Porter Square Books

Diesel, A Bookstore in Brentwood is very excited to welcome Mark Weiss to the shop to discuss and sign the anthology of poetry he edited, The Whole Island: Six Decades of Cuban Poetry.
Cuba's cultural influence throughout the Western Hemisphere, and especially in the United States, has been disproportionally ... (more)large for so small a country. This landmark volume is the first comprehensive overview of poetry written over the past sixty years. Presented in a beautiful Spanish-English en face edition, The Whole Island makes available the astonishing achievement of a wide range of Cuban poets, including such well-known figures as Nicolás Guillén, José Lezama Lima, and Nancy Morejón, but also poets widely read in Spanish who remain almost unknown to the English-speaking world - among them Fina García Marruz, José Kozer, Raúl Hernández Novás, and Ángel Escobar-and poets born since the Revolution, like Rogelio Saunders, Omar Pérez, Alessandra Molina, and Javier Marimón. The translations, almost all of them new, convey the intensity and beauty of the accompanying Spanish originals. With their work deeply rooted in Cuban culture, many of these poets - both on and off the island - have been at the center of the political and social changes of this tempestuous period. The poems offered here constitute an essential source for understanding the literature and culture of Cuba, its diaspora, and the Caribbean at large, and provide an unparalleled perspective on what it means to be Cuban.

Diesel, A Bookstore in Oakland is pleased to present David Swanson as he discusses and signs his new book, Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union.
Swanson holds a master's degree in philosophy from the University of Virginia. He has worked as a newspaper reporter and ... (more)as a communications director, with jobs including press secretary for Dennis Kucinich's 2004 presidential campaign, media coordinator for the International Labor Communications Association, and three years as communications coordinator for ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.

Jake Greene is a twentysomething strategy and marketing consultant. Prior to founding Greene Group, he earned a master's degree in sociology from Stanford University, worked as an analyst for a Fortune 500 company, and served as Direct of Client Development for a retail development start-up. He lives ... (more)in Nashville with his wife, Sarah, and a dog, Roger.

Stephanie Schorow is a Boston-based freelance writer focusing on topics of regional and national interest. A former reporter for the Boston Herald and the Associated Press, she is the author of Boston on Fire: A History of Fires and Firefighting in Boston and Fire in the Grove. Her articles appear regularly ... (more)in the Boston Globe and other New England publications. She lives in Medford.

Seth Harwood's stories have been published in Post Road, Ecotone, Inkwell, Sojourn, and The Red Rock Review among others. His short story "White" was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. He teaches writing and literature at the City College of San Fransisco and Chabot College.

Frances Moore Lappe's sixteen books have been translated into over twenty languages. She co-founded the Institute for Food and Developmental Policy as well as the American news service. With her daughter, she leads the Cambridge-based Small Planet Institute and the affiliated Small Planet Fund. She is ... (more)a founding councilor of the World Future Council and recipient of seventeen honorary doctorates as well as the Right Livelihood award.

Meg Wolitzer is the author of seven previous novels, including The Position and The Wife. Her short fiction has appeared in The Best American Short Stories and The Pushcart Prize. She lives in New York City.

Robert Finch has published seven books of essays, most recently the Iambics of Newfoundland: Notes from an Unknown Shore, and is widely regarded as one of America's leading nature writers. Other works include Common Ground, which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, Outlands, and The Primal Place. His ... (more)work has appeared in numerous magazines and journals, has been widely anthologized, and has been translated into Japanese and Chinese.

Joshua Ferris was born in Illinois in 1974. He graduated from the University of Iowa in 1996 with a B.A . in English and Philosophy. He worked as an advertising copywriter in Chicago before attending the MFA program at the University of California, Irvine. His short fiction has appeared in The Iowa Review, ... (more)Best New American Stories, Prairie Schooner, Phoebe, and New Stories from the South: Best of 2007.

Aaron Alterra is a pseudonym for E. S. Goldman, an award-winning fiction writer who publishes frequently in the Atlantic; he has published a novel and two volumes of short stories and lives in the Scandinavian Living Center in West Newton.

Arthur Kleinman is Esther and Sidney Rabb Professor of Anthropology, ... (more)Professor of Medical Anthropology, Professor of Psychiatry, and Curator of Medical Anthropology in the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University. His books include Patients and Healers in the Context of Culture and The Illness Narratives.

The Breakwater Reading Series is a student organized series featuring works by MFA students at UMASS Boston and Emerson College. Each reading will feature four readers, two from each school, and an open mic with time permitting.

Sarah Brannen has previously illustrated "What I Did with My Coin Collection" by Tiger Woods for the collection Thanks and Giving: All Year Long. Her illustrations have appeared in Cicada and AppleSeeds magazines and is a regular contributor to Skating magazine. In 2007 she won the Ann Barrow Scholarship ... (more)from the New England Chapter of the Society of Children's Book Writer's and Illustrators.

Melissa Stewart earned degrees from Union College and New York University and worked as an editor. She is the author of more than 60 books and lives in Massachusetts.

Alice Hoffman is the bestselling author of eighteen acclaimed novels, including The Ice Queen, Practical Magic, Here on Earth, The River King, and many others. She is also the author of the highly praised story collections Local Girls and Blackbird House. She lives outside Boston.

A lifelong vegetarian herself Hema Parekh has been teaching Asian and vegetarian cooking for almost twenty years. She has written two popular cookbooks in Japanese--Spice and Indian Vegetarian Cooking--and is working on a third. She lives in Tokyo with her family.

Lois Lowry is the author of more than thirty books for young adults, including the popular Anastasia Krupnik series. She has received countless honors, among them the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award, the California Young Reader's Medal, and the Mark Twain Award. She received ... (more)Newbery Medals for two of her novels, Number the Stars and The Giver. Her first novel, A Summer to Die, was awarded the International Reading Association's Children's Book Award. Ms. Lowry now divides her time between Cambridge and an 1840s farmhouse in Maine.

Brian Hall is the author of three novels, including I Should Be Extremely Happy in Your Company, his acclaimed story of the Lewis and Clark expedition, as well as three works of nonfiction.

Nicholson Baker was born in 1957 and attended the Eastman School of Music and Haverford College. He is the author of seven novels, including Vox and The Mezzanine, and three previous works of nonfiction, including Double Fold, which won a National Book Critics Circle Award in 2001. He lives in Maine ... (more)with his family.

Richard Louv has been a columnist for the San Diego Union-Tribune and has written for publications such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Christian Science Monitor. The author of seven books about family, nature, and community, Louv is the chairman of the Children and Nature Network.

Meredith Hall earned a Gift of Freedom Award from the A Room of Her Own Foundation in 2004. Her other honors include a Pushcart Prize and notable essay recognition in Best American Essays; she was also a finalist for the Rona Jaffe Award. Hall's work has appeared in the New York Times, Creative Nonfiction, ... (more)The Souther Review, Five Points, Prairie Schooner, and several anthologies. She teaches writing at the University of New Hampshire.

The Breakwater Reading Series is a student organized series featuring works by MFA students at UMASS Boston and Emerson College. Each reading will feature four readers, two from each school, and an open mic with time permitting.

Nathaniel Rich is an editor of The Paris Review. He has written for The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Slate, and the Village Voice. He is the author of San Francisco Noir and lives in San Francisco.

Mameve Medwed is also the author of Mail, Host Family, The End of an Error, and How Elizabeth Barrett Browning Saved My Life (which received a 2007 Massachusetts Book Honor Award). Her stories, essays, and reviews have appeared in many publications including the Missouri Review, Redbook, the Boston Globe, ... (more)Yankee, the Washington Post, and Newsday. Born in Maine, she and her husband have two sons and live in Cambridge.

"I LOVED it . Maisie...is a terrific character. [I]t is a delightful novel, very true to the Mameve Medwed collection. I finished it wanting more."Anita Shreve author of Body Surfing

"Anyone who curls up to read this book will have not only the pleasure a good novel brings but also happy chuckles ... (more)along the way."Leni Grossman of Harper Collins.

Mameve Medwed is also the author of Mail,

Host Family, The End of an Error, and How Elizabeth Barrett Browning Saved My Life
(which received a 2007 Massachusetts Book Honor Award). Her stories, essays, and reviews have appeared in many publications including the Missouri Review, Redbook, the Boston Globe, Yankee, the Washington Post, and Newsday. Born in Maine, she and her husband have two sons and live in Cambridge.

Susan Linn, author of Consuming Kids: The Hostile Takeover of Childhood, is a psychologist at Judge Baker Children’s Center and Harvard Medical School in Boston. An award-winning ventriloquist internationally recognized for her pioneering work using puppet therapy with children, she was mentored by ... (more)the late Fred Rogers. She lives in Boston.

Geoff Herbach is a cofounder of the Lit6 Project, a Midwestern literary group, and their project Electric Arc Radio, a literary tragicomedy, which is recorded live and airs on Minnesota Public Radio.

Sam Osterhout is an author and storyteller whose work can be heard on Minnesota Public Radio and live ... (more)in bars and bookstores and back alleys across the country. His stories are usually followed by non-denominational hug-fests, which are themselves followed by non-denominational booze-fests.

Hillary Jordan grew up in Texas and Oklahoma and received her MFA in fiction from Columbia University. Mudbound, her first novel, was awarded the 2006 Bellwether Prize, founded by Barbara Kingsolver to recognize literature of social responsibility.

"[A] beautiful debut...A superbly rendered depiction of the fury and terror wrought by racism."Publishers Weekly

"[A] supremely readable debut novel...Fluidly narrated by engaging characters...[this book] is packed with drama. Pick it up, then pass it on."People four-star review

Hillary Jordan ... (more)grew up in Texas and Oklahoma and received her MFA in fiction from Columbia University. Mudbound, her first novel, was awarded the 2006 Bellwether Prize, founded by Barbara Kingsolver to recognize literature of social responsibility.

Margot Livesey is the acclaimed author of the novels Homework, Criminals, The Missing World, Eva Moves the Furniture, and Banishing Verona. Her fiction has appeared in the New Yorker, and she is the recipient of grants from both the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation. Born ... (more)in Scotland, she currently lives in the Boston area and is a writer in residence at Emerson College.

PEN New EnglandReadings at the Hotel MarloweRose Moss was

born in Johannesburg, South Africa, has lived in the United States since 1964. She has published two novels, The Family Reunion, which was short-listed for a National Book Award, and The Terrorist, and a work of non-fiction, Shouting at the ... (more)Crocodile. Among her more than forty short stories one won a Quill Prize from the Massachusetts Review and another a PEN Syndicated Fiction Award. Several have been cited in Best American Short Stories, been nominated for Pushcart prizes, selected for anthologies in the United States and abroad and have been translated. Her non-fiction has appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Atlantic Monthly and other similar publications and in scholarly journals.

Please note: this is an off-site event to be held at the Hotel Marlowe in Cambridge, MA. Directions to the Hotel Marlowe.

For info or questions, contact:

Emily Hiestand, / 617-497-1225.

About PEN New England

PEN New England is an organization of writers and all those who love the written word. Our mission is to advance the cause of literature in New England and defend freedom of expression everywhere. PEN New England is one of five regional branches of PEN American Center, and part of International PEN, the oldest human rights organization in the world, and also the oldest international literary organization. PEN NE is honored to collaborate with the Marlowe Hotel and Porter Square Books to produce the PEN-Marlowe Reading Series, now in its fourth year. The monthly reading series is programmed by two PEN NE board members and award-winning authors: fiction writer, Edith Pearlman, and essayist/photographer, Emily Hiestand. For more information, visit the PEN New England website.

Reeve Lindbergh is the author of several books for adults and children. They include the memoir of her childhood and youth, Under a Wing, and No More Words, a description of the last years of her mother, Anne Morrow Lindbergh. She lives with her husband, Nat Tripp, and several animals on a farm in northern ... (more)Vermont.

"[T]he Espinosas bring graphic innovation to the familiar best-friend story...With elements of comic strips, a retro color scheme, and a winning sense of humor, they tell a story that will draw readers and listeners alike."Horn Book

Laura Jaffe Espinosa grew up in Newton, Massachusetts, and moved ... (more)to New York to work in advertising and design. She met Leo at a graphic design seminar and they married a few years later. Leo Espinosa was born in Bogotá, Colombia. He studied graphic design and worked as an art director by day and moonlighted as a comic book artist. Later he moved to New York and began working as an illustrator. After living in New York City and Barcelona, the Espinosas moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where they opened their own design studio. Visit them at www.studioespinosa.com.

Laura Jaffe Espinosa grew up in Newton, Massachusetts, and moved to New York to work in advertising and design. She met Leo at a graphic design seminar and they married a few years later. Leo Espinosa was born in Bogotá, Colombia. He studied graphic design and worked as an art director by day and moonlighted ... (more)as a comic book artist. Later he moved to New York and began working as an illustrator. After living in New York City and Barcelona, the Espinosas moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where they opened their own design studio. Visit them at www.studioespinosa.com.

Henry Winkler is an accomplished actor, producer and director. In 2003, Henry added author to his list of achievements as he co-authored a series of children's books. Inspired by the true life experiences of Henry Winkler, whose undiagnosed dyslexia made him a classic childhood underachiever, the Hank ... (more)Zipzer series is about the high-spirited and funny adventures of a boy with learning differences.

Inspired by the true life experiences of Henry Winkler, the Hank Zipzer series, about the world's greatest underachiever, is funny, touching, and deals with learning differences in a gentle and humorous manner. Visit the

Hank Zipzer website for information about the entire series.

Henry Winkler is ... (more)an accomplished actor, producer and director. In 2003, Henry added author to his list of achievements as he co-authored a series of children's books. Inspired by the true life experiences of Henry Winkler, whose undiagnosed dyslexia made him a classic childhood underachiever, the Hank Zipzer series is about the high-spirited and funny adventures of a boy with learning differences.

Aleksander Hemon is the author of The Question of Bruno and Nowhere Man, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Born in Sarajevo, he visited Chicago in 1992, intending to stay for a matter of months. While he was there, Sarajevo came under siege, and he was unable to return ... (more)home. Hemon wrote his first story in English in 1995. He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2003 and a "genius grant" from the MacArthur Foundation in 2004. He lives in Chicago with his wife and daughter.

Original photographs from The Lazarus Project will be displayed during the reading.

Jeff Talarigo won the Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Award given by the American Academy of Arts and Letters for his first novel The Pearl Diver. He lives in Kokura, Japan.

Deborah Weisgall has written extensively about the arts--painting, music, performance--for the New York Times, the Atlantic, Esquire, Connoisseur, and The New Yorker. Her first novel, Still Point, was set in the world of ballet, and her family memoir, A Joyful Noise, focused on the role of music--both ... (more)operatic and cantorial--in her father’s celebrated lineage. Weisgall lives with her husband and daughter in Lincoln, Massachusetts.

Katharine Hall Page is the author of fifteen previous Faith Fairchild mysteries. Her first book, The Body in the Belfry received the Agatha Award for Best First Mystery Novel, and her short story "The Would Widower" received the Agatha Award for best short story. She lives in Massachusetts with her husband ... (more)and son.

Peter Abrahams is the author of eighteen novels, including End of Story, Oblivion, and Lights Out, which was nominated for an Edgar best novel award. He also writes the best-selling Echo Falls series for younger readers. He lives on Cape Cod.

