Books

Join Next Stage Arts on Tuesday, August 29 at 7:00pm for an interactive fireside with author Kat Vellos all about friendship in adulthood. What are the biggest challenges of adult friendship and how can we overcome them? How do we “make new friends and keep the old”? What is social wellness and how does it factor into our overall health and wellbeing? And how can we create more meaningful connections with coworkers, who are often the primary source of new friends in adulthood? We’ll dig into all this and more. The fireside chat will be followed by a Q&A so come with your questions too. The discussion will take place at Next Stage Arts, 15 Kimball Hill, in Putney.

“Cultivating meaningful relationships can be a challenge, and as we look to the future of creating a region that is welcoming and inviting to all people, expanding our toolbox can only be a positive thing,” says Keith Marks, Executive Director of Next Stage Arts. “Kat Vellos’ work focuses on creating meaningful platonic relationships and fostering a stronger community dynamic. This evening with Vellos is something we could all use to live in a more civil, connected community.”

On May 30 at 7:00 pm, the Brattleboro Literary Festival, Brooks Memorial Library and the Words Trail will celebrate live the newly released collection of short stories by Brattleboro author Mary E. Wilkins Freeman with her initially intended title Green Mountain Stories.  

Published originally in 1887 as A Humble Romance and Other Stories, this new edition features an introduction and critical commentary by Freeman scholar Brent Kendrick, who will talk about Mary and the book. Mary was inspired to become a writer in high school…she would go to her father’s dry goods shop in downtown Brattleboro every day after school, which was fortuitously located next door to a bookstore. She graduated from high school in Brattleboro and later moved away after her father died, but she maintained her connection to Vermont.

Celebrate Asian American Heritage Month with us! On Friday, May 12, the Brattleboro Literary Festival’s A Literary Cocktail Hour will present award-winning author Kathryn Ma and her book The Chinese Groove. This event is online and free…you can register at https://bit.ly/LitCocktail30

One of their 12 Books to Read Right Now, the New York Times says of The Chinese Groove: “A comedic take on the trials of immigration, Ma’s latest novel follows a Chinese man who is woefully unprepared for his move to America…” Eighteen-year-old Shelley, born into a much-despised branch of the Zheng family in Yunnan Province and living in the shadow of his widowed father’s grief, dreams of bigger things. Buoyed by an exuberant heart and his cousin Deng’s tall tales about the United States, Shelley heads to San Francisco to claim his destiny, confident that any hurdles will be easily overcome by the awesome powers of the “Chinese groove,” a belief in the unspoken bonds between countrymen that transcend time and borders.

On Friday, March 10, at 5:00 pm, A Literary Cocktail Hour presents The American Way, a virtual event with co-authors Helene Stapinski and Bonnie Siegler. In this exuberant real-life adventure, the publisher of DC Comics comes to the rescue of a family trying to flee Nazi Berlin, their lives linking up with a dazzling cast of 20th-century icons, all eagerly pursuing the American dream. To register for this free event, click here

https://bit.ly/LitCocktail28

Family lore had it that Bonnie Siegler’s grandfather crossed paths in Midtown Manhattan late one night in 1954 with Marilyn Monroe, her white dress flying up around her as she filmed a scene for The Seven Year Itch. Jules Schulback had his home movie camera with him, capturing what would become the only surviving footage of that legendary night. Bonnie wasn’t sure she quite believed her grandfather’s story…until, cleaning out his apartment, she found the film reel. The discovery would prompt her to investigate all of her grandfather’s seemingly tall tales—and lead her in pursuit of a remarkable piece of forgotten history bridging old Hollywood, the birth of the comic book, and the Holocaust.

“The Rich Get Richer: How Our Quest to Accumulate Wealth has Divided America” will be the topic of a conversation between author/journalist Michael Mechanic and local author and campaigner Chuck Collins, at 7:00pm on Tuesday, August 3, at 118 Elliot (118 Elliot Street, Brattleboro). Since Mechanic and Collins share overlapping interests, their dialogue about the surprising advantages and pitfalls of wealth hoarding promises to be as lively as it is informative. The Rich Get Richer event is live, indoors, and limited to 50 people.

Michael Mechanic is a veteran senior editor at Mother Jones whose writing and editing have resulted in dozens of journalism awards. He is author of the new book, Jackpot: How the Super-Rich Really Live –and How Their Wealth Harms Us All. His work at Mother Jones has often focused on social and criminal justice, racial disparities, mass incarceration, economic inequality, and corporate shenanigans. Since writing Jackpot, he’s been looking more at the ways the wealthiest Americans manipulate the system to their advantage. He lives in Oakland, California, but grew up messing around in the Windham woods and brooks with his local cousins. His late mother, Maggie Newton, grew up on a farm near Hamilton Falls where her parents, David and Margaret Newton, established the Newton School for boys; she later moved to Brattleboro and played in the local orchestra.