The Salem Literary Festival kicks off at Old Town Hall. Join the organizers, participants and other enthusiasts of the written and spoken word for wine and edibles, and pick up a program of events. Can't wait? Visit www.salemlitfest.com!
From Mesopotamian clay tablets to the Bible, and ever since, wine has inspired some of our great writers (perhaps in more ways than one!). Join Cathy Huyghe for readings about wine, a discussion about the historical role wine has played in literature, and sip some of the inspirational potion. Cathy Huyghe, author of 365daysofwine.com, writes about drinking wine every day in the Boston area.
Calling all writers of poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction, as well as storytellers! Come regale your literary-minded friends with the best of your work at this lively and diverse open mic. Your turn on the mic should be a maximum of 8 minutes long, so that we can hear as many of our writers as possible. Names will be put into a hat and chosen at random for performance.
Chris Fauske has recently published the first full-length English translation of the Norwegian novel Skipper Worse by Alexander Lange Kielland. Skipper Worse is a penetrating portrait of emotions and passions in a small coastal Norwegian town, where love and marriage struggle with pride and ambition. One of the most powerful and representative novels of the late 19th-century European realism, Skipper Worse reveals why Alexander Lange Kielland belongs in the company of Charles Dickens, Edith Wharton, and Katherine Mansfield. Chris Fauske is the interim dean of Arts and Sciences at Salem State College. He is the author or editor of four books on the Church of Ireland and other eighteenth-century Irish topics, as well as the translator of Skipper Worse. When not riding his Bianchi, he can usually be found at home in Ipswich, MA.
Winner of the 2006 New Criterion Poetry Prize, Bill Coyle's The God of This World to His Prophet offers peoms translated from the Swedish that blend marvelously with his own graceful, masterful work. "Reading "Aubade," the tiny poem that concludes Coyle's debut collection, is like witnessing a hole-in-one. It's a single, flawless stroke..." Eric Mchenry, NY Times Sunday Book Review. Bill Coyle's poems and translations have appeared widely in magazines and anthologies, including the Hudson Review, New Republic, and Poetry. His first volume of poetry, The God of This World to His Prophet, won the New Criterion Poetry Prize and was published in 2006. He works in the Writing Center at Salem State College and lives in Somerville, MA.
This event is underwritten by the Graduate School at Salem State College.
The Parlor, North Shore’s Independent Writing Center offers writers the opportunity to have a "speed date" with AGNI fiction editor William Delman and to receive feedback on their work. Sign up and submit your manuscript at http://www.the-parlor.org/classes/register.php?class_pk=4. Spaces are limited! Manuscripts should be a maximum of five pages, poetry or fiction. Slots will be given out on a first-come, first-served basis and are FREE! William Delman has been a fiction editor at AGNI Magazine for the last six years, and a manuscript reviewer for CreativeByline.com for the last two. His work has appeared in The Massachusetts Review, The Literary Review, The Briar Cliff Review, Salamander, Rhino, Publio, Disquieting Muses Quarterly, SHAMPOO, and many other fine publications. In 2006 William received the Academy of American Poets Prize at Boston University. Currently he is the Director of The Bay State Underground reading series.
Please join Mayor Kim Driscoll as she returns to Cornerstone to share her love for books. The Mayor will be reading The Incredible Book Eating Boy by Oliver Jeffers, and I Am Absolutely Too Small for School by Lauren Child. Story time followed by snack.
This event is underwritten by the School of Arts & Sciences at Salem State College.
Join us for a game of SCRABBLE® and compete against friends or fellow enthusiasts. Please pre-register for this free event by emailing info@salemathenaeum.net. Become the Champion of the 2007 Salem Literary Festival and win a cool prize!
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Come and meet a wide array of authors and see what they’re working on now. Authors include Janet Young, Bonnie Hurd Smith and more!
Procrastination and writer's block are occupational hazards of the writing life, and the bane of many writers' existences. But they needn't be heart-rending or career-ending problems. Both can, in fact, be easily addressed once you've figured out the specific nature of your block and what's causing it. (Hint: it's not that you're lazy or uncommitted—so stop blaming yourself!) This lively and illuminating workshop will help you understand the specific nature and causes of your procrastination problem or block, including the contributing factors of perfectionism, negativity, hypersensitivity and panic. Then it will offer techniques that any writer can use to easily and quickly get back on track. The great news is that, once a writer actually starts solving his or her procrastination problem or block, as opposed to just dithering over it and blaming himself or herself, change can happen amazingly fast!
The workshop leader, Hillary Rettig, has been teaching artists, activists, entrepreneurs and other "ambitious dreamers" how to be happier and more productive for nearly ten years. She has led workshops on time management and overcoming procrastination at Grub Street Writers, Chicks Who Write, and many other venues. She is author of The Lifelong Activist: How to Change the World Without Losing Your Way (Lantern Books, 2006) and the free e-book The Little Guide To Beating Procrastination, Perfectionism and Blocks, which may be downloaded at www.lifelongactivist.com.
Literally Salem 2008, the Salem Literature Festival, will be holding a Used Book Donation drive at Old Town Hall, Essex Street entrance, on Saturday September 13th from 12pm to 3pm. Hands Across the Water/Book Tree (www.surplusbooksforcharity.org) will be on-site to collect used books in good condition for donation to needy schools and libraries, nationally and internationally. Rita's Ice of 188 Essex Street (Museum Place Mall), Salem will be giving out coupons for a free small ice for donations of five books or more.