Ellen Cooney is the author of six previous novels, including A Private Hotel for Gentle Ladies. Her short fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, The Literary Review, and Glimmer Train, among other publications. The recipient of fellowships from the Massachusetts Artists Foundation and the National Endowment ... (more)for the Arts, she taught creative writing at Boston College, MIT, Harvard, and the University of Maine. She was a lifelong resident of Massachusetts and now lives in midcoast Maine.

Will Allen is the co-manager of Cedar Circle farm and the founder and former executive director of the Sustainable Cotton Project. His is also co-chair of Farms not Arms, a policy advisory board member of the Organic Consumers Association, and serves on the board of Rural Vermont.

Nancy Carlsson-Paige is a professor of early childhood education and conflict resolution at Lesley University. She is an ongoing consultant for several PBS kids' shows, as well as an active public speaker and guest lecturer across the country. Her work has been featured in Time, The Wall Street Journal, ... (more)Parenting, Mothering, and USA Today, and on NPR, the Discovery Channel, and ABC.

Leif Enger is the author of Peace Like a River. He was raised in Osakis, Minnesota, and worked as a reporter and producer for Minnesota Public Radio for nearly twenty years. Enger lives in Minnesota with his wife and two sons.

"Absolutely invaluable. [This book] is cribs ... (more)notes to everything that is wrong--and could be right--with the US economy. Jared Bernstein is the econ teacher we all wish we had."
Naomi Klein author of The Shock Doctrine

"Jared Bernstein has written a fun, user-friendly primer that tells you everything you need to know about the economy."
John Chait author of The Big Con

Jared Bernstein is senior economist and director of the Living Standards Program at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, DC. He is the author of All Together Now: Common Sense for a Fair Economy and is the coauthor of eight editions of the State of Working America. His work has been published in The American Prospect, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, and the New York Daily News. As well as being a featured weekly commentator on a variety of CNBC programs, he makes regular appearances on various NPR programs, including Morning Edition and Marketplace.

Jared Bernstein is senior economist and director of the Living Standards Program at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, DC. He is the author of All Together Now: Common Sense for a Fair Economy and is the coauthor of eight editions of the State of Working America. His work has been published ... (more)in The American Prospect, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, and the New York Daily News. As well as being a featured weekly commentator on a variety of CNBC programs, he makes regular appearances on various NPR programs, including Morning Edition and Marketplace.

"Ruth Butler has produced an astonishing book about a virtually unknown story within this overly rehearsed moment in art history. This is a monumental achievement."
Paul ... (more)Tucker author of Monet in the 20th Century

"This is a book full of promise, packed with new research, new ideas and striking images, and with a brilliant future."
Megan Marshall author of The Peabody Sisters

Ruth Butler is professor emerita, University of Massachusetts, Boston, and the author of the award-winning book Rodin:The Shape of Genius. She lives in Cambridge, MA.

"[This book] is a window into the mind of a dog. ... (more)You will experience his loyalty, fears, and joys and his true inner self. Everybody who loves dogs must read this book."
Temple Grandin author of Animals in Translation

"[This book] is a compelling, insightful and tender story that opens new doors into the understanding of the nature of dogs."
The Bark

Ted Kerasote's writing has appeared in more than fifty periodicals, including Audubon, National Geographic Traveler, Outside, Salon, and the New York Times. His most recent book, Out There: In the Wild in a Wired Age, won the National Outdoor Book Award. He lives in Wyoming.

"[This book] is hilarious and insightful. It's far ... (more)more than a book about swimming. Carter's story will inspire people to go for their dreams at any age, and you can never get enough of that. I love this book!"
Lynne Cox author of Swimming to Antarctica and Grayson

W. Hodding Carter was an NCAA Division III All-American and a national champion on his college swim team. He is a contributing writer for Outside Magazine, has written for Esquire and Gourmet, and is the author of five previous books of nonfiction.

"Hugely enjoyable and insightful...Gosling has ... (more)produced the perfect combination of rigorous research and lightness of prose to create a book that will transform every reader into a super snooper."
Richard Wiseman author of Quirkology

"Snoop is...one of the smartest and most original books I've come across in a long time. I devoured it and then rushed over to clean up my desk and change my iPod list."
Richard Florida author of

Rise of the Creative Class

and

Who's Your City.

Sam Gosling is an associate professor of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. He has spent the last decade conducting research on how personality is expressed and perceived in everyday contexts. He has been profiled by the New York Times, Psychology Today, and other publications, and he is featured in Malcolm Gladwell's Blink. This is his first book. He lives in Austin, Texas.

"[This book] has everything: love, tragedy, redemption, ... (more)danger, and--best of all--the canine narrator Enzo. This old soul of a dog has much to teach us about being human. I loved this book."
Sara Gruen author ofWater for Elephants

"I savored [this book] for many reasons: a dog who speaks, the thrill of competitive racing, a heart-tugging storyline, and--best of all--the fact that it is a meditation on humility and hope in the face of despair"
Wally Lamb author of I Know This Much is True

Garth Stein is the author of two previous novels; Raven Stole the Moon and

How Evan Broke His Head and Other Secrets which won a 2006 Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Book Award and was a Booksense Pick. He has written a play, Brother Jones, and directed, produced, or co-produced several award winning films.

"With prose that’s as careful and quiet as a ... (more)mountain lion, [this book] asks, and helps answer, two of life’s most perplexing questions: How do we live in an imperfect world, and what are our obligations to those we love?"
Steven Rinella of Outside

"[Guterson's] most brilliant and provocative novel yet...He presents the reader with the quintessential questions of value and choice that shape life."
Bill Duncan of the Roseburg, OR News-Review

David Guterson is the author of the novels

Snow Falling on Cedars,

East of the Mountains, and

Our Lady of the Forest, as well as a story collection, The Country Ahead of Us, The Country Behind. A PEN/Faulkner Award winner, he is a co-founder of Field's End, an organization for writers in Washington State.

"Refreshingly candid...Nies' personal take on the ... (more)ripple effects of the women’s movement—both on those involved directly and those who followed--is honest and engaging."
Booklist

"An important book. I know of no book like it."
Jill Ker Conway

author of The Road from Coorain

Judith Nies has worked as a journalist, teacher, historian, researcher, and speechwriter, and is the author of several books, including Nine Women: Portraits from the American Radical Tradition. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, the Boston Globe, the Christian Science Monitor, Ms., the Harvard Review, and other publications. She teaches writing at Massachusetts College of Art and is a member of PEN America. Nies lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Please join Porter Square Books for the release party for Gareth Hinds' graphic adaptation of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. Please visit Gareth's Website for more information.

Gareth Hinds is the author of a graphic adaptation of Beowulf, which Publisher's Weekly calls a "full-color mixed ... (more)media gem," and of

King Lear. He has been drawing visual stories since his earliest childhood and now has a BFA in illustration from the Parsons School of Design.

"With passion, feeling and a keen eye for detail, ... (more)Roxana Robinson brings chillingly to life a family and a family tragedy, showing us how--like a luminous yet ominous landscape--their tangible visible world can coincide with the invisible tumultuous world of their emotions."
Lily Tuck author of The News from Paraguay

"[This book] is a gritty portrait of the havoc wreaked upon a family by one member's drug addiction. Roxana Robinson's vivid, sensuous prose moves effortlessly among relationships and points of view, evoking a brutal war between familial love--in its infinite power and mystery--and the mechanical devastations of pathology."
Jennifer Egan author of The Keep

Roxana Robinson is the author of three earlier novels and three short-story collections, as well as a biography of Georgia O’Keeffe. Four of these were named Notable Books of the Year by The New York Times. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Harper's Magazine, The New York Times, Best American Short Stories and Vogue, among others. She has received Fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the MacDowell Colony. She teaches at the New School in New York.

"In this remarkable book Sarah LeVine brings us ... (more)into religious lives and cultural worlds portrayed with an immediacy, complexity, and intimacy so very different from 'textbook religion.'"
Diane Eck author of A New Religious American

"This is a major work, the beginning of ongoing discussions about the role and impact of religion in multiple societies around the world. It fascinates and prods and disturbs and enlightens. Best of all, the book reads like a novel without losing a scintilla of academic credibility. My best advice: whatever you were going to read next, forget it. Read this book instead."
Joan Chittister author of Called to Question: A Spiritual Memoir

Sarah LeVine was educated at Oxford and the University of Chicago and received her PhD. from Harvard University where she is an associate of the department of Sanskrit and Indian Studies. Her most recent book is Rebuilding Buddhism with David Gellner. She lives in the Boston area.

"Josh Emmons has created a wholly original, brave, ... (more)and disturbingly plausible novel, an existential, theological, fin du monde thriller about star-crossed orphans, twenty-first-century cults, environmental angst, and the extreme consequences of desire."
James P. Othmer author of The Futurist

"[This book] is an acidly hilarious, tightly plotted adventure that folds big themes, romantic moments, and a little thing called the end of the world into its pages...It's as probing and smart as it is moving, hopeful, and sweet."
Alix Ohlin author of Babylon and Other Stories

Born in 1973, Josh Emmons was raised in Northern California and received an MFA and teaching fellowship from the University of Iowa. He recently won the James Michener-Copernicus Society of America Award. He is the author of the novel The Loss of Leon Meed.

PEN New EnglandReadings at the Hotel MarloweJanna Malamud Smith is a writer and psychotherapist. She has lectured widely, and has published nationally and internationally in newspapers, magazines and journals including The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Herald Tribune, The American Scholar ... (more)and The Threepenny Review. She is the author of three books. The first two, Private Matters and A Potent Spell were both chosen as Notable Books by The New York Times Sunday Book Review. Her latest, My Father is a Book: a Memoir of Bernard Malamud received a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly, was selected as a Washington Post Best Book of the Year, and a New York Times Editor’s Choice. She has worked part time since 1979 in the Cambridge Health Alliance, in Cambridge Massachusetts where she sees patients, supervises and teaches psychotherapy. She has a private practice and is a Lecturer in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.Please note: this is an off-site event to be held at the Hotel Marlowe in Cambridge, MA. Directions to the Hotel Marlowe.

For info or questions, contact:

Emily Hiestand, / 617-497-1225.

About PEN New England

PEN New England is an organization of writers and all those who love the written word. Our mission is to advance the cause of literature in New England and defend freedom of expression everywhere. PEN New England is one of five regional branches of PEN American Center, and part of International PEN, the oldest human rights organization in the world, and also the oldest international literary organization. PEN NE is honored to collaborate with the Marlowe Hotel and Porter Square Books to produce the PEN-Marlowe Reading Series, now in its fourth year. The monthly reading series is programmed by two PEN NE board members and award-winning authors: fiction writer, Edith Pearlman, and essayist/photographer, Emily Hiestand. For more information, visit the PEN New England website.

"Al Kooper's [book] is an oasis of insight, humor and irreverence in the overstuffed wasteland of rock autobiographies."Chicago Tribune

"Kooper is a funny guy, an equal-opportunity puncturer of pretension, including his own...Wherever rock history was being made, he was in the vicinity."Mojo

Al ... (more)Kooper, a rock 'n' roll legend, is currently touring all over the world with his highly touted band, The Funky Faculty. In 2007, he was inducted into the Rock Walk of Fame in Hollywood, California, and was presented the prestigious Les Paul Lifetime Achievement Award by the Mix Foundation in New York City.

"[This book] is an astounding feat of storytelling, a gripping novel that also explores with unsparing, sympathetic insight how the men and women of Saudi Arabia's new generation struggle with their modernizing yet still traditional society."Azadeh Moaveni author of Lipstick Jihad

"This deeply original ... (more)work is entrancing, stylish, and utterly compelling."Diana Abu-Jaber author of

Crescent

Zoe Ferraris moved to Saudi Arabia in the aftermath of the first Gulf War to live with her then husband and his extended family of Saudi-Palestinian Bedouins, who had never welcomed an American into their lives before. She has an MFA from Columbia University and currently lives in San Francisco. This is her first novel.

"Elegantly written, moving between the mirrors of present and past, Robin Messing's debut novel transforms the anguish of growing up into a memorably touching experience."Jonathan Baumbach

"In her various ideas of heaven and earth, Silber has explored, with agile and generous sympathies, with wit ... (more)and surprise, the subject of love."American Academy of Arts and Letters

Robin Messing earned an MFA in fiction writing and studied with Russell Banks, Jonathan Baumbach, Peter Spielberg, and Irini Spanidou. Her fiction has appeared in The Baltimore Jewish Times, The Brooklyn Review, The North Atlantic Review, The Sycamore Review, and Washington Square. Presently, she is a literacy coach for the New York City Department of Education and received her training at Columbia University's Reading and Writing Project.

Joan Silber finalist for the National Book Award and The Story Prize for Ideas of Heaven, teaches at Sarah Lawrence College and lives in New York City.

Jennifer Haigh has written a sprawling, emotionally gripping account of one family’s troubled history, enlivened by her formidable intelligence and deep insight into her characters’ hearts and minds."Tom Perrota author of The Abstinence Teacher

"[This book] is unsentimental, compelling, and moving, ... (more)and I urge you to read it."Andre Dubus III author of The Garden of Last Days

Jennifer Haigh's second novel, Baker Towers, won the PEN/L.L. Winship Award for outstanding book by a New England author. Her first, Mrs. Kimble, won the PEN/Hemingway Award for debut fiction. Her short stories have appeared in Good Housekeeping, Five Points, Virginia Quarterly Review, and elsewhere, and have been shortlisted for Best American Short Stories. She teaches in the Graduate Program in Creative Writing at Boston University.

"Eloquent and funny. If you've experienced chronic illness, or if you care for someone who has, you need to read this book."Amy Tenderich co-author of Know Your Numbers, Outlive Your Diabetes

"Edwards is able to use her own treatment experiences to help others facing illness. It has also made her ... (more)wise, generous, and a terrific storyteller."Publisher's Weekly

Laurie Edwards is a health journalist whose essays and articles have been published in the Boston Globe and on several online sites, including ChronicBabe.com. Her blog, www.achronicdose.com, was named one of the top ten sites for chronic pain by the Health Central Network. Edwards teaches writing at Northeastern university and lives with her husband in Boston, Massachusetts. This is her first book.

"Perri Klass's wry eye and sure hand remind us that love and longing will never go out of style."Elinor Lipman author of My Latest Grievance

"Few writers write as beautifully or as authentically about parenting."Chris Bohjalian author of Skeletons at the Feast

Perri Klass is the award-winning author ... (more)of both fiction and nonfiction works. Most recently, she wrote

Treatment Kind and Fair: Letters to a Young Doctor. She is a practicing pediatrician and the medical director of the national literacy program Reach Out and Read, dedicated to promoting literacy as part of pediatric primary care.

"A glorious book...deep philosophy with dirt beneath its fingernails."Bill McKibben author of

Deep Economy

"This book is a long memory of a relationship with Earth. I am in utter awe of the gusto with which Johnson tells hers story. Read one paragraph and you'll long to hold dirt in your hand."Natalie ... (more)Goldberg author of

Writing Down the Bones

Wendy Johnson is one of the founders of the organic Farm and Garden Program at Green Gulch Farm Zen Center in Marin County. A Buddhist meditation teacher who is deeply engaged in environmental work nationally, she is an adviser to the Edible Schoolyard program of the Chez Panisse Foundation and has helped to establish many garden programs in public schools and local communities throughout the Bay Area. Her column "On Gardening," has appeared in Tricycle: The Buddhist Review for more than ten years.

