Massachusetts Statewide Poetry Calendar 2

Join us on Tuesday, February 25 at 7:00pm for a book talk and signing with Martha Ackmann, author of These Fevered Days: Ten Pivotal Moments in the Making of Emily Dickinson.

About the BookAn engaging, intimate portrait of Emily Dickinson, one of America’s greatest and most-mythologized poets, that sheds new light on her groundbreaking poetry.
On August 3, 1845, young Emily Dickinson declared, “All things are ready” and with this resolute statement, her life as a poet began. Despite spending her days almost entirely “at home” (the occupation listed on her death certificate), Dickinson’s interior world was extraordinary. She loved passionately, was hesitant about publication, embraced seclusion, and created 1,789 poems that she tucked into a dresser drawer.
In These Fevered Days, Martha Ackmann unravels the mysteries of Dickinson’s life through ten decisive episodes that distill her evolution as a poet. Ackmann follows Dickinson through her religious crisis while a student at Mount Holyoke, which prefigured her lifelong ambivalence toward organized religion and her deep, private spirituality. We see the poet through her exhilarating frenzy of composition, through which we come to understand her fiercely self-critical eye and her relationship with sister-in-law and first reader, Susan Dickinson. Contrary to her reputation as a recluse, Dickinson makes the startling decision to ask a famous editor for advice, writes anguished letters to an unidentified “Master,” and keeps up a lifelong friendship with writer Helen Hunt Jackson. At the peak of her literary productivity, she is seized with despair in confronting possible blindness.
Utilizing thousands of archival letters and poems as well as never-before-seen photos, These Fevered Days constructs a remarkable map of Emily Dickinson’s inner life. Together, these ten days provide new insights into her wildly original poetry and render a concise and vivid portrait of American literature’s most enigmatic figure.

About the AuthorMartha Ackmann, author of These Fevered Days, Curveball, and The Mercury 13, writes about women who have changed America. The recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship, Ackmann taught a popular seminar on Dickinson at Mount Holyoke College and lives in western Massachusetts.

This event is free & open to the public.

The Thirsty Lab Reading Series on 206 Worcester Road in Princeton, MA 01541. The series began in 2013 and happens the fourth and fifth Tuesdays of every month from 7-9 p.m. There is no open. The reader has the full two hours to use as s/he wishes. Some read two sets of 30-45 minutes. Some bring musicians to play behind the words.  Some use part of the time for a workshop session and discussion. There is usually a bottle of wine to share, some home baked treats, great discussion and a poetically intelligent audience. A list of readers scheduled for 2020 follows:
 
2020
 
January 28                                                     Michael Milligan
February 25                                                  John Hodgen
March 24                                                       Jenith Charpentier
March 31                                                       Jeffrey Levine
April 28                                                          Patrick Donnelly
May 26                                                           Kathleen Fagley
June 23                                                          Sarah St. George
June 30                                                          Susan Roney-O’Brien
July 28                                                           Susan Boucher
August 25                                                      Richard Fox
September 22                                              Elizabeth McKim
September 29                                              Heather McPherson
October 27                                                     Bruce Galli
November 24                                                 David Surette

Please join us on February 25th for our monthly open mic and featured poetry reading series The Poetorium at Starlite hosted by Paul Szlosek.. It will be a full evening of poetry and spoken word starting with a brief interview on stage with our featured poet Ron Whittle (Author of Goodbye Again, Postcards From a War Zone, & In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Grandson), followed by a poetry reading by our feature, a 10-minute tribute to a dead poet by a guest reader, a short intermission, and then the open mic (with 5-minute slots for each reader). Admission is free (but a hat will be passed to pay our features)