P&T Knitwear is pleased to welcome back internationally acclaimed author Juhea Kim for a discussion and audience Q&A to celebrate the release of her newest book, City of Night Birds: a vivid portrait of the Russian ballet world — where cutthroat ambition, ever-shifting politics, and sublime artistry collide — and an affecting meditation on love, forgiveness, and the making of an artist .

Juhea will be joined in conversation by Rachel Lyon, author of Fruit of the Dead. After the talk, Juhea will sign copies of City of Night Birds.

Emily Lackey's stories and essays have appeared or are forthcoming in Glimmer Train, Prairie Schooner, Post Road, The Literary Review, Green Mountains Review, The Rumpus, and Longreads, among others. She lives and writes in Western Massachusetts and teaches writing workshops at Writers in Progress.

Dori Ostermiller is the founding director of Writers in Progress, and the author of a novel, Outside the Ordinary World (MIRA, 2010) which was an Indie Next pick and an MLA must-read, published in several countries. Her work has appeared in numerous literary journals, including The Bellingham Review, Alligator Juniper, Bellowing Ark, Peregrine, Calliope, Roanoke Review, Chautauqua Literary Journal, The American, The Massachusetts Review and The Rumpus. Dori has worked for over two decades as an editor, and has taught literature and writing at the University of Massachusetts, Westfield State College, Springfield College, Holyoke Community College and Bay Path College. The recipient of a Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist’s Fellowship, a Tobias Wolf Fiction award, and a Walker Gibson award, Dori lives in Northampton with her husband, two daughters, and a pampered Border Collie/Lab named Sammy.

Mary Warren Foulk has been published in journals including VoiceCatcher, Cathexis Northwest Press, Yes Poetry, Arlington Literary Journal (Gival Press), The Hollins Critic, Ignatian Literary Magazine, Los Angeles Poet Society, El Portal, Packingtown Review, Pine Hills Review, Palette Poetry, Visitant, Silkworm, Slab, and Steam Ticket, and the anthologies (M)othering Anthology (Inanna Publications) and My Loves: A Digital Anthology of Queer Love Poems (Ghost City Press). Mary's chapbook, If I Could Write You a Happier Ending, was selected by Dancing Girl Press (2021) as part of their annual series featuring women poets, and her manuscript Erasures of My Coming Out (Letter) won first place in The Poetry Box’s 2021 chapbook contest. An educator, writer, and activist, Mary lives in western Massachusetts with her wife and two children.

Join us for an evening with Paris Writer in Residence Rachel Lyon to discuss Lyon’s captivating new novel, Fruit of the Dead, "an electric contemporary reimagining of the myth of Persephone and Demeter set over the course of one summer on a lush private island, exploring who holds the power in a modern underworld."  The conversation will range across the complexity of mother-daughter relations, love, control, and American's own late capitalist mythos. 

Fruit of the Dead has been called "a spellbinding account of a young woman’s hunger for freedom, the sordid underbelly of big pharma, and the siren call of addiction" (Leslie Jameson).

The conversation will be followed by a drinks reception and book sale.

Lena Valencia's fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in BOMB, Electric Literature, Ninth Letter, Epiphany, the anthology Tiny Nightmares, and elsewhere. She is the recipient of a 2019 Elizabeth George Foundation grant and holds an MFA in fiction from The New School. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, where she is the managing editor and director of educational programming at One Story and the co-host of the reading series Ditmas Lit. Her debut short story collection, Mystery Lights, was published by Tin House Books in August 2024.

Sarah Bridgins is the recipient of the 2018 Sexton Prize from Eyewear Books. Her writing has appeared in Tin House, BuzzFeed, and Bustle among other publications. She lives in Brooklyn, NY, where she is the co-host of the Ditmas Lit reading series.