"[With] an appealing protagonist with room to grow, this cozy should win new fans for [Linda Greenlaw]."Publisher's Weekly

"A primer in how to acclimate to Down Easterners that includes step-by-step instructions in knot-tying, navigation, and climbing in and out of lobster boats. Jane's the best thing ... (more)to happen to happen to water since Travis McGee."Kirkus Reviews

Linda Greenlaw is the author of the bestsellers The Hungry Ocean,All Fishermen Are Liars,The Lobster Chronicles, and Recipes from a Very Small Island as well as the first novel in the Jane Bunker series Slipknot. She lives on Isle au Haut, Maine, where she captains a lobster boat.

"[This book] is a rip-roaring read that will propel you to the next page until you laugh your way across the finish line...This is a brilliant novel of ideas, as American as Kerouac careening along an interstate highway. Cool prose and piercing insights from a hot new talent."Martin J. Sherwin author ... (more)of American Prometheus

"Part farce, part political satire, part metafiction, [this book] is a rich fictional stew. Josh Barkan has written an energetic modern-day picaresque."Tom Perrotta author of

The Abstinence Teacher

Josh Barkan was awarded a literature fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in 2006. He has taught writing at Harvard, New York University, and Boston University and is the author of the short-story collection Before Hiroshima. A graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop and Yale, he lives in New York City.

"A heartening book."Kirkus Reviews

"...we trust her, we believer her, and we believe, therefore, in her unbelievable hope."Bangor Daily News

Kate Braestrup is one of the first chaplains ever appointed to the Maine Warden Service. She is the author of a novel, Onion, and has written for Mademoiselle, ... (more)Ms., City Paper, Hope, and Law and Order. She in lives in Maine with her husband, Simon van der Ven, and their six children.

"An explosive narrative employs a Florida strip club as a tinderbox for tensions on the weekend before 9/11...Difficult to put down, impossible to forget."Kirkus Reviews

"A masterful psychological portrait of three compellingly flawed, very human characters."Caitlin Doggart bookseller at Where the ... (more)Sidewalk Ends, Chatham, MA.

Andre Dubus III is the author of Bluesman, The Cage Keeper and Other Stories, and House of Sand and Fog (a National Book Award Finalist and Oprah Book Club Selection). His writing has received many honors, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, a National Magazine Award, and a Pushcart Prize. He lives with his family north of Boston.

"Using humor and wise, practical ways, Lama Surya Das invites our hearts to awaken to the highest wisdom."Jack Kornfield author of After the Ecstasy the Laundry

"Lama Surya Das' books are a blessing on my bookshelf and a blessing on my heart."Marianne Williamson author of A Return to Love

Lama ... (more)Surya Das teaches and lectures around the world, conducting dozens of meditation retreats and workshops each year. Based on his relationship with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Surya Das founded the Western Buddhist Teachers Network and has organized three week-long conferences of Western Buddhist Meditation Teachers with the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala, India. He also teaches regularly at Esalen, Open Center, Omega Institute, Interface, at universities in the United States and abroad, and at spiritual centers of all kinds. He is the author a number of books on Buddhism and meditation, most recently Letting Go of the Person You Used to Be: Lessons on Change, Loss, and Spiritual Transformation, and is a regular contributor to Tricycle magazine, New Age, and Yoga Journal.

PEN New EnglandReadings at the Hotel Marlowe

Sue Miller's latest novel, The Senator's Wife takes us deep into the private lives of women with a mesmerizing portrait of two marriages. The author of the iconic The Good Mother and the best-selling While I Was Gone brings her astonishing gifts to a powerfully ... (more)uplifting story of two unconventional women confronting the cost of their deepest and most complicated allegiances. Sue Miller is also the author of the novels Lost in the Forest, The World Below, and The Distinguished Guest, the short story collection Inventing the Abbots, and the memoir The Story of My Father.Please note: this is an off-site event to be held at the Hotel Marlowe in Cambridge, MA. Directions to the Hotel Marlowe.

For info or questions, contact:

Emily Hiestand, / 617-497-1225.

About PEN New England

PEN New England is an organization of writers and all those who love the written word. Our mission is to advance the cause of literature in New England and defend freedom of expression everywhere. PEN New England is one of five regional branches of PEN American Center, and part of International PEN, the oldest human rights organization in the world, and also the oldest international literary organization. PEN NE is honored to collaborate with the Marlowe Hotel and Porter Square Books to produce the PEN-Marlowe Reading Series, now in its fourth year. The monthly reading series is programmed by two PEN NE board members and award-winning authors: fiction writer, Edith Pearlman, and essayist/photographer, Emily Hiestand. For more information, visit the PEN New England website.

"[This book] is just astonishing...No one can ever fully answer the devastating question that suicide remains for those left behind, yet here, in Joan Wickersham's exquisitely straightforward story, I found surprising consolation...It will stay with me for a very long time."Julia Glass author of The ... (more)Whole World Over

"This book is beautifully written and haunts the reader long after it's closed."Library Journal

Joan Wickersham is the author of the novel The Paper Anniversary. Her work has appeared in the Best American Short Stories series, and she has won the Ploughshares Cohen Award for Best short story. She lives in Cambridge, MA.

"From the very first page, we are drawn into a twisting odyssey of faith confronting the complexities of White privilege and American racism. Patricia Wild writes prose like a poet and tells stories like a trusted friend or favorite neighbor."Alexander Levering Kern

Patricia Wild is the author of ... (more)the novel Swimming In It. She is a bi-monthly columnist for The Somerville Journal and her short stories have appeared in Wilderness House Literary Review, Out of the Blue Writers Unite: An Anthology, and Peeks and Valleys: A New England Fiction Journal. Her poetry has been published by P and Q Press and Ibbetson Street Press. She has recently completed an online companion to Way Opens at www.tiljusticerolls.com.

"A captivating, emotionally intense investigation of the complicated relationship between truth and the justice system."Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"I know of no other book that says as much about a defense lawyer's motivations, self-doubt, frustrations. I finished it with tears in my eyes."Anthony ... (more)Lewis author of Freedom for the Thought that We Hate: a Biography of the First Amendment

Abbe Smith, director of the Criminal Justice Clinic and professor of law at Georgetown Law School, is the recognized expert on legal ethics. She is a regular contributor to The New York Times, Boston Globe, Philadelphia Daily News, National Law Journal, and The Atlantic Monthly. She lives in Washington, D.C.

Book Group #3 meets to discuss Joyce Carol Oates's We Were the Mulvaneys. All book groups are free to join and all are welcome!
For more on Joyce Carol Oates, click here

This month Farley's Book Club will be reading Haruki Murakami's Hard-Boiled Wonderland. As usual, please meet in the back room of Farley's for stimulating discussion and light refreshments!

"As smart and cosmopolitan as the twenty-first-century Berlin she chronicles so well... [this book] is an essential love story for our confused and difficult times. Funny, touching, and unforgettable."Gary Shteyngart author of

Absurdistan

Anna Winger grew up in Mexico and in the United States ... (more)as the daughter of anthropologists. A professional photographer, she only recently began writing. Her essays have since appeared in The New York Times Magazine, among other publications, and she is the creator of "The Berlin Stories" for NPR Worldwide. She lives in Berlin with her husband and their daughter.

"Every reader will enjoy the wit and subtlety in the novel's dangerous, delicate balance of eighteenth-century customs and transgressions. What a first impression! Sophie Gee's debut novel signals her unique expertise and a great career ahead."Matthew Pearl author of

The Dante Club

"Sophie ... (more)Gee's dazzling, sophisticated novel is a clever re-imagining of Alexander Pope's famous poem and a wildly entertaining tale in its own right. The romance and adventure of [this book] will seduce readers from the first page."Amanda Foreman author of Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire

Sophie Gee grew up in Sydney, Australia, and completed a PhD in English at Harvard in 2002. She is an assistant professor in the Department of English at Princeton. She was recently named the John E. Annan Bicentennial Preceptor, in recognition of her outstanding teaching and research as a member of Princeton's junior faculty. She divides her time between Princeton and New York.

Book Group #1 reads Henry James's Portrait of a Lady. All book groups are free to join and all are welcome!
For more on Henry James, click here

PEN New EnglandReadings at the Hotel MarloweBarbara Helfgott Hyett is the published author of In Evidence: Poems of the Liberation of Nazi Concentration Camps ; The Double Reckoning of Christopher Columbus; The Tracks We Leave: Poems on Endangered Wildlife. Barbara has taught Literature and Writing at ... (more)MIT and Boston University, where she won the Sproat Award for Excellence in Teaching English. Barbara Helfgott Hyett is currently a Visiting Scholar at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Her poems have appeared in dozens of magazines including The Nation, The New Republic, and The Partisan Review.Please note: this is an off-site event to be held at the Hotel Marlowe in Cambridge, MA. Directions to the Hotel Marlowe.

For info or questions, contact:

Emily Hiestand, / 617-497-1225.

About PEN New England

PEN New England is an organization of writers and all those who love the written word. Our mission is to advance the cause of literature in New England and defend freedom of expression everywhere. PEN New England is one of five regional branches of PEN American Center, and part of International PEN, the oldest human rights organization in the world, and also the oldest international literary organization. PEN NE is honored to collaborate with the Marlowe Hotel and Porter Square Books to produce the PEN-Marlowe Reading Series, now in its fourth year. The monthly reading series is programmed by two PEN NE board members and award-winning authors: fiction writer, Edith Pearlman, and essayist/photographer, Emily Hiestand. For more information, visit the PEN New England website.

"Smart, surreal and thoroughly enjoyable, Ron MacLean's stories refract light off the everyday in strange and wondrous angles, making us see--as all good fiction does--our ordinary lives in new and extraordinary ways."Jenna Blum author of Those Who Save Us

"His work is smart and elegant and spooky, ... (more)and it pushes the boundaries of what a short story can be."Ralph Lombreglia author of Men Under Water

Ron Maclean's fiction has appeared in GQ, Greensboro Review, Prism International, Night Train and other quarterlies. He is a recipient of the Frederick Exley Award for Short Fiction and a recurring Pushcart Prize nominee, and author of the novel Blue Winnetka Skies.

"Perrotta is that rare combination: a satirist with heart...Those who haven’t curled up on the couch with this writer’s books are missing a very great pleasure."Seattle Times

"Nobody renders the world of soccer moms and sprinklers and SUVs like Perrotta. He’s the Steinbeck of suburbia."Time

Tom ... (more)Perrotta is the author of five previous works of fiction:

Bad Haircut,

The Wishbones,

Election, and the New York Times bestsellers Joe College and Little Children. Perrotta was nominated for an Academy Award for the screenplay for the movie version of Little Children. Perrotta lives with his family outside Boston, Massachusetts.

"Carol Band is a truly delightful storyteller..."Parenting Publications of America

"Slightly sarcastic, absolutely on the mark and really, really funny!"Bill Lindsay Editor in Chief, Dominion Parenting Media/Parenthood.com

Carol Band's humor column, "A Household Word," has won numerous awards--including ... (more)the Gold Award from Parenting Publications of American for two consecutive years--and is featured in publications and websites around the country. Carol's writing has appeared in The Boston Globe, The Boston Parent's Paper, L.A. Parent, and AARP Magazine, as well as numerous websites Eons.com, Humorpress.com, and parenthood.com.

PEN New EnglandReadings at the Hotel MarloweBarbara Helfgott Hyett is the published author of In Evidence: Poems of the Liberation of Nazi Concentration Camps ; The Double Reckoning of Christopher Columbus; The Tracks We Leave: Poems on Endangered Wildlife. Barbara has taught Literature and Writing at ... (more)MIT and Boston University, where she won the Sproat Award for Excellence in Teaching English. Barbara Helfgott Hyett is currently a Visiting Scholar at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Her poems have appeared in dozens of magazines including The Nation, The New Republic, and The Partisan Review.Please note: this is an off-site event to be held at the Hotel Marlowe in Cambridge, MA. Directions to the Hotel Marlowe.

For info or questions, contact:

Emily Hiestand, / 617-497-1225.

About PEN New England

PEN New England is an organization of writers and all those who love the written word. Our mission is to advance the cause of literature in New England and defend freedom of expression everywhere. PEN New England is one of five regional branches of PEN American Center, and part of International PEN, the oldest human rights organization in the world, and also the oldest international literary organization. PEN NE is honored to collaborate with the Marlowe Hotel and Porter Square Books to produce the PEN-Marlowe Reading Series, now in its fourth year. The monthly reading series is programmed by two PEN NE board members and award-winning authors: fiction writer, Edith Pearlman, and essayist/photographer, Emily Hiestand. For more information, visit the PEN New England website.

"An outstanding medical thriller, sharply plotted, with crisp dialogue, intelligent characters--and a premise that will freeze your blood. Gary Braver is one hell of a good writer."Douglas Preston author of The Wheel of Darkness

"[This book] cuts to the bone, a nerve-jangling thriller that combines ... (more)the horror of Silence of the Lambs with the medical terror of Robin Cook...As terrifying as it is ingenious, the book is destined to become a classic of suspense and horror."James Rollins author of The Judas Strain

Gary Braver is the author of six critically acclaimed suspense novels. Flashback is the only thriller to have won a prestigious Massachusetts Book Award. He teaches fiction writing as well as course in popular literature as a professor of English at Northeastern University. He has taught fiction-writing workshops throughout the United States and Europe for more than twenty years.

"McCullough's concept of 'slow medicine' is an example of that ethic of care in action."Library Journal

"This book will literally speak volumes to many baby boomers who find themselves helping aging parents through their late-life journey."Peggy Carlson

Dennis McCullough, M.D. has been a family ... (more)physician and geriatrician for thirty years. He is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Medical School, and serves as a faculty member in the Department of Community and Family Medicine at Dartmouth Medical School. He is a member of the American Geriatrics Society, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine, and the American Medical Directors Association, as well as the coauthor of The Little Black Book of Geriatrics. He lives with his wife, the poet Pamela Harrison, in Norwich, VT.

Adam Raphael, accompanied by several of the top models featured in his latest photographic gem, Barely Working, will be on hand at Lambda Rising’s Washington DC bookstore to meet their fans and talk about their work.

Adam Raphael, photographer of the widely praised Room Service, now offers Barely ... (more)Working, a delicious, racially diverse collection of the finest faces and bodies in working situations that include construction, landscaping, and boiler repair. Of course, work soon gives way to play, and the unique combination of laughter, competition, and youthful energy converge to create a sensual tension that can only be captured by a photographer who has the skill and talent to work closely with his models without ever overshadowing or crowding them. 

“In Barely Working, pipe wrenches and earth-moving equipment are handled with grace and ease by Adam Raphael’s young men, who practically throb with visceral friendliness while possessing a humanity that makes them irresistibly appealing.” —Reed Massengill 

About the Author 

Adam Raphael has been making subtle, erotic photographs of stunning young men for more than a decade. In addition to Barely Working, he has published four other books: Book One (HM, 1999), Friends (HM, 2001), Friends & Brothers (HM, 2004), and Room Service (powerHouse Books, 2007). His photography is widely collected and was featured in Reed Massengill’s Self-Exposure (Universe, 2005) as well as in numerous magazines, including Du Und Ich, XY Foto, Instinct, The Out Traveler, M Mensuel, and AX National.

