massachusetts. Hamilton is author of
Indigeneity in the Courtroom: Law, Culture, & the Production of Difference in North American Courts; Gordon is author of
Citizens Without Sovereignty: Equality & Sociability in French Thought, 1670-1789; & editor of
Postmodernism & the Enlightenment: New Perspectives in Eighteenth-Century French Intellectual History.
The Feinberg Family Distinguished Lectures Series is hosted by the Department of History at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. For more information go
here.
- Wednesday, November 5th at 8:00 P.M.(Reading)
Yvette Christianse will read as part of the
Amherst College Writing Center's Visiting Writers Series. Christianse is author of a book-length poem,
Castaway, & a novel,
Unconfessed, which was chosen as a finalist in the 2007 Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award given to a novelist for a distinguished first book of fiction. It is based on the court case of a nineteenth century South African slave accused of killing her son.
- Friday, November 7th 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. Tonight’s readers TBA.
- Wednesday, November 12th at 4:00 P.M. (Talk)
Feinberg Family Distinguished Lecture Series, 2008-2009: “Measuring the Value of Human Life”David Carrasco, Neil L. Rudenstine Professor of the Study of Latin America, Harvard Divinity School, will speak to “Mexican Days of the Dead: From the Aztec City of Sacrifice
to Chicano/a Murals” in Lincoln Campus Center, Room 917, University of Massachusetts.   Carrasco is author of many books, including
City of Sacrifice: Violence from the Aztec Empire to the Modern Americas.
The Feinberg Family Distinguished Lectures Series is hosted by the Department of History at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. For more information go
here.
- Thursday, November 13th at 8:00 P.M. (Poetry reading)
Gillian Conoley will read in Memorial Hall at the University of Massachusetts as part of the M.F.A. Program's Visiting Writers Series. Conoley's collections include
Profane Halo;
Lovers in the Used World;
Beckon;
Tall Stranger, finalist for the National Book Critics' Circle Award; &
Some Gangster Pain. A recipient of the Jerome J. Shestack Poetry Prize from
The American Poetry Review, several Pushcart Prizes, a National Endowment for the Arts award, & a Fund for Poetry Award, she is professor & Poet-in-Residence at Sonoma State University, where she is the founder & editor of
Volt.
- Monday, November 17th at 4:00 P.M. (Talk)
Feinberg Family Distinguished Lecture Series, 2008-2009: “Measuring the Value of Human Life”William Darity Jr., Arts & Sciences Professor of Public Policy Studies, Professor of African & African-American Studies &
Economics, Duke University, will speak to “Forty Acres & a Mule in the 21st Century” (Co-sponsored by the W. E. B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies, University of Massachusetts) in The Commons, 2nd floor, Studio Arts Building. Darity is author, with Warren Young & Robert Leeson, of
Economics, Economists and Expectations: From Microfoundations to Macroapplications.
The Feinberg Family Distinguished Lectures Series is hosted by the Department of History at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. For more information go
here.
- Tuesday, November 18th at 4:00 P.M. (Talk)
Jonah Lehrer will lecture in Room 101 of the Campus Center at the University of Massachusetts, on "The Future of Science Is . . . Art". Lehrer's first book,
Proust Was a Neuroscientist, shows how artists such as Proust, Cezanne, & Stravinsky discovered truths about the mind that science is only now rediscovering. It was a
Los Angeles Times' Book of the Year, & Oliver Sacks wrote that it “bridges ‘the two cultures’ with ease & grace. [Lehrer's] clear & vivid writing – incisive & thoughtful, yet sensitive & modest – is a special pleasure.” Lehrer was editor of the
Columbia Poetry Journal & has written for
Nature,
The New Yorker, NPR, NOVA,& the
MIT Technology Review. He also produces a highly regarded blog called
The Frontal Cortex.
- Wednesday, November 19th at 8:00 P.M. (Reading)
Tayari Jones will read from her recent work as part of the
Amherst College Writing Center's Visiting Writers Series. Jones is author of two novels,
Leaving Atlanta, which was named “Novel of the Year” by
Atlanta Magazine, “Best Southern Novel of the Year,” by
Creative Loafing Atlanta; &
The Untelling which, in its turn, was given the Lillian C. Smith Award for New Voices. Jones is an Assistant Professor in the MFA program at Rutgers-Newark University.
- Thursday, November 20th at 5:00 P.M.(Book launch party)
Join us in celebrating the publication of a new book by
Gerald Friedman.
Reigniting the Labor Movement uses information from sixteen countries including the UK, US, Germany & France to chart declining fortunes of the labor movement over recent years. As unions have lost membership, declining economic clout & political leverage has left them as weak props upholding wages & programs for social justice. Since the earliest days of the labor movement, activists have debated the appropriate strategy, the mix of revolutionary & reformist goals & the proper relationship between labor unions & broader social & political movements. So long as the labor movement was growing, moving from gain to gain, debates over strategy could remain abstract, safely confined to academic quarters. Decline & impending failure, however, have now made these urgent debates. Friedman teaches in the Economics Department at the University of Massachusetts & is also author of
State–Making & Labor Movements: France & the United States, 1876–1914
- Thursday, November 20th at 8:00 P.M.(Reading)
Benjamin Parzybok will read from his debut novel,
Couch. Thom is a computer geek whose hacking of a certain Washington-based software giant has won him a little fame but few job prospects. Erik is a smalltime con man, a fast-talker who is never quite quick enough on his feet. Their roommate, Tree, is a confused clairvoyant whose dreams & prophecies may not be completely off base. After a freak accident floods their apartment, the three are evicted—but they have to take their couch with them. The real problem? The couch—huge and orange—won’t let them put it down. Soon the three roommates are on a cross-country trek along back roads, byways, & rail lines, heading far out of Portland & deep into one very weird corner of the American dream. In this exuberant & hilarious debut reminiscent of
The Life of Pi &
Then We Came to the End, an episode of furniture moving gone awry becomes an impromptu quest of self-discovery, secret histories, & unexpected revelations. Parzybok is the creator of
Gumball Poetry, a journal published through gumball machines, & the Black Magic Insurance Agency, a city-wide mystery/treasure hunt.
- Friday, November 21st 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. Tonight’s readers TBA.
- Sunday, November 23rd at 4:00 P.M.(Reading & music)
Join us for an evening of fiction with musical interludes. Pianist
Estela Olevsky will perform & author
Peter Selgin will read from his award-winning fiction. Olevsky is Professor Emeritus of Piano at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst where she chaired the Piano Department for over two decades. She has been a guest teacher at the Hartt College of Music, Mount Holyoke College & held residencies at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro & the National Conservatory of Buenos Aires. She was recently invited by the Central Conservatories of Music in Beijing & Shanghai for performances & master classes. Author of dozens of essays & stories, a novel, & a children's book, Selgin's
Life Goes to the Movies won 2nd Place in the AWP Prize for the Novel & was Finalist for the James Jones First Novel Award. His most recent collection of stories,
Drowning Lessons, won the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction in 2007.