Anne-E. Wood’s fiction has appeared in AGNI Online, Tin House, New Letters, Chicago Quarterly Review, The Cream City Review, Fourteen Hills, Fiction Attic, Other Voices, Beloit Fiction Journal, The Licking River Review, and others. She has an MFA in fiction from San Francisco State University, where she received the 2006 Michael Rubin Award. She lives in New York and teaches writing at Rutgers University. Her short story collection TWO IF BY SEA won the 2006 Michael Rubin Chapbook Award.

Essie Chambers is an author and award-winning independent producer. She earned her MFA in creative writing from Columbia University and has received fellowships from MacDowell, Vermont Studio Center, and Baldwin for the Arts. Previously, she worked as a television executive, and was a producer on the Oscar-shortlisted documentary Descendant, which was released by the Obamas’ Higher Ground production company and Netflix in 2022. Her debut novel Swift River came out in June 2024.

Ellen Meeropol's fifth novel, The Lost Women of Azalea Court, was published in September 2022 by Red Hen Press. Her previous novels are Her Sister's Tattoo, Kinship of Clover, On Hurricane Island, and House Arrest. Ellen's work has been honored by the Sarton Women's Prize, The Women's National Book Association, and the Massachusetts Center for the Book. A Founding Member of the Straw Dog Writers Guild and coordinator of its WriteAngles writers conference held in April 2024, Ellen is married to Robert Meeropol, the younger son of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg. They have two grown daughters, two grandchildren, and one cat, and live in western Massachusetts.

The primary songwriter for the beloved and lauded folk-rock band The Nields, Nerissa Nields has written 21 CDs worth of songs. Her books include the YA novel Plastic Angel, All Together Singing in the Kitchen: Creative Ways to Make and Listen to Music as a Family, and How to Be an Adult: A Creative Guide to Navigating Your Twenties. Her work has been published in Brevity, American Songwriter, J Journal: New Writing on Justice, Performing Songwriter, The Huffington Post, The Maine Review, and the Boston Globe. She is currently working on The Nields’ twenty-second album, and the third novel in a trilogy about a family band.

Writer, professor, and photographer, Ocean Vuong is the author of On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, winner of the American Book Award, The Mark Twain Award, and The New England Book Award. The novel debuted for six weeks on The New York Times bestseller and has since sold more than a million copies in 40 languages. A nominee for the National Book Award and a recipient of a MacArthur "Genius" Grant, Vuong is also the author of the poetry collections Time is a Mother, a finalist for the Griffin prize, and Night Sky with Exit Wounds, a New York Times Top 10 Book, winner of the T.S. Eliot Prize, the Whiting Award, the Thom Gunn Award, and the Forward Prize. A Ruth Lilly fellow from the Poetry Foundation, Vuong's honors include fellowships from the Lannan Foundation, the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, The Elizabeth George Foundation, The Academy of American Poets, and the Pushcart Prize. He splits his time between Northampton, Massachusetts, and New York City, where he serves as a Professor in Modern Poetry and Poetics in the MFA Program at NYU.

For more than a decade, Sarah Seltzer has been a feminist journalist and cultural critic. Her lively writing for publications including The New York Times, TIME, Jezebel, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, The Nation, and many other places has shaped the discourse on subjects ranging from Hollywood casting, to abortion rights, to Jane Austen and beyond. A native and lifelong New Yorker, Sarah is currently the Executive Editor at Lilith Magazine. Her debut novel The Singer Sisters is out with MacMillan this month.

Sara Eddy is the author of Ordinary Fissures (released by Kelsay Books in May 2024) and two chapbooks, Tell the Bees: Poem About Bees & Beekeeping  (A3 Press, 2019), and Full Mouth: Poems about Food (Finishing Line Press, 2020). Her poems have appeared in many literary journals, including Threepenny Review, Baltimore Review, SWWIM, Raleigh Review, and Spank the Carp. Assistant Director of the Jacobson Center for Writing, Teaching, and Learning at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, Sara lives in a house built by Emily Dickinson’s cousin, with her youngest adult child, a white dog named Sully, and a black cat named Luna.