"Kennedy excels at making the complex compelling...a stylish and wholly original triumph."Publisher's Weekly starred review.

Pagan Kennedy is the author of ten books in a variety of genres--from cultural history to biography to the novel, including her most recent book The First Man-Made Man. A regular ... (more)contributor to the Boston Globe, she has published articles in dozens of magazines and newspapers, including several sections of the New York Times. A biography titled Black Livingstone made the New York Times Notable list and earned Massachusetts Book Award honors. Her novel, Spinsters, was short-listed for the Orange Prize. She also has been the recipient of a Barnes and Noble Discover Award, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Fiction, and a Smithsonian Fellowship for science writing.

Join Porter Square Books for an evening with contributors to The Best Women's Travel Writing 2008, edited by Lucy McCauley. Reading with us will be:

Susan Freireich is the recipient of the 1998 Frances Shaw Fellowship at The Ragdale Foundation, and the 2005 Mildred Sherrod Bissinger Memorial Endowed ... (more)Fellowship at the Djerassi Resident Artists Program. She has also received support and time for her work from Norcroft, Hedgebrook, Blue Mountain Center, and Casa Libre en la Solana. Her work has appeared in Poetic Voices Without Borders and in The Best Women’s Travel Writing 2007 and The Best Women's Travel Writing 2008.

Tracy Slater is author of essays and articles in the US from the Boston Globe, Best Women's Travel Writing 2008, The Chronicle Review, and Post Road; and in Japan from The Asahi Weekly, Kansai Time Out, and Kansai Scene. She is also the founder of the Four Stories Boston, Osaka, and Tokyo literary series. She teaches writing at Boston University and has her PhD in English and American literature.

Terri Trespicio is a senior editor at Body and Soul magazine, writer, and public speaker. She has appeared on The Today Show, The Martha Stewart Show, Fox News, and NECN. She earned her M.F.A. in creative writing at Emerson College, and currently teaches editing in the publishing certificate program at Boston University. Her work has recently appeared in Boston Magazine, Boston Weddings, Lola, and Boston Globe magazine, where she's a regular contributor to the Coupling column. She lives in Waltham.

Kate Wheeler is an award-winning fiction writer and journalist. Once upon a time she was a Buddhist nun, but is now married and lives in Somerville. She teaches and practice meditation, and travels as much as she can. She's now at work on her second novel.

Lucy McCauley's travel essays have appeared in such publications as The Atlantic Monthly, The Los Angeles Times, Fast Company, Harvard Review, Science and Spirit, and Salon.com. She is series editor of Best Women’s Travel Writing and editor of three other Travelers’ Tales anthologies—Spain (1995), Women in the Wild (1998), and A Woman’s Path (2000), all of which have been reissued in the last few years. In addition, she has written case studies in Latin America for Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, and now works as a developmental editor for publishers such as Harvard Business School Press.

"The book is filled with fascinating dramatically told stories."Booklist

"Yolen tells the tales of 13 female pirates, from Persia to China, from 500 years before the Common Era to the 19th century. Not only does she tell them vividly, she also strives to untangle fact from fiction, history from legend, ... (more)highlighting the telling details that will draw kids in."Kirkus Reviews

Jane Yolen s the award-winning author of nearly three hundred children's books, including Snow, Snow: Winter Poems and The Rogues. She has been called the Hans Christian Andersen of the Americas. Jane lives in Western Massachusetts and Scotland.

"[This book] is the most masterful and engaging story of what it means to be an immigrant from America that I've ever read."Howard Frank Mosher author of

On Kingdom Mountain

"Limber with history, ripe with life, plus the splendors of exactitude, this magnificent narrative poem is Leland Kinsey's ... (more)richest to date. I pored over it."Edward Hoagland author of Hoagland on Nature: Essays

Leland Kinsey is the author of sex collections of poetry including

Sledding on Hospital Hill. He lives with his family in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, near the Canadian border.

"One comes away from Miller's page-turner with a reverence, almost an unalloyed love for Tenen, Tufts, and the Kartchner family that owned the land under which the young spelunkers discovered the cave."Tuscon Weekly

Kartchner Caverns tells the story of two young spelunkers, just out of the University ... (more)of Arizona, who stumbled upon some fantastically beautiful caves on a southern Arizona hillside, kept them secret for 14 years out of fear they might be looted and destroyed, and eventually succeeded in having them developed as a state park. The book is a non-fiction narrative, extensively researched, that brings to life an important piece of contemporary Western history. It is an adventure story, a character study of two eco-heroes, and a chronicle of the triumph of the environmental approach in a corner of the natural world where pillage, not preservation, had been the norm.

Neil Miller teaches journalism and nonfiction writing in the English department at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts. He is a former staff writer at the Boston Phoenix. Miller is the author of five books, including Sex-Crime Panic: A Journey to the Paranoid Heart of the 1950s
and Out of the Past: Gay and Lesbian History from 1869 to the Present. His articles have appeared in the Boston Globe Magazine, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, and a number of other publications.

Now you see him, now your don't! This month we will be reading H.G. Well's classic science fiction novel, the Invisible Man and watching James Whale's B&W film version starring Claude Rains. After which will be discussing both the novel and the film!

"...emotionally authentic...a ravishing novel of the mystery of death and life’s assertion."Bookslist (starred review)

"Deeply touching and absorbing..."Publisher's Weekly

Francine Prose is the author of fifteen books of fiction, including A Changed Man and Blue Angel, which was a finalist for ... (more)the National Book Award, and the nonfiction New York Times bestseller Reading Like a Writer. She is the president of PEN American Center. She lives in New York City.

"[This book] is a lively, informative, readable, and enlightening perspective, to be both enjoyed for its literary merits and digested for its insights."Zbigniew Brzezinski author of Second Chance: Three Presidents and the Crisis of American Superpower

"With a keen eye for detail and a deep sensitivity ... (more)towards his subject, Daniloff has written a rich and rewarding account of his years covering the Soviet Union."Marvin Kalb Edward R. Murrow Professor Emeritus at Harvard

Nicholas Daniloff is Professor of Journalism at Northeastern University. His previous books include The Kremlin and the Cosmos and Two Lives, One Russia.

"A surprising and gracefully written exploration of Boston's true nature. If you love this city, you will love this book."Eric Jay Dolin author of Leviathan

"A wonderful piece of work: lively, thought-provoking, and totally absorbing. The city of Boston has been chopped to pieces, riddled with tunnels, ... (more)and surrounded by fill, but as Mitchell reveals in [this book] it is still a place of wonder."Nathaniel Philbrick author of

Mayflower

John Hanson Mitchell concentrated much of his earlier early work, including, most famously,

Ceremonial Time, on a square-mile tract of land known as Scratch Flat, located thirty-five miles northwest of Boston. He is the author of numerous books and editor of the award-winning magazine Sanctuary, published by the Massachusetts Audubon Society. Mitchell lives in Littleton, Massachusetts.

"It is unbelievably beautiful. Spectacular!"Keene Metzger

"This book is gorgeous...Wise, common sense advice is scattered through it. Characters work hard and have good sense and good priorities."Pastor Mike Knudson

Bill Buffett grew up in Omaha, attended Central High School, and worked at Buffet's. ... (more)He received degrees from Carleton College, Yale, Harvard, and Boston Universities. He taught high school history in Illinois, drove a taxi in Boston, and was the director of Fenwood Inn at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center. Bill lives with his wife in Arlington, MA.

Spencer has too many toys! He has robots, puzzles, board games, stuffed animals, and plastic dinosaurs. Toys spill out of every drawer and closet and clutter the floor of every room. Come along as Spencer tries to persuade his mother to keep them all--because every single toy is his favorite!

David ... (more)Shannon is the award winning bestselling author of many children's books including,

Good Boy, Fergus!,

Alice the Fairy,

No, David! for which he won a Caldecott Honor,

How I Became a Pirate, and

Pirates Don't Change Diapers. He lives in Southern California with his wife, Heidi, their daughter Emma, and their West Highland terrier, Fergus.

"Here is a brainy, heartfelt, continuously inventive novel on a theme we know very well from life and hardly at all from fiction: the wish to be cool. It's impossible not to assent to [this novel.]"Benjamin Kunkel author of Indecision

"Fierce and wildly original--Monica Ferrell is a thrilling new ... (more)voice."Nick Flynn author of Another Bullshit Night in Suck City

Monica Ferrell's poems have appeared in the New York Review of Books, Paris Review, and other magazines. A former "Discovery"/the Nation winner and Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford University, she lives in Brooklyn. This is her first novel.

Reading Transfer of Power by Vince Flynn

"Nonfiction...rarely seems to get the respect it deserves, but Macaulay's latest ambitious, encyclopedic work commands it."Horn Book, starred review

David Macaulay is an award-winning author and illustrator whose books have sold millions of copies in the United States alone, and his work has been ... (more)translated into a dozen languages. Macaulay has garnered numerous awards including the Caldecott Medal and Honor Awards, the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award, the Christopher Award, an American Institute of Architects Medal, and the Washington Post–Children’s Book Guild Nonfiction Award. In 2006, he was the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, given "to encourage people of outstanding talent to pursue their own creative, intellectual, and professional inclinations." Superb design, magnificent illustrations, and clearly presented information distinguish all of his books. David Macaulay lives with his family in Vermont.

"Informative, entertaining, and timely, this is a fine example of how well-conceived humor can make a potentially complicated topic not only more appealing, but also more comprehensible and even inspiring."School Library Journal

"It's election time again; and, just in time to explain it all...comes ... (more)a wonderful new work of nonfiction from the unstoppable team that brought us The Truth About Poop and Gee Whiz."Michelle Charles, Kid's Book Corner, WHDD am radio 1020

Susan Goodman is the author of numerous award winning children's books, includingGee Whiz, It's All About Pee,

All in Just One Cookie,

The Truth About Poop,

On This Spot: An Expedition Through Time, and Skyscraper: From the Ground Up. Gordon's many articles for both children and adults have appeared in Highlights for Children, Ranger Rick, National Geographic Traveler, Mademoiselle, The Old Farmer's Almanac, and in The New York Time Syndication. She currently teaches at Lesley University in Cambridge, MA.

Bertie Badger loves to visit the Retirement Home for Elderly Magicians and watch his grandpa perform magic tricks. But one day all the magicians’ props go missing, so Bertie sets off to investigate. Can he solve the mystery in time to save the show? This clever book will engage readers as they ... (more)are challenged to solve the mystery along with Bertie, discovering where the missing props have gone by using a decoder included with the book that reveals the mystery.

Graeme Base is one of the world's leading creators of picture books. His alphabet book, Animalia, received international acclaim when it was first published in 1986 and has sold more than two million copies. Other perennial favorites by Graeme Base include The Eleventh Hour, The Discovery of Dragons, The Worst Band in the Universe, The Water Hole, and Jungle Drums. His latest picture book is Uno's Garden. In 2003, he wrote his first novel for young readers, TruckDogs. Graeme lives in Melbourne, Australia, with his artist wife, Robyn, and three wild and wonderful creatures of their own, James, Kate, and William.

Join Porter Square Books and the Common Cod Fiber Guild for an evening with Stephanie Pearl-McPhee.

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee is the author of Yarn Harlot, At Knit's End, Knitting Rules!, and Casts Off. She maintains a popular blog at www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/ from her wool-filled home in Toronto, Canada, ... (more)where she lives with her husband and three daughters.

This event will be held at St. James' Episcopal Church, 1991 Mass Ave. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. Seating will be first come first serve.

The Common Cod Fiber Guild was started to create an accessible place for speakers and presentations about fiber activities. We wanted a group where we could learn, gossip, and then go for a coffee or cocktail. This group should tie together people from both sides of the river and surrounding communities. For more information visit their website at www.commoncod.com.

Join Diesel Bookstore for a green event with Van Jones, author of Green Collar Economy!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Van Jones is the founder and president of Green For All, based in Oakland. The mission is to help build an inclusive, green economy - strong enough to lift millions of people out of poverty. Van ... (more)is a tireless advocate, championing "green-collar jobs and opportunities" for disadvantaged people. He is committed to creating "green pathways out of poverty," while greatly expanding the coalition fighting global warming.

He's worked to combine solutions to America's two biggest problems: social inequality and environmental destruction. Under the slogan "green-collar jobs, not jails," he is calling for green economic development in urban America.

As an advocate for the toughest urban constituencies and causes, he has won many honors, which include the 1998 Reebok International Human Rights Award, the international Ashoka Fellowship, selection as a World Economic Forum "Young Global Leader," and the Rockefeller Foundation "Next Generation Leadership" Fellowship.

He's also served on the boards of numerous national environmental organizations. Presently, he is a board member of the National Apollo Alliance, which advocates for clean energy jobs. He is also a founding board member of 1Sky, a national coalition working to avert catastrophic climate change.

In 2007, Van helped the City of Oakland pass a "Green Jobs Corps" proposal; the City allocated funds to train Oakland residents in eco-friendly "green-collar jobs."

At the national level, Van worked successfully in 2007 with U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), U.S. Rep. Hilda Solis (D-CA), U.S. Rep. John Tierney (D-MASS) to pass the Green Jobs Act of 2007. That path-breaking, historic legislation authorized $125 million in funding to train 35,000 people a year in "green-collar jobs." Van is also a co-founder of a new national coalition that promotes the idea of a national "Clean Energy Jobs Corps." This multi-billion-dollar federal initiative would put hundreds of thousands of people to work rewiring and retrofitting the energy infrastructure of the United States.

In 2005, Van produced the "Social Equity Track" for the United Nations' World Environment Day celebration. UNWED 2005 drew dozens of mayors from around the world to San Francisco, where they developed policies promoting the concept of "Green Cities."

In 1996, Van co-founded (with Diana Frappier) the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, now located in Oakland, California. Named for an unsung civil rights heroine, the award-winning Center promotes alternatives to violence and incarceration. The Center, for which Van serves as board president, incubated Green For All in 2007 and spun it off in 2008.

His many media appearances includes the popular Peabody award-winning show, The Colbert Report.

"Not only wonderfully witty but also deeply thoughtful and insightful"Booklist starred review

John Green is the Michael L. Printz Award-winning author of Looking for Alaska and An Abundance of Katherines. John has written for NPR's All Things Considered, Mental Floss Magazine, and The New York Times ... (more)Book Review.

Hank Green is a web-designer and writer whose works have appeared in Mental Floss and The New York Times Book Review.

Together, the Green brothers created the videoblog Brotherhood 2.0. Their videos have a fanbase of 20,000 viewers and have been featured on BBC radio and the Wallstreet Journal.

