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Poetry
Saturday 2:00 PM
Central Congregational Church Social Hall
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The Poetry of David Ferry and Marge Piercy
David Ferry will read poems from his most recent book, Bewilderment, and several translations from poems they’re related to thematically. Marge Piercy will read poems covering a wide range of subjects from her most recent collection, The Hunger Moon, and from Made in Detroit, a book that Knopf is bringing out early next year.
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Fiction
Saturday 2:30 PM
Firehouse Center
for the Arts
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Real Life in Literature: The Art of Mixing Fact and Fiction
Blurring the lines between fact and fiction, "realistic fiction" offers an engaging novel that is plausible, yet wholly crafted by the author. Listen as three best-selling authors discuss their use of historic persons, settings, and events to support their imagined story lines. Join Jenna Blum, Caroline Leavitt, and J. Courtney Sullivan as they talk about the challenge of weaving fact into their fiction.
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Nonfiction
Saturday 2:30 PM
Old South Church
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Richard Russo reads from Elsewhere: A Memoir
After eight compelling works of fiction, Pulitzer Prize winner Richard Russo applies his writing skills to a memoir. Elsewhere: A Memoir is a hilarious, moving, and always surprising account of Russo’s life, his parents, and the upstate New York town they all struggled variously to escape.
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Poetry
Saturday 2:30 PM
Old South Church
– Social Hall
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Annual Youth Poetry Slam
All ages are invited to witness the fast-paced competition of the Youth Poetry Slam, an annual tradition drawn straight from the heart of Chicago's Green Mill. Defined as “the art of competitive performance poetry," this modern oral tradition gives poets a limited amount of time to impress judges selected from the audience, while other audience members are strongly encouraged to participate by cheering, whistling, or mildly heckling the hosts or judges. Adults and kids alike learn the power of a single word, line, or figure of speech when spoken aloud. Parents of young listeners should keep in mind that slam can be a spontaneous and uncensored art form. Youth poets ages 14-20 should bring at least two poems to sign up and compete in this open slam! Unaffiliated audience members may be invited to judge the event. Hosted by Poetry SlamMaster Alex Charalambides.
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Nonfiction
Saturday 2:30 PM
Unitarian Universalist Church
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All Creatures Great and Small: The Bond Between Humans and Animals
What is it that connects us to animals? From the time we’re young, we’re drawn to the cats, dogs, and other pets that live in our houses; fascinated by raccoons, foxes, and rabbits we see in the wild; and eager to ride horses or pet sheep we encounter on farms. In The Soul of All Living Creatures, veterinary behaviorist Dr. Vint Virga explores the relationships we forge with animals and what they can teach us about our lives. In her memoir, The $60,000 Dog, Lauren Slater writes about the animals that have “enchanted and inhabited” her throughout her life, examining the value they bring that goes far beyond dollars and cents. Join both authors for a thought-provoking discussion about the bonds between humans and “all creatures, great and small.”
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Nonfiction
Saturday 2:30 PM
Newburyport
Art Association
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Chasing Alaska
C. B. Bernard left his native New England to be a reporter on an Island in Alaska’s Inside Passage. Once there, he learned that a distant relation—Captain Joe Bernard—had made a similar trek a century earlier. Captain Joe spent decades sailing the Arctic, enduring shipwrecks, horrific winters, starvation, living among the Eskimo and Inuit, and giving his name to landmarks across the north. During his own time in Alaska, C. B. Bernard chased the legacy of this explorer, tracking Joe’s correspondence, locating artifacts donated to museums, and recovering Joe’s journals. Join author C.B. Bernard for a fascinating conversation with Leslie Hendrickson about the place that lured both him and Captain Joe, two men anchored beneath the Northern Lights in freezing, far-flung waters, separated only by time.
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Nonfiction
Saturday 2:30 PM
The Book Rack
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Puritan Myths & Stereotypes Debunked!
There was more lawbreaking among the Puritan rank and file than is commonly known, from public nudity (as civil disobedience) to felonies of every stripe. Join Tom Juergens, author of Wicked Puritans of Essex County (The History Press), to learn about those who beat, stole, raped, murdered, and fornicated their way through the 17th century. And who from beyond the grave force the question: just how universal was the Puritans’ much-vaunted moral superiority?
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Fiction
Saturday 2:30 PM
Jabberwocky Bookshop
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Ann Hood reads from The Obituary Writer: A Novel
On the day John F. Kennedy is inaugurated, Claire, a young wife and mother obsessed with the glamour of Jackie, struggles over the decision of whether to stay in a secure marriage or to follow the man she loves. Decades earlier, in 1919, Vivien Lowe, an obituary writer, is searching for her lover who disappeared in the Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906. The surprising connection between these two women will change Claire’s life in unexpected and extraordinary ways.
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Nonfiction
Saturday 2:30 PM
Program Room, Newburyport
Public Library
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Trapped Under the Sea
Neil Swidey tells the gripping true story of five men who were sent into a dark, airless, miles-long Boston Harbor tunnel, hundreds of feet below the ocean, to do a nearly impossible job—with deadly results. He takes you into the exotic world behind a wondrous megaproject, and introduces you to the fascinating real-life characters who were asked to rescue it. The result is a taut, action-packed narrative that will help open your eyes to how the world around us really works.
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