From July 10 to August 21, Belding Memorial Library in Ashfield, MA, will host a free community writing class, Wednesdays from 6:30-8PM. Author and creative writing instructor Rachel Lyon will lead the class in guided exercises; conduct short lessons on craft; and offer in-class guidance and feedback on works-in-progress. The class is open to writers of all experience levels. Join for all eight weeks, or just drop in once or twice, to get a feel for things! This program is supported in part by a grant from the Ashfield Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

From July 10 to August 21, Belding Memorial Library in Ashfield, MA, will host a free community writing class, Wednesdays from 6:30-8PM. Author and creative writing instructor Rachel Lyon will lead the class in guided exercises; conduct short lessons on craft; and offer in-class guidance and feedback on works-in-progress. The class is open to writers of all experience levels. Join for all eight weeks, or just drop in once or twice, to get a feel for things! This program is supported in part by a grant from the Ashfield Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/juliet-grames-in-person-tickets-915612701237?aff=oddtdtcreator

From July 10 to August 21, Belding Memorial Library in Ashfield, MA, will host a free community writing class, Wednesdays from 6:30-8PM. Author and creative writing instructor Rachel Lyon will lead the class in guided exercises; conduct short lessons on craft; and offer in-class guidance and feedback on works-in-progress. The class is open to writers of all experience levels. Join for all eight weeks, or just drop in once or twice, to get a feel for things! This program is supported in part by a grant from the Ashfield Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

From July 10 to August 21, Belding Memorial Library in Ashfield, MA, will host a free community writing class, Wednesdays from 6:30-8PM. Author and creative writing instructor Rachel Lyon will lead the class in guided exercises; conduct short lessons on craft; and offer in-class guidance and feedback on works-in-progress. The class is open to writers of all experience levels. Join for all eight weeks, or just drop in once or twice, to get a feel for things! This program is supported in part by a grant from the Ashfield Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

From July 10 to August 21, Belding Memorial Library in Ashfield, MA, will host a free community writing class, Wednesdays from 6:30-8PM. Author and creative writing instructor Rachel Lyon will lead the class in guided exercises; conduct short lessons on craft; and offer in-class guidance and feedback on works-in-progress. The class is open to writers of all experience levels. Join for all eight weeks, or just drop in once or twice, to get a feel for things! This program is supported in part by a grant from the Ashfield Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

EJ Seibert's work has appeared in Blue Earth Review, Yellow Medicine Review, Jellyfish Review, Toe Good Poetry, Naugatuck River Review, The Silkworm, Future Earth Magazine, and The National Teaching & Learning Forum. They have published two poetry chapbooks and served as editor of Naugatuck River Review, Silkworm Journal, Toe Good Poetry, and others.

Jennifer Rosner is the author of the novels ONCE WE WERE HOME and THE YELLOW BIRD SINGS, both finalists for the National Jewish Book Award. She is also author of the memoir IF A TREE FALLS: A FAMILY'S QUEST TO HEAR AND BE HEARD, and the children's book, THE MITTEN STRING, a Sydney Taylor Book Award Notable. Jennifer's books have been translated into a dozen languages. Her short writing has appeared in the New York Times, The Times of Israel, The Massachusetts Review, The Forward, and elsewhere. She lives with her family in Western Massachusetts.

Gail Thomas's most recent books of poetry are Trail of Roots, a chapbook which won the A.V. Christie Series (Seven Kitchens Press) and the full-length collection Leaving Paradise (Human Error Publishing). Her other books are Odd Mercy (Headmistress, 2016), Waving Back (Turning Point, 2015), No Simple Wilderness: An Elegy for Swift River Valley (Haleys, 2001) and Finding the Bear (Perugia Press, 1997). Her poems have appeared in many journals and anthologies including The Beloit Poetry Journal, Calyx, Hanging Loose, The North American Review, Cumberland River Review, Disquieting Muses Quarterly, Valparaiso Poetry Review and Mom Egg Review. Originally from Pennsylvania, Thomas raised her daughters in Western Massachusetts, where she has lived for 40 years.