This event is office at the Central Square Branch of the Cambridge Public Library

"Entertaining as well as thought provoking [this book] packs and emotional punch delivered with flawless, significant detail."Kirkus Reviews

"With her signature lyricism, Glass, a National Book Award winner, seesaws the narration between the sisters over a 25-year span, spinning a sometimes stinging, ... (more)always affecting tale of siblings who can't quite make it as friends"Marie Claire Magazine

Julia Glass is the author of Three Junes, which won the National Book Award for Fiction, and The Whole World Over. She has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York Foundation for the Arts, and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Her short fiction has won several prizes, including the Tobias Wolff Award and the Pirate's Alley Faulkner Society Medal for the Best Novella. She lives with her family in Massachusetts.

Join Clare Langley-Hawthorne at Diesel Bookstore as she presents the second book in her fantastic new historical mystery series! Featuring the strong, outspoken, intelligent and sassy Ursula Marlow, THE SERPENT AND THE SCORPION is a thrilling story of scandal and betrayal that's richly detailed and ... (more)action-packed.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:Clare Langley-Hawthorne was raised in England and Australia. She practiced law in Melbourne until 1995 when she emigrated moved to the United States and began work as a health economist. Clare has since put her pursuit of a PhD on hold to focus on her career as a writer. She lives in the San Francisco bay area with her husband and twin sons. This is her second novel.

For more information, visit her web site at www.clarelangleyhawthorne.com

"Rising head and shoulders above almost all other new books about China, this unflinching and yearningly compassionate portrait of the lives and loves of ordinary Chinese workers is quite unforgettable: it presents the first long, hard look we have ever taken at the people who are due to become, before ... (more)very much longer, the new masters of the world."Simon Winchester author of The Man Who Loved China

"The stories of these factory girls are not only mesmerizing, tragic, and inspiring--true examples of persistence, endurance, and loneliness--but Chang has also woven in her own family's history, shuttling north and south through China to examine this complicated country’s past, present, and future."Lisa See author of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

Leslie T. Chang lived in China for a decade as a correspondent for the Wall Street Journal. She is married to Peter Hessler, who also writes about China. She lives in Colorado.

This event is co-sponsored by the Center for New Words

"Jeffrey Lewis's [book], with its echoes of The Great Gatsby, is such a fine novel. I read it in a single sitting, set the book down and said 'Yes.'"Richard Russo author of Bridge of Sighs and Empire Falls

"Pitch-perfect...Quirky, rueful, and wise."Kirkus Reviews

Jeffrey Lewis is the author of ... (more)three previous novels: The Conference of Birds, Theme Song for an Old Show, and Meritocracy: A Love Story, which won both the Independent Publishers Book Award for General Fiction and the ForeWord Book of the Year Silver Award for Fiction. He divides his time between Los Angeles California and Castine, Maine.

"Taking notes in shattered worlds as her own family breaks and reshapes into something surprising and completely beautiful, Williams presets us with an incredible achievement, a beautiful, terrible, wonderful, hopeful witness. The farthest thing from insanity I've read."Alexandra Fuller author of Don't ... (more)Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight

"How a book could be this gentle and this heartbreaking simultaneously I do not know. But over a simple trajectory of mosaic-to-prarie-dog- to-comtemporary-genocide, Terry Tempest Williams leads us with methodical accuracy into the devastations and delights of now."John D'Agata author of Halls of Fame

Terry Tempest Williams is the Annie Clark Tanner Scholar in Environmental Humanities at the University of Utah. Her previous books include Red: Passion and Patience in the Desert,

The Open Space of Democracy, and An Unspoken Hunger. Her writing appears frequently in journals and newspapers worldwide. She is the recipient of Lannan and Guggenheim fellowships in creative nonfiction. She divides her time between Castle Valley, Utah, and Wilson, Wyoming.

In Volume II of his unparalleled masterwork, M. T. Anderson recounts Octavian's experiences as the Revolutionary War explodes around him, thrusting him into intense battles and tantalizing him with elusive visions of liberty. Ultimately, this astonishing narrative escalates to a startling, deeply satisfying ... (more)climax, while reexamining our national origins in a singularly provocative light. Volume II of the National Book Award Winner and New York Times bestseller--a stunning resolution to the epic tale that "fascinates, appalls, condemns, and enthralls."

M. T. Anderson is the author of several novels for young adults, including the much-lauded

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing: Volume One, The Pox Party,winner of the National Book Award, and Feed, which won the Los Angeles Book Prize and was a finalist for the National Book Award. M. T. Anderson lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The Love Dare by Stephen Kendrick and Alex Kendrick. Unconditional love is eagerly promised at weddings, but rarely practiced in real life. As a result, romantic hopes are often replaced with disappointment in the home. But it doesn't have to stay that way. "The Love Dare," as featured in the popular ... (more)new movie Fireproof (from the makers of Facing the Giants), is a 40-day challenge for husbands and wives to understand and practice unconditional love. Whether your marriage is hanging by a thread or healthy and strong, "The Love Dare" is a journey you need to take. It's time to learn the keys to finding true intimacy and developing a dynamic marriage. Take the dare

"Insightful and engaging."Kirkus Reviews

"Provocative and deeply personal."Booklist

Susan Cheever is the bestselling author of eleven previous books, including five novels and the memoirs Note Found in a Bottle and

As Good as I Can Be as well as the non-fiction work American Bloomsbury. Her work ... (more)has been nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award and won the Boston Globe Winship Medal. She is a Guggenheim Fellow, a member of the Corporation of Yaddo, and a member of the Author's Guild Council. She writes a weekly column for Newsday and teaches in the Bennington College M.F.A. program. She lives in New York City with her family.

"Cathleen Davitt Bell has hit one out of the park with this debut book. Slipping is a riveting ghost story that finds the right balance of boy-humour, teenage angst, family dysfunction and reassuring love."Raincoast Books

"A unique ghostly concept."Kirkus Reviews

Cathleen Davitt Bell received her ... (more)undergraduate degree from Barnard College and her MFA in creative writing from Columbia University. She lives in Brooklyn, with her husband and two children. This is her first novel.

DIESEL, A Bookstore is pleased to welcome renowned actor & dedicated activist, Martin Sheen, as he speaks with Pepperdine's Professor Douglas Kmiec, Caruso Family Chair in Constitutional Law. They'll be discussing Doug's book - Can A Catholic Support Him?: Asking the Big Question About Barack ... (more)Obama - which holds significant relevance in today's charged political atmosphere.

ABOUT THE BOOK:On April 18, 2008, Douglas W. Kmiec was denied Communion at a Catholic Mass in Westlake, California. Ironically, Kmiec had been invited by a Catholic business group to give a dinner address on the Bishop's teaching of "Faithful Citizenship." Kmiec had served as head of the Office of Legal Counsel for both Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. But now, he found himself rejected by his faith--simply for endorsing the presidential campaign of Senator Barack Obama.

In Can a Catholic Support Him?, Kmiec offers us a thoughtful explanation of his rationale. He addresses the difficult questions at the core of his decision: Can a Catholic support a Pro-Choice candidate? Can there be a reverence for life that embraces a larger set of values? How does a Catholic citizen balance his obligations to the Church and to community? In asking these questions, he challenges those whose partisan interests are provoking a false rift between the Catholic Church and the Democratic party.

This inquiry could hardly be more timely. Catholics have been on the side of the top vote-getter in the last nine presidential elections, and make up roughly one fourth of the electorate. This provocative book--at once a legal and religious treatise and a sincere and personal journey of faith will be an irreplaceable contribution to the conversation, in 2008 and beyond.

This event will take place at DIESEL, A Bookstore in MALIBU, 3890 Cross Creek Rd., Malibu, CA 90265. For more information, please email events@dieselbookstore.com or call (310) 456-9961.

Any parent of a toddler knows the drill: you’re having a nice day with your child, then suddenly-meltdown! How to react? Or not react? I Brake for Meltdowns offers parents welcome relief: an annotated listing of all the exasperating things little kids do and step-by-step advice on how to ... (more)handle each situation. Infused with funny, often commiserating advice, this is an invaluable resource for parents who try their darnedest but need a cheat-sheet for when they’re stumped by their willful tots.

Michelle Nicholasen, an award-winning filmmaker for Frontline and Nova, gave up her career in 2004 to raise five children under the age of five. After a two-year battle with infertility, she "hit the IVF jackpot." Michelle gave birth to her first daughter in 2001, and when she and her husband tried for a second child, she became pregnant with triplets. And when her triplet daughters were ten months old, Michelle became spontaneously (and impossibly!) pregnant with her fifth child, a boy. Michelle survived an intense learning curve in child-raising and decided to put all her little-kid behavior strategies into a book to give a leg-up to other moms and dads.

Barbara O'Neal has worked with preschool-aged children, teachers and families for more than forty years in the capacity of Educational Director, parent consultant and teacher trainer. She has co-directed the Arlington Children's Center of Arlington, Massachusetts, for thirty years. Barbara is the mother of three children, and also has three grandchildren.

The beauty of the robin's egg is not lost on the child who discovers the nest, nor on the collector of nature's marvels. Such instances of wonder find fitting expression in the photographs of Rosamond Purcell, whose work captures the intricacy of nests and the aesthetic perfection of bird eggs. Mining ... (more)the ornithological treasures of the Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology, Purcell produces pictures as lovely and various as the artifacts she photographs. The dusky blue egg of an emu becomes a planet. A woodpecker’s nest bears an uncanny resemblance to a wooden shoe. A resourceful rock dove weaves together scrap metal and spent fireworks. A dreamscape of dancing monkeys emerges from the calligraphic markings of a murre egg.

Rosamond Purcell is a world-renowned photographer and the author of a number of books, including

Owls Head and

Bookworm.

Dragonslayer's Sword

Extend your imagination as Resa Nelson takes us into the fantasy of knights in full armor, medevial weapons, and ancient blacksmithing.

Can you miss the Tower of Pisa, the Brunelleschi Dome, the Uffizi, or the Sistine Chapel? Impossible. These unavoidable sights are like the entree, the pičce de résistance of a sumptuous meal. Although these special main courses are rich and satiating, their fame has preceded them and deprived ... (more)them of great surprises. Once you have partaken of them, you should take an emotional rest by going on the paths less trodden, tasting the smaller appetizing side dishes, less affected by fads and trends, but always delectable and often not anything that you would have expected.

G. Franco Romagnoli and Gwen Romagnoli travel to Italy frequently, each time delightfully discovering they share a love for the same places and same food. Franco was co-host of a PBS television series, The Romagnolis' Table, which brought Italian cooking to a wide American audience in the 1970s and 1980s. He has authored nine cookbooks, toured the world giving demonstrations, and operated several restaurants in the Boston area. Franco and Gwen livin in Boston.

"A charming blend of travel writing, cultural history, anthropology, and memoir, this intriguing book honors the nineteenth-century explorers' narratives that are its inspiration."Andrea Barrett author of Ship Fever

"This unusual, unclassifiable, unfailingly interesting book is a contact encounter. ... (more)Few readers will forget their first meeting with the author, with her Maori husband, and with the historical context that swirls around them. Thompson writes beautifully, and, even more remarkably, she surprises us on every page."Anne Fadima author of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down

Christina Thompson is the editor of Harvard Review. Her essays and articles have appeared in numerous journals, including the American Scholar, Manoa, the Journal of Pacific History, and in the 1999, 2000, and 2006 editions of Best Australian Essays. She lives near Boston with her family.

PEN New EnglandReadings at the Hotel MarloweCullen Murphy is the editor-at-large of Vanity Fair magazine. He was previously, for two decades, the managing editor of The Atlantic Monthly. Before that he was a senior editor at The Wilson Quarterly. In addition to his work as a magazine editor Murphy for ... (more)twenty-five years wrote the comic strip Prince Valiant. Murphy's articles and essays have appeared in many publications, including The Atlantic Monthly, where he wrote a monthly column, Harper's, The New Republic, Slate, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, American Heritage, and Smithsonian. His books include Are We Rome?, The Word According to Eve, and, Just Curious.Please note: this is an off-site event to be held at the Hotel Marlowe in Cambridge, MA. Directions to the Hotel Marlowe.

For info or questions, contact:

Emily Hiestand, / 617-497-1225.

About PEN New England

PEN New England is an organization of writers and all those who love the written word. Our mission is to advance the cause of literature in New England and defend freedom of expression everywhere. PEN New England is one of five regional branches of PEN American Center, and part of International PEN, the oldest human rights organization in the world, and also the oldest international literary organization. PEN NE is honored to collaborate with the Marlowe Hotel and Porter Square Books to produce the PEN-Marlowe Reading Series, now in its fourth year. The monthly reading series is programmed by two PEN NE board members and award-winning authors: fiction writer, Edith Pearlman, and essayist/photographer, Emily Hiestand. For more information, visit the PEN New England website.

Giving voice to a population rarely acknowledged in writings about the South, Sweet Tea collects life stories from black gay men who were born, raised, and continue to live in the southern United States. E. Patrick Johnson challenges stereotypes of the South as "backward" or "repressive," suggesting ... (more)that these men draw upon the performance of "southernness"--politeness, coded speech, and religiosity, for example--to legitimate themselves as members of both southern and black cultures. At the same time, Johnson argues, they deploy those same codes to establish and build friendship networks and to find sexual partners and life partners.

Traveling to every southern state, Johnson conducted interviews with more than seventy black gay men between the ages of 19 and 93. The voices collected here dispute the idea that gay subcultures flourish primarily in northern, secular, urban areas. In addition to filling a gap in the sexual history of the South, Sweet Tea offers a window into the ways that black gay men negotiate their sexual and racial identities with their southern cultural and religious identities. The narratives also reveal how they build and maintain community in many spaces and activities, some of which may appear to be antigay. Ultimately, Sweet Tea validates the lives of these black gay men and reinforces the role of storytelling in both African American and southern cultures.

Reviews:
"Sweet Tea is an amazing book. Engaging from the very start, it is well written and thought provoking throughout. There were times I simply could not put it down."--E. Lynn Harris, New York Times bestselling novelist

"A variety of biases, oversights, and material circumstances have conspired to push the narratives of southern black gay lives to the margins. Sweet Tea makes a monumental achievement by getting these stories out into the world. Every subsequent, serious engagement with the topic will have to address Johnson's work. This book is certain to be consulted, referenced, and discussed for many years to come."--John Howard, author of Men Like That: A Southern Queer History and Concentration Camps on the Home Front: Japanese Americans in the House of Jim Crow

For more than 30 years, Alex MacLean’s aerial photographs have captured the evolution of the American landscape and the complex relationship between its natural and constructed environments. Over: The American Landscape at the Tipping Point is an ambitious and visually breathtaking catalog of the extraordinary ... (more)patterns and profound physical consequences brought about by natural processes and human intervention. Divided into sections on topics including automobile dependency, water consumption, and urbanization, MacLean's powerful photographs and insightful text make it clear that maintenance of the current American lifestyle is incompatible with a planet of diminishing natural resources and a finite atmosphere.

Alex MacLean is a photographer, pilot, and the coauthor of seven books. He has had numerous solo and group exhibitions around the world, and has been the recipient of many grants and awards including the Rome Prize in Landscape Architecture from the American Academy in Rome. He lives in Massachusetts.

"[This book] is raw, honest and completely captivating. Kathleen Kent takes what would seem to be a familiar subject and gives it a fresh, new perspective—moving us through a wrenching gamut of emotions as she does so."Anita Shreve author of Testimony

"An illuminating literary debut."Booklist

Kathleen ... (more)Kent is a tenth-generation descendant of Martha Carrier. She lives in Dallas with her husband and son. The Heretic's Daughter is her first novel.