Books can also be dropped off at Rita's Ice anytime up until 3pm on Saturday; these books also qualify for the free coupon.
Loose the latchstring and peer into the places where Nathaniel Hawthorne passed back and forth from nineteenth century New England to the fertile country of his imagination. From Salem to Bowdoin College, and through Lenox and Concord, Salemite John Hardy Wright trails the famous author to his "old accustomed chambers" and reveals the inspiration behind an American literary legend. John Hardy Wright was the assistant curator of the former Essex Institutes Museum for 16 years. He was a Historical Society consultant for 12 years and was the Interim Director for the Historical Society of Old Newbury for one year. Wright has published eight other books with Arcadia Publishing.
Performers from Debra Crosbys talent TV show will sing songs from pop and rock to Broadway, and acting students from Debras Crosbys acting studio will read short excerpts from some of our all time favorite classic books. Fun for the whole family!! Debra Crosby's successful career includes acting, acting coaching, improvisation, writing, producing and directing. She founded A Quest Actor's Studio in 2005. The web site for Debra Crosby's Talent Quest TV is www.talentquesttvshow.com & the web site for A Quest Actors Studio is: acting.aqueststudio.com.
Join investigative reporter and novelist Hank Phillippi Ryan (Prime Time, Face Time), New York Times bestseller Toni L.P. Kelner (Without Mercy), and professional archaeologist Dana Cameron (Ashes and Bones) as they discuss writing, mysteries, how they draw from real-life experiences--and what happens when your characters take you beyond real life and into adventure! These award-winning authors and members of Sisters in Crime will take audience questions and sign books following the discussion.
Megan Kelley Hall is the author of the breakout Young Adult novel Sisters of Misery, which revolves around witchcraft, runic mythology, the supernatural, family ties and an ominous high-school clique. In a fictional town which closely resembles Salem, fifteen-year-old Maddie Crane must negotiate family secrets, small-town gossip and the social hell which is high school to try to save her gorgeous, eccentric cousin. Kelley Hall studied creative writing at Skidmore College, has written for publications such as Elle, Glamour and The Boston Globe, and is a partner at Kelley & Hall Book Publicity and Promotion, which she opened with her mother and sister.
This free workshop for writers will focus on ways authors can improve their chances for publication through networking and promotion. Amy is the author of the newly-released novel Tethered, which Booklist calls "a haunting, gracefully rendered debut". It is the story of a Brockton-based mortician who must adjust her solitary existence as she is drawn to help a young girl in peril. Amy MacKinnon is a former congressional aide whose commentaries have appeared in the Christian Science Monitor, Boston Globe, Seattle Times, and on National Public Radio affiliates, and This American Life. She began her writing career at age eleven when she nominated her dad to the National Father of the Year Committee. He won. Lynne Griffin is a nationally recognized expert on family life. She is the author of Negotiation Generation: Take Back Your Parental Authority Without Punishment. Lynne's debut novel, Life Without Summer will be published in April 2009 by St. Martin's Press.
This lavishly illustrated volume examines the major figures of the Transcendentalist movement and explores the places that inspired them. Chapters spotlight Cambridge (Emerson) and Walden (Thoreau), Salem (Hawthorne), Amherst (Dickinson) and Concord and the utopian communities of Brook Farm and the Fruitlands. Todd is a full-time freelance writer and photographer specializing in literary and cultural travel. A Journey into the Transcendentalists' New England and A Journey into Ireland's Literary Revival have received favorable notices in the pages of Vanity Fair and The Boston Globe, among other publications. Todd has written for National Geographic Traveler and Backpacker, and also writes a monthly column on literary road trips for Automotive Traveler.
This Booksense Editor's Choice Selection is the compelling tale of one man's quest to find a runaway slave and the incredible odyssey that changed both of their lives forever. Richard Russo, the Pulitzer Prize winning author of Empire Falls, has said of Soul Catcher, "The book will be compared to Cold Mountain of course, but White's book is a more dramatic narrative and every bit as richly detailed and beautifully written...(it) reads like an adventure story." A New York Times Notable author, Michael White has written four novels, A Brother's Blood, The Blind Side of the Heart, A Dream of Wolves and The Garden of the Martyrs, and a collection of short stories, Marked Men. He teaches at Fairfield University and at the Stonecoast MFA program in Maine.
The Salem Arts Association is hosting a lit-themed mixer with featured readings and an open mic starting at 7 pm on Saturday, September 13th. Featured readers include: Chip Cheek representing Quick Fiction, a literary magazine published by Salem Arts Association members; Wendy Snow-Lang Salem Arts Association Member and member of North Shore Writer's Group; and J.D. Scrimgeour from the creative writing program at Salem State College.
The Salem Arts Association is the premier membership organization for artists and art-lovers living and working in the Salem area. The mission of this artist-led organization is to bring art, in all its forms, to the community and bring the community, in all its diversity, to the arts in Salem. We do this by producing art exhibits, readings, performances, and special events, operating a retail gallery, exhibition and performance space in Salem's Artists Row, and by forging important community partnerships. In March of 2008, the Salem Arts Association was nominated for the Salem Chamber of Commerce 2007 Community Service Award. See more and learn more about membership at www.salemartsassociation.org.
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