Here’s a quick note to tell you I’m going on the radio tomorrow, Tuesday July 19 on Joe Donahue’s Round Table on W A M C, beginning around 10:05 am. It’s a lot of fun to sit there with a mic in front of me and pretend I’m talking to all of you at once.  And not one of you can talk back, either! It’s also a lot of fun just to pretend  I know what I’m talking about!  Well, tune in tomorrow and find out for sure.

And while I have your attention: we have two readings coming up for you next week, Jonathan Baumbach  on Monday July 25 and Eric Lamet on Tuesday July 26.  Both events begin at 5 pm at Get Lit @ The Bookstore.

Baumbach has written over a dozen novels, was the co-founder of The Fiction Collective back in the 7os, and has been at the fore in experimental fiction writing since the beginning.  Here’s what fellow author Michael Cunningham has to say about him. ” Baumbach has been a hero of mine since I started writing. I was then, and remain today, avid for novelists who push the limits of the novel’s form without sacrificing its traditional human juices.  Baumbach is such a writer.”

Jonathan’s new book “Dreams of Molly”, just published as a paperback original by Dzanc Books, is “a knock at the door of memory, and everything answers . . .”

Eric Lamet was born in Vienna, and grew up in Italy during the Second World War.  His memoir, “A Child at Confino: The True Story of a Jewish Boy and His Mother in Mussolini’s Italy.” Originally published by Syracuse University Preess, it has just been republished by Adams Media Book Group in paperback.

He has been a featured speaker in recent years around Berkshire County, engaging listeners with first hand accounts of a childhood in war time.

So, mark your schedules: Tuesday July 19 in the comfort of your own home at 10:05 on 90.3 fm radio, then next Monday July 25 and Tuesday July 26 two readings at The Bookstore beginning at 5 pm.

Summer’s not summer without writers coming to read from and talk about their books.

This coming Saturday at 5 pm we host Ditta Oliker, PhD whose “HIDE & SEEK: Reclaiming Childhood’s Lost Potential” is one of those books that gets deep praise by those of us lucky enough to find it, more than the wide praise it deserves only because we haven’t told everyone we know about it yet!

Discovering survival systems coming from hidden messages of childhood and taking psychodynamic theory from her theater background, Dr. Oliker has woven together a terrific narrative.  Her friend from theater days in Los Angeles Marge Champion introduced us last month and we came up with the idea of an evening for you.

Probably I’ll introduce Marge and she’ll introduce Ditta.  I love hosting these kinds of events and I hear from you that you love them too.

I know you’re busy these summer days,  (I know, I see some of you every day.)  but make some time to come by for this one,  put it on your schedule if you can.

Dr. Ditta Oliker “HIDE & SEEK, at The Bookstore Saturday July 16 at 5 pm.

Matt

Summer is nigh and we have a few select evenings of talks and readings scheduled for you for the next two months.   They’ll each start at 5 pm (except for the gallery opening I’ll tell you about in the next mailing) and feature either a local writer or someone with very local connections.

Berkshires are a wonderful place and it’s my pleasure to host these events.

Pioneer valley intreptid journalist Jonathan Green  http://www.jonathangreenonline.com comes to us this coming Monday night, July 11 at 5 pm with the paperback edition of MURDER IN THE HIGH HIMALAYA: Loyalty, Tragedy, and Escape from Tibet, just published this month by Public Affairs Press.

September 2006 a 17 year old Tibetan nun attempts escape only to be shot down by Chinese border guards in full view of a group of western mountain climbers nineteen miles east of Mt. Everest. Cho Oyu mountain is a warm up for elite climbers before they climb Everest. Cho Oyu mountain also offers a gateway to freedom through a secret glacial path: the Nangpa La.

Green, who has won awards from Amnesty International for his reporting, now reflects on morality and freedom in the shadow land at the rooftop of the world.

Get Lit wine bar will be open for the reading, and free refreshments will be available as well.