"[This book] does a great service by portraying in a graphic and compelling way the origins of the current crisis in nursing and the effect not only on nurses but also on patients."Mary Lehman MacDonald Director, AFT Healthcare, American Federation of Teachers

"Safety in Numbers brings together scholarly ... (more)rigor and sharp investigative reporting to show that not even the nursing of the sick has escaped the ruthless disciplines of white-collar industrialism."Simon Head Rothermere American Institute, University of Oxford

Suzanne Gordon is an award-winning journalist. She is Visiting Professor at the University of Maryland School of Nursing and Assistant Adjunct Professor at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Nursing. She is the author of Life Support and Nursing against the Odds.

"Adrian, himself a pediatrician and seminary student, is a lucid, brilliant fortune-teller. He unveils our demons, who, in the wake of their visitations upon these children, reveal something you can only call the face of God."Tom Chiarella Esquire

"Abrasive, accusatory, despairing and, more than often ... (more)enough, quite unforgettable fiction."Kirkus Reviews

Chris Adrian is the author of Gob's Grief
and

The Children's Hospital. A former student at the Harvard Divinity school and pediatrician Boston Children's Hospital, he is now pursuing a medical fellowship at UCSF in San Francisco.

"Truly delightful! [This book], with its refreshingly simplified approach to food and wine pairing, is a fantastic opportunity for enthusiasts to explore at home what so many have enjoyed at L’Espalier. This book is perfect for the home cook who loves to entertain!"Chef Charlie Trotter

"In addition ... (more)to the beautifully conceived pairings of food and wine that are the focus of this book, Frank has bestowed upon us fantastic recipes that will stand on their own."Jasper White author of The Summer Shack Cookbook

Frank McClelland is the owner and executive chef of L'Espalier and Sel de la Terre. Since his purchase in 1988, L'Espalier has become one of the top 20 restaurants in the country. L'Espalier's numerous awards and accolades include being named No. 1 in Zagat, Boston for the last eight years and being the only independent restaurant in New England for the last six years to receive Five Diamonds from AAA. Sel de la Terre opened to rave reviews and was instantly named one of the top 20 new restaurants in America by Esquire Magazine.

This even will include a tasting.

"A chilling vision of the future, written with imagination and flare...exotic and surreal."Alan Lightman author of

Einstein's Dreams

"Goodman has written a bracing, exhilarating novel that manages to be both subversive and optimistic."Washington Post

Allegra Goodman is the author of

Intuition,

Paradise ... (more)Park,

Kaaterskill Falls,

The Family Markowitz, and

Total Immersion. The Other Side of the Island is her first book for younger readers. Her fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, Commentary, and Ploughshares, Prize Stories: the O. Henry Awards and Best American Short Stories. Her essays and reviews have appeared in The New York Times Book Review, The New Republic, The Boston Globe, and The American Scholar. Goodman studied English and philosophy at Harvard and received a PhD in English literature from Stanford. She is the recipient of a Whiting Writer's Award, the Salon Award for Fiction, and a fellowship from the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced study. She lives with her family in Cambridge, Mass.

"Margot Farrington's poems have the intensity, tension, and still momentum of a bowstring, or an arrow in the target."Dennis Nurkse

To a vivid sense of the textures of place, Robert Minhinnick brings the internationalism of twenty-five years' work in the environmental movement, an awareness of the ... (more)dramas of the natural and human world that is profoundly political but never polemical.

Margot Farrington is the author of two collections of poetry, and her poems have been included in several anthologies. Other writings include essays, and reviews of poetry books and art exhibitions. Steeped in theater, she has widely read and performed her work, both as a poet and as a storyteller.

Robert Minhinnick is the author of numerous books of poetry including After the Hurricane, Hey Fatman, The Looters, and The Dinosaur Park. He has published two collections of essays, Watching the Fire Eater, winner of the 1993 Arts Council of Wales Book of the Year Award, and Badlands. His book To Babel and Back won the 2006 Wales Book of the Year Award and his debut novel, Sea Holly, was shortlisted for the 2008 Ondaajte Prize.

"One of the most gripping and disturbingly honest books I have ever read. The courage Michael Greenberg shows in narrating the story of his adolescent daughter's descent into psychosis is matched by his acute understanding of how alone each of us is...This is a remarkable memoir."Philip Lopate author ... (more)of Two Marriages

"It is a brilliant, taut, entirely original study of a suffering child and a family and marriage under siege. I know of no other book about madness whose claim to scientific knowledge is so modest and whose artistic achievement is so great."Janet Malcolm author of

Two Lives: Gertrude and Alice.

Michael Greenberg is a columnist for the Times Literary Supplement, where his wide-ranging essays have been appearing since 2003. His fiction, criticism, and travel pieces have been published in such various places as O, The Oprah Magazine, Bomb, The Village Voice, and The Boston Review.

"Shreve arrows in on many targets...as she flawlessly weaves a tale that is mesmerizing, hypnotic, and compulsive. No one walks away unscathed, and that includes the reader."Library Journal starred review

"Shreve, consummate crafstman and frequent provocateur, is on fire in her latest novel….Part ... (more)of what makes the novel so riveting is its graphic rehashing of a scandal familiar from newspaper headlines, but most of this affecting novel's appeal lies in the way it so carefully fills in the nuances often missing from the headlines."Booklist starred review

Anita Shreve is the critically acclaimed author of fourteen novels, including

Body Surfing,

The Pilot's Wife, which was a selection of Oprah's Book Club, and The Weight of Water, which was a finalist for England's Orange Prize. She lives in Massachusetts.

"Shreve arrows in on many targets…as she flawlessly weaves a tale that is mesmerizing, hypnotic, and compulsive. No one walks away unscathed, and that includes the reader."Library Journal starred review

"Shreve, consummate crafstman and frequent provocateur, is on fire in her latest novel….Part ... (more)of what makes the novel so riveting is its graphic rehashing of a scandal familiar from newspaper headlines, but most of this affecting novel's appeal lies in the way it so carefully fills in the nuances often missing from the headlines."Booklist starred review

Anita Shreve is the critically acclaimed author of fourteen novels, including

Body Surfing,

The Pilot's Wife, which was a selection of Oprah's Book Club, and The Weight of Water, which was a finalist for England's Orange Prize. She lives in Massachusetts.

Join Porter Square Books for a signing and cookie tasting with Lisa Zwirn.

Lisa Zwirn is a regular contributor to the Boston Globe and has written for a number of publications, including Cooking Pleasures, Intermezzo, Fine Cooking, Cooking Light, and Pastry Art & Design. She lives in Massachusetts.

PEN New EnglandReadings at the Hotel MarloweChris Adrian is the author of two novels. Gob's Grief and The Childrens Hospital, and a collection of short stories, A Better Angel. His fiction has appeared in The Paris Review, The New Yorker, Esquire, and McSweeney's. He is a student at Harvard Divinity ... (more)School, and recently began training as a fellow in pediatric hematology-oncology at the University of California, San Francisco Please note: this is an off-site event to be held at the Hotel Marlowe in Cambridge, MA. Directions to the Hotel Marlowe. For info or questions, contact: Emily Hiestand, / 617-497-1225. About PEN New England PEN New England is an organization of writers and all those who love the written word. Our mission is to advance the cause of literature in New England and defend freedom of expression everywhere. PEN New England is one of five regional branches of PEN American Center, and part of International PEN, the oldest human rights organization in the world, and also the oldest international literary organization. PEN NE is honored to collaborate with the Marlowe Hotel and Porter Square Books to produce the PEN-Marlowe Reading Series, now in its fourth year. The monthly reading series is programmed by two PEN NE board members and award-winning authors: fiction writer, Edith Pearlman, and essayist/photographer, Emily Hiestand. For more information, visit the PEN New England website.

Bring your knitting project and join hostess Patty Poisson for an informal evening of chatting, knitting and tea. Exquisite tea is generously provided by Danielle Beaudette of The Cozy Tea Cart in Brookline. (www.thecozyteacart.com). Please note that the group is open to all experienced knitters. They ... (more)meet on the 2nd Monday each month.

"Gloss has made herself a permanent place on the shelf of American Literature which features tough, smart, independent women."Kent Haruf author of Plainsong "Deeply satisfying...There isn't a false move in this poignant novel, which demonstrates as much insight into the hearts of men and women as into ... (more)the hearts of horses."Washington Post Book World Molly Gloss is the author of Wild Life, winner of the James Tiptree Award; The Jump-Off Creek, a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award; and The Dazzle of Day, a New York Times Notable Book.

"Gloss has made herself a permanent place on the shelf of American Literature which features tough, smart, independent women."Kent Haruf author of Plainsong "Deeply satisfying...There isn't a false move in this poignant novel, which demonstrates as much insight into the hearts of men and women as into ... (more)the hearts of horses."Washington Post Book World Molly Gloss is the author of Wild Life, winner of the James Tiptree Award; The Jump-Off Creek, a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award; and The Dazzle of Day, a New York Times Notable Book.

"Silvey's first book for young people explores a little-known chapter of history with numerous primary source references and thought-provoking commentary. Why did these women fight? How did they pass as men? How did they hold up to the daily life of a soldier and the heat of the battlefield?"Horn ... (more)Book "Well researched and clearly written, this attractive book illuminates an aspect of the Civil War that is often overlooked."Booklist Anita Silvey is a professor in the children's literature master's degree program at Simmons College. She was formerly editor in chief of the Horn Book and publisher of children's books at Houghton Mifflin. One of the country's top experts on literature for young people she is the author of 500 Great Books for Teens, 100 Best Books for Children, and The Essential Guide to Children's Books and Their Creators.

"In this lovely novel Samuel Shem brilliantly describes scenery from the Italian Lakes to the Hudson River Valley with vivid enchanting detail. But his real subject is the landscape of the human heart with its dangers and delights, its vertiginous cliffs and mossy woods, it's comforts and contradictions. ... (more)This is a wonderful book about the surprises of human connection and the infinite power of love."Susan Cheever author of Desire: Where Sex Meets Addiction "A deeply moving and profoundly intelligent exploration of the complexities and rewards of family, profession and place...This book continues to resonate in the mind and heart long after it is read."Jerome Grooopman author of How Doctors Think Samuel Shem is a novelist, playwright, and for three decades, a member of the Harvard Medical School faculty. His novels include The House of God, Fine, and Mount Misery. He is coauthor with his wife of the hit Off-Broadway play Bill W. and Dr. Bob, the story of the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous and We Have to Talk: Healing Dialogues between Women and Men.

This month Farley's Book Club will be reading John Fowles's The Magus.
We will be meeting one week later than usual. As usual, please meet in the back room of Farley's for stimulating discussion and light refreshments!

"Levin and Kilbourne, two of the nation's most astute analysts of media and youth, have produced the definitive book on the sexualization of childhood...Essential reading for parents, educators, and health professionals."Juliet Schor author of Born to Buy "Levin and Kilbourne show us how children, from ... (more)their earliest years, learn about sex, sexuality, and relationships. Best of all, they give us concrete strategies to fight harmful influences and help us nurture children toward loving relationships now and throughout their lives."Nancy Carlsson-Paige author of Taking Back Childhood Diane Levin, Ph. D. is a professor of education at Wheelock College in Boston, where she has been involved in training early childhood professionals for more than twenty-five years. An internationally recognized expert who helps professionals and parents deal with the effects of violence, media, and commercial culture on children, Levin is a senior adviser to the PBS parents’ website for girls, the co-founder of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, and the author or co-author of seven other books, including Remote Control Childhood? and The War Play Dilemma. She is a frequent keynote speaker and workshop presenter and has been a guest on many radio and television programs. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Jean Kilbourne, Ed.D., is internationally recognized for her pioneering work on alcohol and tobacco advertising and the image of women in advertising. The New York Times Magazine named her one of the three most popular speakers on college campuses. Her award-winning films include the Killing Us Softly series, Slim Hopes, Calling the Shots, and Spin the Bottle. The author of Can’t Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel, she is a frequent guest on radio and television programs such as Today and The Oprah Winfrey Show. She has testified for the U.S. Congress and been an adviser to two surgeons general. A Senior Scholar at the Wellesley Centers for Women, she lives in Newton, Massachusetts.

Unlike the other hens at Little Pond Farm, Tillie isn't one to wait her turn to lay her eggs. And she's certainly not one to stay cooped up all day. Off she goes! Author Terry Golson and photographer Ben Fink invite you to join Tillie on her first eggs-straordinary adventure. Come along as she explores ... (more)the cozy world of Little Pond Farm--and lays her eggs in the unlikeliest of places! Terry Golson is the author of a number of cookbooks including 1,000 Lowfat Recipes and The Farmstead Egg Cookbook. She has written for numerous publications including the Boston Herald, Cooking Light Magazine, and Eating Well Magazine. Tillie Lays an Egg is her first book for children. She lives in a small town west of Boston with her husband, two sons, two dogs, a rabbit, numerous (and rather unattractive) koi, and a small flock of hens.

PEN New EnglandReadings at the Hotel MarloweJudith Nies is a teacher, historian, essayist, and author of three books including Nine Women: Portraits from the American Radical Tradition, first published in 1977 and continually in print ever since, and Native American History: A Chronology Her most recent ... (more)book is The Girl I Left Behind: A Narrative History of the 1960s'. Her writing has appeared in national media and literary journals including the New York Times, Boston Globe, Christian Science Monitor, Ms., Harvard Review, Women’s Review of Books, and the Radcliffe Quarterly. Honors include a Bunting Fellowship at the Radcliffe Institute, a Bellagio award from the Rockefeller Foundation, a grant from the Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation, and residencies at MacDowell, Yaddo and Mesa Refuge artists’ colonies. Born in Boston, she grew up in Swampscott, and currently lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Please note: this is an off-site event to be held at the Hotel Marlowe in Cambridge, MA. Directions to the Hotel Marlowe. For info or questions, contact: Emily Hiestand, / 617-497-1225. About PEN New England PEN New England is an organization of writers and all those who love the written word. Our mission is to advance the cause of literature in New England and defend freedom of expression everywhere. PEN New England is one of five regional branches of PEN American Center, and part of International PEN, the oldest human rights organization in the world, and also the oldest international literary organization. PEN NE is honored to collaborate with the Marlowe Hotel and Porter Square Books to produce the PEN-Marlowe Reading Series, now in its fourth year. The monthly reading series is programmed by two PEN NE board members and award-winning authors: fiction writer, Edith Pearlman, and essayist/photographer, Emily Hiestand. For more information, visit the PEN New England website.

Bruce Hale has written and illustrated over twenty seriously funny books for young readers. From picture books to fiction, his motto is, "if it’s not fun, why read it?" You’ll find something for every sense of humor, from fractured fairy tales to suspenseful mysteries. In fact, Bruce's most ... (more)popular series is the award-winning Chet Gecko Mysteries (for ages 8-12). What do you get when you cross Raymond Chandler with the Marx Brothers? Meet Chet Gecko, a wisecracking fourth-grade detective from Emerson Hicky Elementary. Bruce is also the author of the Pirates of Underwear series, five Hawaiian children's books, and Snoring Beauty.He has taught writing workshops at colleges and universities, and spoken at national conferences of writing, publishing, and literacy organizations. Bruce lives in Santa Barbara with his wife, Janette.