Do you love to read? So do we! Join us for the NEPM Book Club — a quarterly virtual meet-up dedicated to bringing NEPM friends together to chat about new, diverse and interesting fiction.

Our next meeting will be Thursday, July 18 at 7 p.m. We'll be reading "Fruit of the Dead" by Ashfield author Rachel Lyon!

Register here.

From July 10 to August 21, Belding Memorial Library in Ashfield, MA, will host a free community writing class, Wednesdays from 6:30-8PM. Author and creative writing instructor Rachel Lyon will lead the class in guided exercises; conduct short lessons on craft; and offer in-class guidance and feedback on works-in-progress. The class is open to writers of all experience levels. Join for all eight weeks, or just drop in once or twice, to get a feel for things! This program is supported in part by a grant from the Ashfield Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

From July 10 to August 21, Belding Memorial Library in Ashfield, MA, will host a free community writing class, Wednesdays from 6:30-8PM. Author and creative writing instructor Rachel Lyon will lead the class in guided exercises; conduct short lessons on craft; and offer in-class guidance and feedback on works-in-progress. The class is open to writers of all experience levels. Join for all eight weeks, or just drop in once or twice, to get a feel for things! This program is supported in part by a grant from the Ashfield Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

A combination writing workshop and guest lecture co-hosted by Grace Bialecki and Matt Jones, This workshop encourages participants to share their writing and discuss ways to improve their own, as well as participants’ work. Each workshop starts out with a writing exercise or guest speaker who shares writing advice –– be it on craft, process or the business of writing for no more than thirty minutes. By emphasizing open exchange and exploration, the workshop inspires attendees to develop their own writing practice. This month’s guest is Rachel Lyon.

Get more information and sign up here.

The 2024 NEPM Asparagus Festival promises to be a great time, complete with music, beer, food trucks, farmers, makers and all of the asparagus. And we’ve injected a bit of book culture into this decidedly outdoorsy day: Rachel Lyon, author of our July NEPM Book Club pick “Fruit of the Dead,” will be there! She’s going to be signing copies of her novel (which we’ll also have for sale) from 2 to 4 p.m. in the NEPM info tent. Your NEPM Asparagus Festival mission: Pop by the merch tent, pick up your copy of "Fruit of the Dead" and the scorching hot NEPM Book Club reusable tote (trust me, it’s very good looking), then head right next door and go see Rachel. She'll be thrilled to meet you. 

To kick off our 2024 National Endowment of the Arts Big Read initiative, The Center for Fiction welcomes Orange Prize-winning author Madeline Miller to celebrate her brilliant 2018 novel Circe, which masterfully reframes Greek mythology to turn its titular witch into a compelling heroine. Expansive yet intimate, the Red Tentacle Award-winning novel follows Circe across centuries as she witnesses the events of Greek epics—from the birth of the Minotaur to Odysseus’ journey—unfold in front of her as she lives in exile on the island of Aiaia. Joining Miller are Maria Davahna Headley and Rachel Lyon, two authors who are also masterful retellers of old epic stories. Headley, a New York Times bestselling author and translator, has gained acclaim for her contemporary translation of Beowulf which invokes the mood of urban legends, and The Mere Wife, a dystopian retelling of Beowulf set in 21st-century America. Lyon is the author of Fruit of the Dead, an electric modern reimagining of the myth of Persephone and Demeter. Her debut novel, Self-Portrait with Boy, was a finalist for the 2018 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize.

Headley, Lyon, and Miller will have a rousing conversation about Circe moderated by Nataly Gruender, author of Medusa, an intimate retelling of its infamous titular villain. The panel will discuss the power of retelling ancient stories for new audiences and how it can return humanity to characters that are stripped of it.

This event is the first in a series of free, dynamic, community-wide programming centered around Circe. This event, along with all of our NEA Big Read programming, is free, but space is limited. Guests will be admitted on a first-come, first-seated basis.