Jonathan Green, MURDER IN THE HIGH HIMALAYA, Monday July 11 at 5 pm.

SUMMER 2011 SCHEDULE (SO FAR):                                                                                         All events begin at 5 pm unless otherwise noted.

Monday July 11 Jonathan Green MURDER IN THE HIGH HIMALAYA: Loyalty, Tragedy, and Escape from Tibet

Saturday July 16 Ditta Oliker HIDE & SEEK: Reclaiming Childhood’s Lost Potential

Monday July 25 Jonathan Baumbach DREAMS OF MOLLY

Tuesday July 26 Eric Lamet A CHILDHOOD IN CONFINO

Sunday August 7 Daisy Rockwell POLITICAL ANIMAL II show runs through Sept 6. Artist’s opening reception 5 – 7  pm Shade Gallery @ The Bookstore

Monday August 8 Rabbi Bill Cutter MIDRASH AND MEDICINE: Healing Body and Soul in the Jewish Interpretive Tradition

Monday August 15 Karen Chase JAMALI KAMALI: A Tale of Passion in Mughal India

Tuesday August 23 Gerry Elias DEATH AND THE MAIDEN

GET LIT open for all events!

We will be offering a taste of romantic Andalucía to mid-Berkshire county on Sunday, June 26th when a local novelist will be joined by two local flamenco guitarists. Novelist Claudia Ricci will read from Seeing Red, a novel of love and self-discovery set in New England and Southern Spain.
Ricci, a student of flamenco guitar for 12 years, will be joined by two area flamenco guitarists, Jose Miralles and Lee Rausch. The Pittsfield visual artist who created the powerful cover art for Seeing Red, Kellie Meisl, will also join the celebration of art and culture that takes the reader from the slopes of Mt. Greylock to the deep gorges of Andalucía.

Readers follow Ronda through Spain on her journey of love and self-discovery as she explores her marriage, motherhood, infidelity, and loss, all the while nurturing a once-forgotten passion for dance that transforms and empowers her.

Reading and festivities begin at 4 pm. See you then.

Matt

Morepoetry coming our way. Poets from the Millay Society poetry workshop are coming to The Bookstore for a group reading Sunday June 19 at 6 pm.

Peter Bergman, executive director of the Edna St. Vincent Millay Society leads an annual poetry workshop at Steepletop, Millay’s home in nearby Austerlitz, N.Y.

New poetry developed in the workshop and other pieces by eight poets from around the region will be presented. The poets are Stephen Applin,  Cindy Coburn, John Foy Lord, Karen Schoemer, Beverly Bader, Creighton Brown, Mary Jane Hansen and Bergman.

I’ve been reading Millay since I’m fourteen years old and I’m still (or finally) finding new meanings everywhere in her work.  What a treat it must be for these poets to be working at Steepletop!

Pre-reading gathering at 6, reading will begin at 6:30.

Free admission. Refreshments.

Get Lit is open. Summer is here. No better place to be.

Our next event is a reading of JAMALI-KAMALI on Saturday June 11 starting at 5 pm.

And who or what is Jamali-Kamali? some of you might ask. Some others of you may remember the poet Karen Chases’s blog from India that I reprinted and sent out weekly earlier this year.

She wrote from the Jaipur Literary Festival http://jaipurliteraturefestival.org at the end of January, to which she had been invited to celebrate the Indian publication of her new book “Jamali-Kamali: A Tale of Passion in Mughal India”.  Now the book has been published here in the U.S. and we are holding our own celebration for her.

In a park, just off a busy street in Delhi, the 16^th century Sufi court poet Jamali is buried in a tomb next to Kamali.  According to oral tradition, Kamali was the poet’s homosexual lover, but little about the two men is known.  Lenox poet Karen Chase, while in India on a writing residency in 2004, was struck by contrasting accounts and was inspired to envision the love and longing between the two.

As she says in an interview with Time Out Delhi in February of this year, “I would say I imagined their relationship entirely. What I researched was the details of their surroundings.”