You're invited to join DIESEL, A Bookstore in Brentwood as we host the Book Launch Party for George Mastras and his thrilling new novel, Fidali's Way! ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
George Mastras has worked as a criminal investigator for the public defender service, a counselor at a juvenile correctional facility, ... (more)and a litigator in New York and Los Angeles. After ten years of practicing law, he quit his job, sold his belongings, and spent several years backpacking around the globe and trekking in the Himalayas, Karakorams, and Hindu Kush. Since returning to the United States, he has worked as a screenwriter and has written for several television series, including The Evidence, The Dresden Files, and currently the Emmy Award-winning drama Breaking Bad, for which he was nominated for a Writers Guild Award in 2008. Born in Boston, he is a graduate of Yale, UCLA Law, and Outward Bound. He was awarded the competitive Disney-ABC Writing Fellowship for Television Drama in 2005. He lives in Los Angeles.

Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC) is proud to present a series of readings featuring fellows and finalists from MCC’s Artist Fellowship Program. Co-sponsored by Harvard Review Featuring: Steve Almond, Lisa Nold, George Rosen, Tracy Winn

What would it be like if time went backwards? One unlucky little boy is about to find out! Otto has just one birthday wish: that his new baby sister Anna had never been born. And it comes true when the days suddenly start moving in reverse. But now, instead of growing up, Otto's growing DOWN. He's ... (more)getting younger every minute and in danger of disappearing entirely. Can he turn things around before it’s too late--for Anna and himself? Brilliant illustrations by the fabulous Scott Magoon capture all the fun of this whimsical tale. Join Porter Square Books for a launch party for Otto Grows Down with Michael Sussman and Scott Magoon. This is author Michael Sussman's first picture book. Scott Magoon has illustrated numerous picture books, including Ugly Fish
, written by Kara LaReau; Luck of the Loch Ness Monster: A Tale of Picky Eating, written by Alice Weaver Flaherty; and Hugo and Miles In I've Painted Everything, which he himself wrote.

"A beautifully crafted debut historical novel that is at once a tender love story, a murder mystery, and a brilliant sociological and political portrait of a turbulent time."Library Journal (starred and editors pick) "Blindspot pulls of the dazzling feat of being as sexy as it is political, as accurate ... (more)as it is outrageous, and as unsentimental as it is moving. Not just a novel with an eighteenth-century setting, but as smart and funny as the best of eighteenth-century novels."Emma Donoghue author of Landing Jane Kamensky is a professor of American history and chair of the History Department at Brandeis University. She is the author of The Exchange Artist and Governing the Tongue, among other books. Her scholarship has been supported by grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. She is currently writing a biography of the eighteenth-century American portrait painter Gilbert Stuart. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with her husband and two sons. Jill Lepore is the David Woods Kemper ’41 Professor of American History at Harvard University, where she is the chair of the History and Literature Program. She is also a regular contributor to The New Yorker. Her books include The Name of War and A Is for American. Her most recent book, New York Burning, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with her husband, three sons, and an extraordinarily large and formidable dog of entirely mysterious extraction.

Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC) is proud to present a series of readings featuring fellows and finalists from MCC’s Artist Fellowship Program. Co-sponsored by AGNI Magazine Featuring: Michael Downing, Rachel Kadish, Rebecca Kaiser Gibson, Joan Wickersham

"The land, the heat, the South's societal complexities (and perplexities) are all here. Utterly involving, wise and perceptive, this is a novel to remember."Kelly Cherry judge of the Peter Taylor Prize for the Novel Leslie Walker Williams was born and raised in Savannah, Georgia, and currently lives ... (more)in Vancouver, British Columbia. Her short stories have appeared in The Iowa Review, The Madison Review, Harvard Review, and American Fiction. The Prudent Mariner, her first novel, was awarded the Peter Taylor Prize for the Novel, and the Morris Hackney Literary Award for the Novel.

"A bravura performance...Ulrich is brilliant here...Few have done as much to so profoundly enrich and enlarge our vision of the past."The Boston Globe "Ulrich writes with deep insight and humor about subjects that touch our daily lives."The Washington Times Laurel Thatcher Ulrich was previously Professor ... (more)of History at the University of New Hampshire and is currently Phillips Professor of Early American History and 300th Anniversary University Professor at Harvard University. Her book A Midwife's Tale won the Pulitzer Prize in History, the Bancroft Prize, and the American Historical Society's John H. Dunning and Joan Kelly Memorial Prizes. Ulrich's discovery of Martha Ballard and work on the diary has been chronicled in a documentary film written and produced by Laurie Kahn-Leavitt with major funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the "American Experience" television series. Ulrich is also the author of numerous articles and reviews and the recipient of a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship and many other honors and awards.

Join author Kat Black as she launches the series, The Book of Tormod, coming from Scholastic Press in February 2009. A Templar's Apprentice is a groundbreaking historical fantasy that has been compared to The Ranger's Apprentice, and Crispin. Be a part of the beginning of . . . history.

"This beautifully written, sometimes heart-breaking but always hopeful page turner leads us as naturally into the mind of an unstable, drug-addicted, domineering father and businessman as it does into the complex boardroom machinations of those with both financial and emotional stakes in the company."Laura ... (more)Kavesh psychologist and writer "Jean Mason, in an autobiographical account, tells a wonderful story of growing up the daughter of an authoritarian owner of a prospering factory, escaping to a happy marriage and a career as a clinical psychologist, and then being forced by circumstances to return to the factory and its thicket of boardroom politics."Robert Weiss, Ph.D. author of The Experience of Retirement Jean Mason is the distinguished daughter of a dictatorial patriarch, the late founder of a Midwest metal fabricating company. With the help of a unique business consultant, she sets a determined course to free up her family's inheritance--confronting management, family and board members, and challenging the confines of history and tradition.

"With luminous watercolors and economical text, Caldecott Medalist Say tells of an American girl whose ingenuous hopes of reaching "old Japan" are finally realized...aficionados of Say's tranquil work will find both the message and the delivery deeply satisfying"Publisher's Weekly "Say's storytelling ... (more)and art are as absorbing as ever; the illustrations of rural Japan will have adults yearning for their own remote farmhouse."Horn Book Allen Say is the award-winning creator of nearly twenty books, including Grandfather's Journey, winner of the Caldecott Medal. He is known for his unique ability to subtly capture the immigrant experience, his evocative watercolors, and poetic language. Say spent the first fifteen years of his life in Japan, studying art with the master cartoonist Noro Shinpei, and immigrated to the United States when he was sixteen years old. For years he worked as a successful commercial photographer, writing and illustrating picture books on a part-time basis. But in 1987, while illustrating The Boy of the Three-Year Nap (a Caldecott Honor book), he recaptured the joy he had known working in his master’s studio and decided to make a full-time commitment to doing what he loves best: creating books for children. Recently, Say’s work has been featured in exhibitions at the Eric Carle Museum in Amherst, Massachusetts, the Japanese American Museum in Los Angeles, California, and the Fort Wayne Museum of Art in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Allen Say lives and works in Portland, Oregon.

"[This Book] is a truly funny and energetic romp of a social satire, a terrific send up of not only of super heroes, but the cult of personality in general. And G. Xavier Robillard isn’t stingy with the ideas, which indicates there’s good things to come. I can’t wait."Christopher Mooreauthor of ... (more)Lamb "We’ve seen alcoholic superheroes, closeted gay superheroes, even homicidal superheroes. But we’ve never seen the superhero as neurotic hipster fame whore. Robillard’s hilarious satire goes somewhere new and surprising."Neal Pollack author of Alternadad G. Xavier Robillard writes for several humor sites, including McSweeney's Internet Tendency and Comedy Central. He lives in Boston. Captain Freedom is his first novel.

"Janet Spurr is irrepressible and irresistible in her approach to life and words. In these pages, you'll discover her unparalled spirit and spunk."Ronda Rich author of What Southern Women Know "If you focus on fun, focus on the beach, and focus on the pages of [this book] you'll find an endless summer ... (more)of love and joy right in your own heart and soul."Jack Canfield co-author of Chicken Soup for the Soul Janet Spurr has been visiting the beach all her life. Her job as a sales rep for women's accessory lines brings her to the shores of Maine, Lake Champlain, the lakes of New Hampshire, Rhode Island's Beaches, Cape Cod, and of course, the North Shore of Boston. She is a member of the National Writers Union, NEIBA, and the Independent Book Publishers Association.

Local authorChristina Sunley will host a book launch party for her new book, The Tricking of Freya. This is her debut novel, so come cheer her on!

"This timely book by Marion Kilson and Florence Ladd offers a provocative perspective on the challenges and rewards experienced by black and white mothers of biracial children...Kilson and Ladd, both social scientists and educators, also offer helpful guidelines for this growing demographic group in ... (more)American society."Jewelle Taylor Gibbs co-author of Children of Color: Psychological Intervention with Culturally Diverse Youth "The authors' careful presentation of selected socialization themes in identity development--race and gender, sometimes distinct, at other times overlapping—provide a glimpse of parenting strategies black and white mothers have discovered necessary to minimize the effects of race-based rejection and affirm healthy development in their biracial offspring. This is an important and valuable contribution to the emerging literature on biracial family life in the post civil rights era."Janie Victoria Ward Simmons College Marion Kilson is an anthropologist and the author of Claiming Place: Biracial Young Adults of the Post-Civil Rights Era. Florence Ladd is a psychologist and won the Black Caucus of the American Library Association award for her novel, Sarah's Psalm

A cramped kitchen. A bedroom that lacks elbow room. A living room that's no fun living in. It's the age-old dilemma of owning an old house...you want to add space by making an addition but don't want to damage your home's integrity. Renowned architect Frank Shirley will share dozens of proven ideas for ... (more)expanding the space and comfort of your charming colonial, cozy cape, vintage Victorian, any classic home...all while preserving the look and feel you first fell in love with! Frank Shirley was the project architect for two completely remodeled homes on the PBS series, This Old House. His work has also been featured on HGTV. Frank owns an architectural firm in Cambridge where he lives in "a Victorian house more than 100 years old, almost like a member of our family. If we add onto it, the project will be undertaken with all the deliberation of major surgery on a loved one."

"Drs. Olds and Schwartz have written a book that is scientifically rigorous and socially acute...Hooray for Olds and Schwartz's sagacity, lucidity, humanity, and practicality. Read their book and take their advice for you own sake and for the rest of us as well!"Dr. William Pollack author of Real Boys: ... (more)Rescuing Our Sons from the Myth of Masculinity "Our contemporary situation is one of material affluence and social isolation. Olds and Schwartz provide a thoughtful and important analysis of how we came to cut ourselves off from one another, and what the consequences are."Daniel Nettle, Ph.D. author of Happiness: The Science Behind Your Smile Jacqueline Olds and Richard Schwartz are both Associate Clinical Professors of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Olds teaches child psychiatry and Dr. Schwartz teaches adult psychiatry at the McLean and Massachusetts General hospitals. They are both psychoanalysts and have written two other books,Overcoming Loneliness in Everyday Life and Marriage in Motion. Married to each other and with two grown children, they each maintain a private practice in Cambridge, MA.

Join Porter Square Books and the Pierre Menard Gallery for a conversation with sculptor Heidi Hatry and Francine Miller, featuring readings from Diana George and Thryza Goodeve. Heads and Tales is a collaborative anthology featuring tales written by twenty-seven prominent and emerging authors and illustrated ... (more)with "heads" by Heide Hatry. The portraits are photographic documentations of sculptures Hatry made out of animal skin and body parts. Hatry’s intention in the anthology is to make the photographic portraits as life-like as possible, vivid and sometimes disposed in positions suggesting movement. She uses untreated pigskin to cover her clay sculptures, adding raw meat for the lips and fresh pig eyes, in order that the resulting portrait appears as if a model is looking at the viewer with a vital expression, which the photographer has just captured. Hatry intended through her sculptures to provide springboards for stories, reminiscences or meditations on the lives of women. She asked a number of writers to select the image of one of her women and create a life for her. As the visual work addresses issues of violence, death and gender identity, the writing reflects similar concerns as they are specific to women, not necessarily from an obviously politically fraught or polemical perspective, but more typically resorting to fantasy, satire, irony and other subversive modes of presentation to disrupt the hegemony of the everyday and release the power of its horror. Heide Hatry is a visual artist and curator. She grew up in Germany, where she studied art at various art schools and art history at the University of Heidelberg. After she moved to NYC in 2003 she has curated several exhibitions in Germany, Spain and the USA (notably “Skin” at the Goethe Institut in New York, the Heidelberger Kunstverein and Galeria Tribeca in Madrid, Spain; “Out of the Box” at Elga Wimmer PCC in NYC, “Carolee Schneemann, Early and Recent Work, A Survey” at Pierre Menard Gallery in Cambridge, MA and “Meat After Meat Joy” at Daneyal Mahmood Gallery, NYC). She has shown her own work at museums and galleries in those countries as well and edited more than a dozen books and art catalogues. Kehrer Verlag published her book Skin in 2005.

"[An] endlessly permutable potboiler...[A] marvelous, Escher-inflected labyrinth."Bookforum Jesse Ball is an American poet and novelist. He is the author of
Samedi the Deafness, which was shortlisted for the 2007 Believer Book Award. His first volume, March Book, appeared in 2004, followed by Vera and ... (more)Linus, and Parables and Lies. His drawings were published in 2006 in Iceland in the volume Og svo kom nottin. He won the Plimpton Prize in 2008 for his novella, The Early Deaths of Lubeck, Brennan, Harp and Carr. His verse appeared in The Best American Poetry 2006. He is an assistant professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

"Nafisa Haji has written a moving meditation on the meaning of family, tradition, and the ties that bind. The Writing on My Forehead is lyrical and touching. It is a story of mother and daughters, and a story of a young Muslim woman at crossroads, shaped by the forces of her past, her religion, her roots, ... (more)her culture, and her own determined will."Khaled Hosseini author of The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns "Haji deftly positions her appealing heroine as witness to her family's history...A masterful first novel."Booklist Nafisa Haji is an American of Indo-Pakistani descent. Born and raised in Los Angeles, she now lives in Northern California with her husband and son. Nafisa travels to Pakistan regularly to visit family. She is currently working on her second novel.

PEN New EnglandReadings at the Hotel MarloweSue Quinn is the author of A Mind of Her Own: The Life of Karen Horney and Marie Curie: A Life, as well as Human Trials, an account of the process of developing a drug for the treatment of MS. She received the Globe Winship award for A Mind of Her Own, and ... (more)Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundation grants for Marie Curie. Human Trials was named one of the best science books of 2001 by the Library Journal. Her current book about the theater has brought her full circle to her interest in theater: her first book, On Stage: The Making of a Broadway Play was written for young adults, and she worked in the professional theater in Cleveland before she became a journalist and nonfiction writer. Please note: this is an off-site event to be held at the Hotel Marlowe in Cambridge, MA. Directions to the Hotel Marlowe. For info or questions, contact: Emily Hiestand, / 617-497-1225. About PEN New England PEN New England is an organization of writers and all those who love the written word. Our mission is to advance the cause of literature in New England and defend freedom of expression everywhere. PEN New England is one of five regional branches of PEN American Center, and part of International PEN, the oldest human rights organization in the world, and also the oldest international literary organization. PEN NE is honored to collaborate with the Marlowe Hotel and Porter Square Books to produce the PEN-Marlowe Reading Series, now in its fourth year. The monthly reading series is programmed by two PEN NE board members and award-winning authors: fiction writer, Edith Pearlman, and essayist/photographer, Emily Hiestand. For more information, visit the PEN New England website.