The result is a book-length poem, in which she assumed, for the most part, the voice of Sheikh Fazlu’llah, the sixteenth century poet who wrote under the name of ‘Jamali’.

What am I saying? The result is a beautiful piece of writing, an inspired piece of writing; actually, its the kind of writing that leaves beauty and inspiration behind, that forges a new world of images that can actually leave you gasping . . .

With an introduction by Milo Beach, a scholar of Indian art, “Jamali-Kamali”
has just been published in the U.S. and after a one more celebration of the book at this year’s American Booksellers Convention in New York two weeks ago, Karen will read from and sign copies here at The Bookstore on Saturday June 11, at 5 pm.  I urge you to make the time to come here for the occasion!

Matt

Our neighbor poet Elizabeth Elliott elliott.com joins us this coming Friday night May 6 at 7 pm, reading from her new book PLACATE THE JAWS.

With over 40 new poems, the book also features a CD of many of the pieces as well as three paintings by Bayard Hollins. Why include paintings in a book of poetry? Elizabeth’s short introductory essay to Hollins’ work on page 73 provides a wonderful if obvious explanation.

Elizabeth’s poetry is a joy to read and provides even a greater pleasure when recited by the author.  Here’s an unsolicited tribute by Vermont poet David Budbill, after reading Elizabeth’s earlier work WINTER FERRY:

“Whether talking about love, sex, growing old, family, nature or obliquely about current politics, Elizabeth Elliott’s elevated, almost archaic language, her elegiac tone and her piercing, relentless eye bring into stark relief the angst and quandaries of the post-modern age.  She is always in control of cadence and syntax. Her love of sound as well as sense sings through the urgency of these poems.”

And besides all that,  she’s one of my favorite customers here at The Bookstore, a kindred spirit of those of us anyhow connected to the world of books and words!

We’ll be serving light refreshments as well as wine and non-alcoholic beverages, all at Get Lit, our new wine bar here at The Bookstore. Earlier works will be available as well.

Elizabeth Elliott, this coming Friday night May 6 at 7 pm.  It’s gonna be a treat!

We’ve got a different kind of event coming for you this Friday, April 22, at 7 pm.

It’s a mix of philosophy and practical advice.  The author is Rita Foley and her book is called “Reboot Your Life: Energize Your Career & Life by Taking a Break”. Reboot.com

If the title makes you nod your head I want you to come to the booksigning. If the title makes you shake your head, then I still want you to come to the booksigning.

She begins chapter one with a quote (I almost said ‘quip’) from Goethe, one I learned when I served on a board of directors a couple of years ago, that I immediately liked:

“Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now.”

This is not news.  What is news though, and what will always be news is how an author or, in this case 4 co-authors, known collectively as The Sabbatical Sisters, can take an old idea known as “Taking a Break” and apply it to contemporary life the way they’ve done.

Call this The Bookstore’s answer to today’s books on business and life management.  We’ve never had a business section in The Bookstore, as many of you have pointed out to me.  Don’t think I haven’t been listening. But I like this book and the way its ideas are presented.  Rita Foley is a friend of our friend Mary Spina and that, as they say, speaks volumes!

Rita Foley, “Reboot Your Life” Friday April 22 at 7 pm.

March-April events

all begin at 7 p.m.

Friday March 18 Kevin O’Hara guest bar tender and story teller at Get Lit

Tuesday March 22 Informal gathering at Get Lit honoring Berkshire Festival of Women Writers

Friday March 25 poetry reading (with chocolate from Chocolate Springs) with Marie-Elizabeth and Taylor Mali

Saturday March 26 poetry reading with Whit Griffin and Andy Hughes

Friday April 1 poetry reading with Hannah Fries and Deborah Bernhardt

Friday April 8 reading & signing with local author Alex Olchoswki,  fiction: “The Commodity of Love”

Friday April 22 Rita Foley (of the The Sabbatical Sisters) reading and q & a: “Reboot Your Life: Engergize your Career and Life by Taking a Break”