In a collection of urgent and intimate poems, D. Nurkse explores the biblical past and the terrifying politics of the present with which it resonates, the legacy of fathers and the flawed kingdoms they leave their sons. A poet of unique force and sensitivity, Nurkse refuses to pass over the marginal ... (more)characters and corners of the world, attuned to the scraps of beauty or insight they might offer up in the midst of moral darkness. In The Border Kingdom he has given us an exceptionally powerful collection of poems—unfailingly rich in imagery, undaunted in subject and spirit. "Dick Lourie has written a rich, spacious book. Observing the principles that 'we are all embedded in history' and that the individual 'contains multitudes,' these poems present a portrait of a place, Clarksdale, Mississippi, and its people, through a unique cultural and social perspective. Lourie has an impeccable ear for colloquial nuances and an acute eye for meaningful trivia. If the Delta Was the Sea is a genuine delight."Ha Jin author of a Free Life D. Nurkse is the author of eight previous books of poetry. He has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Whiting Writers’ Award, two National Endowment for the Arts fellowships, two grants from the New York Foundation for the Arts, a Tanne Foundation award, and two awards from Poetry magazine. He has also written widely on human rights. He teaches at Sarah Lawrence College and lives in Brooklyn. Dick Lourie is a poet and blues saxophone player whose two professions drew him to the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta. If the Delta Was the Sea, his eighth book of poems, explores the region’s rich heritage of music, history, and a diversity of cultures, particularly in the city of Clarksdale, long regarded as a center of Delta blues. The book results from Lourie’s frequent visits to the Delta over the past ten years to play with local musicians and write about the area.

"Adina Hoffman's portrait of Taha Muhammad Ali brings to life character after character, each one viewed with the author’s singular humanity... I hope this landmark book will be widely, and carefully, read."W. S. Merwin author of The Shadow of Sirius "Reading Adina Hoffman's remarkable book, we are ... (more)consoled that, in the face of terrible brutalities and sufferings, the enduring power of poetry might restore in words--and celebrate--a measure of what has been lost in reality."Azar Nafisi author of Things I've Been Silent About: Memories Adina Hoffman is the author of House of Widows: Portraits from a Jerusalem Neighborhood. Her essays and criticism have appeared in the Nation, the Washington Post, the Times Literary Supplement, the Boston Globe, and on the World Service of the BBC. Formerly a film critic for the American Prospect and the Jerusalem Post, she is one of the founders and editors of Ibis Editions, a small press that publishes the literature of the Levant. She lives in Jerusalem.

"A harrowing picture of national danger that no American reader will welcome, but that none should ignore...Frighteningly persuasive."Alan Brinkley The New York Times "An indispensable presentation of the case against things as they are."Time Kevin Phillips has been a political and economic commentator ... (more)for more than three decades. A former White House strategist, he is a regular contributor to the Los Angeles Times and NPR and writes for Harper's and Time. His books include American Theocracy and American Dynasty.

"A densely observed and seriously droll novel that reads like a dream. Astute, brazen, and very funny."Meg Wolitzer author of The Ten-Year Nap "This book is terrific. I wish I could read it for the first time again."Patricia Marx author of Him Her Him Again the End of Him Jane Hamilton is the author ... (more)of The Book of Ruth, winner of the PEN/Hemingway Award for first fiction, and A Map of the World, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and named one of the top ten books of the year by Entertainment Weekly, Publishers Weekly, the Miami Herald, and People. Both The Book of Ruth and A Map of the World have been selections of Oprah's Book Club. Her following work, The Short History of a Prince, was a Publishers Weekly Best Book of 1998, her novel Disobedience was published in 2000, and her last novel When Madeline Was Young was a Washington Post Best Book of 2006. She lives in and writes in an orchard farmhouse in Wisconsin.

"It is possible there is a better guide to the world around us than Bernd Heinrich, but I’ve not come across him. This is the book that will get you out the door into the season!"Bill McKibben author of Deep Economy "This lovely book, meticulously etched and based on impassioned but exacting scientific ... (more)research, illustrates why Bernd Heinrich is generally regarded as the most truly Thoreauvian of modern natural history writers."Edward O. Wilson author of Superorganism Bernd Heinrich is the author of numerous award-winning books, including the bestselling Winter World, Mind of the Raven, and The Snoring Bird, and has received countless honors for his scientific work. He also writes for Scientific American, Outside, American Scientist, and Audubon; and he has written book reviews and op-eds for The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times.

"[This] is an imaginative and provocative book that gives new perspectives on how to view ourselves and our place in the world."Alan Lightman author of Einstein's Dreams "Sum is terrific. The inventiveness, the clarity and wit of hte prose, the calm air of moral understanding...add up to something completely ... (more)original."Philip Pullman author of The Golden Compass David Eagleman runs a neuroscience lab at Baylor College where he studies time perception, synesthesia, and how neuroscience will influence the legal system. Sum is his first book.

Diesel, A Bookstore in Malibu is extremely excited to present Greg Mortenson as he signs his wonderful, world-changing book Three Cups of Tea!!!**PLEASE NOTE*** Due to Mr. Mortenson's very busy schedule, he will only be able to sign books until 2:30pm. Please plan accordingly and stop by early!About ... (more)the Author:
Greg Mortenson is the co-founder (with Dr. Jean Hoerni) and Executive Director of nonprofit Central Asia Institute. Since a 1993 climb on Pakistan's K2, he has dedicated his life to promote community-based education and literacy programs, especially for girls, in remote mountain regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Mortenson is also founder of Pennies For Peace and co-author of the #1 New York Times best-seller, Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace...One School At A Time.

Join Bruce Foxworthy as he retells stories from his new book, "Making Do and Hanging On: Growing Up in Apple Country Through the Great Depression

"The plot alone will suck in readers, but Lipman's knack for creating lovable and multifaceted characters is the real draw."Publisher's Weekly Elinor Lipman is the author of eight previous novels including, My Latest Grievance, The Pursuit of Alice Thrift, The Inn at Lake Devine, and Then She Found Me. ... (more)She has taught at Simmons, Hampshire, and Smith colleges.

9/11 Culture serves as accessible introduction to the complexities of American culture in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. Melnick gives balanced examinations of a broad catalog of artifacts from film, music, photography, literary fiction, and other popular arts, investigates the ways that 9/11 has exerted ... (more)a shaping force on a wide range of practices, from the politics of femininity to the poetics of redemption, and includes pedagogical material to assist understanding and teaching. 9/11 Culture is designed for general readers or students who are interested in how American cultural audiences have worked through the national trauma of 9/11. Jeffrey Melnick is Associate Professor of American Studies at Babson College. He is author of two books on Black-Jewish relations: A Right to Sing the Blues: African Americans, Jews, and American Popular Song and Black-Jewish Relations on Trial: Leo Frank and Jim Conley in the New South. Melnick is an active public speaker has appeared many times on local and national radio and television.

"Pure shimmering brilliance. Colson Whitehead's affecting new novel joyously lights up a place, a time, a family, and one unforgettable young man. It is also one of the funniest books I've ever read, a book loaded with the kind of humor that can only soar off a heartbreaking sadness."Gary Shteyngart ... (more)author of Absurdistan "No novelist writing today is more engaging and entertaining when it comes to questions of race, class, and commercial culture than Colson Whitehead."USA Today Colson Whitehead was born in New York City. His first novel, The Intuitionist, won the QPB New Voices Award and was an Ernest Hemingway/PEN Award finalist. His second novel, John Henry Days, was a Pulitzer Prize Finalist, a National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist and a New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice. He is also the recipient of a Whiting Writers' Award. Whitehead lives in Brooklyn, New York.

This book is a must-read if you are pregnant, or thinking about conceiving!
At this event, I will conduct a workshop about how spirits communicate with human beings and how you can build your ability to better "hear" what they are trying to tell you! I will also channel for random members of the audience ... (more)and you can ask a question on any topic! Join us on May 9, and you'll be entered into a drawing to win a FREE one hour private telephone channeling session by Kim O'Neil—to be given away at the end of this event! Kim was voted Best Psychic in Houston by Houston Press Magazine

Vintage Baby Knits features modern updates of charming, timeless vintage baby patterns from the 1920s through to the 1950s. Projects range from small, quick-to-knit items like hats, socks, booties, soakers (cloth nappy covers) and shrugs to larger and more challenging designs for sweaters, onesies, dresses ... (more)and blankets. Enhancing the projects are entertaining sidebars on baby fashion and the knitting culture during each of the four decades from which the projects were drawn. A complete reference section provides sizing charts, needle conversion charts (from the old to new measuring systems), instructions for caring for hand knits so they will last for generations and sources for vintage patterns and guidelines for understanding and working from them. Kristen Rengren is a freelance knitwear designer who specializes in vintage styles. Previously she worked as a vintage clothing dealer and as a public relations specialist for independent theatre companies and as a development director at DePaul University in Chicago.

"An ideal late-summer reading getaway. Especially delicious...a soaring thing of joy whose only purpose--and I mean this as a compliment--is to delight and entertain."Maureen Corrigan, Fresh Air "Inventive, bracing, poignant, and well-written...it should be at the top of everyone's summer reading list."Tuscon ... (more)Citizen Selden Edwards began writing The Little Book as a young English teacher in 1974, and continued to layer and refine the manuscript until its completion in 2007. It is his first novel. He spent his career as headmaster at several independent schools across the country, and for over forty years has been secretary of his class at Princeton, where he also played basketball. He lives in Santa Barbara, California.

"This romantic comedy is pure fun."Kirkus Reviews, starred review "A welcome gust of fresh air."BCCB Unlike Hucky Harper, Steve Kluger turned six years old long before iPods (but well after they invented Oreos). When he was in fifth grade, he read A Wrinkle in Time and immediately wrote a fan letter ... (more)to Madeleine L'Engle, who replied, "I wouldn't be surprised if you grew up to be an author yourself." He took her advice. He is the author of Last Days of Summer, Almost Like Being in Love, and Changing Pitches.

Author/illustrator, Eric Wight will be here talking about is debute novel "Frankie Pickle and the Closet of Doom." See where his imagination leads him when his mom asked him to clean his closet!

The SF&F discussion group, meets every 2nd
& 4th Wednesday monthly, talks about the books they have read recently. Open to older teens and adults. Ends around 8:30 p.m.

Bookseller extraordinaire Diane Leslie will host her Book Group as they discuss Elinor Lipman's The Family Man, with Elinor Lipman! The cost of this event is $20 and it will be fabulous.

"Marshall Jon Fisher has masterfully woven the story of Europe on the edge of war, a man pursued by the Gestapo, and America on the rise into the tale of the greatest tennis match of the century. A Terrible Splendor is tense, tragic, beautifully told, and immensely enjoyable."Atul Gawande author of Complications ... (more)"[This book] is a wonderful account of a time of great historical drama, with the world on the brink of war, and everything resting, or so it would seem, on getting the ball back over the net just one more time."Abraham Verghese author of Cutting for Stone Marshall Jon Fisher's work has appeared in The Atlantic, Harpers, and other magazines. His essay "Memoria ex Machina" was featured in Best American Essays 2003. He has written several books with his father, David E. Fisher, including Tube: The Invention of Television. Marshall lives in the Berkshires with his wife.

This book is a must-read if you are pregnant, or thinking about conceiving!
At this event, I will conduct a workshop about how spirits communicate with human beings and how you can build your ability to better "hear" what they are trying to tell you! I will also channel for random members of the audience ... (more)and you can ask a question on any topic! Join us on May 9, and you'll be entered into a drawing to win a FREE one hour private telephone channeling session by Kim O'Neil—to be given away at the end of this event! Kim was voted Best Psychic in Houston by Houston Press Magazine

QB of the varsity football team. Passing grades in all his classes. Dating the hottest--and smartest--girl at school. Summer job paying more than minimum wage. Things in Cody's world seem to be going pretty well. Until, that is, his girlfriend, Clea, is sent off to boarding school across the country, ... (more)and a torn ACL ends his high school football career. But bad things come in threes--or in Cody's case, sixes and twelves--and the worst is yet to come. While limping through town one day, Cody sees a newspaper heading: "Local Girl Missing." Clea, now his ex, has disappeared from her boarding school in Vermont, and the only clue is a letter she sent to Cody the morning of her disappearance. With that as his guide, Cody sets out to find out what happened. Once in Vermont, he unearths the town's secrets--and finds out that football isn't the only thing he's good at. Reality Check is another edge-of-your-seat suspense novel by the New York Times bestselling and Edgar Award-nominated author of Down the Rabbit Hole. Peter Abrahams is the bestselling author of Delusion, Nerve Damage, End of Story, Oblivion, The Fan, Behind the Curtain, and Into the Dark as well as Lights Out and Down the Rabbit Hole, for both of which he received Edgar Award nominations. Peter makes his home in Falmouth, Massachusetts, with his wife and four children. Writing as Spencer Quinn he is also the author of the Indie Next List title Dog on It.

"[This book] is a candid and moving memoir of a daughter's deep love for her father both when he is most difficult to love and impossible not to. Unforgettable and powerful, we are changed for the better by every page of it."Edwidge Danticat author of Brother I'm Dying "It's an extraordinary portrait ... (more)of how a difficult place shapes a man, how a daughter loves a challenging father, and how the act of remembering even the most painful aspects of our personal and collective histories can make us whole."Bliss Broyard author of One Drop Lise Funderburg is the author of Black, White, Other: Biracial Americans Talk about Race and Identity. She has been a regular contributor since 2001 to O, the Oprah Magazine and has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show. She has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and other publications. Funderburg lives in Philadelphia and teaches creative writing at the University of Pennsylvania and Rutgers University.

Diesel, A Bookstore in Oakland is excited to host an evening with Norm Sperling, editor of The Journal of Irreproducible Results, as he discuss and inscribes JIR's new anthology, This Book Warps Space and Time. This event is free and will be a total blast, so you should stop by!Here's the Editor in his ... (more)own words:
Hi! I'm Norm Sperling, the editor since 2004. I've subscribed to JIR since the 1970s. I was assistant editor of Sky & Telescope magazine, and Science Editor of AltaVista.com. I teach astronomy in universities around San Francisco, wrote the book What Your Astronomy Textbook Won't Tell You, and co-designed Edmund Scientific's Astroscan telescope. The Journal of Irreproducible Results is a science humor magazine and the new anthology, This Book Warps Space and Time, is a fast-paced frolic of humorous and quirky tidbits in science, math, academe, bureaucracy, and witty wordplay. More than 250 entries ponder and pun the practical and peculiar. JIR targets hypocrisy, arrogance, and ostentatious sesquipedalian circumlocution. JIR is a friendly escape from the harsh and the hassle. JIR makes you feel good

Celebrity Life Coach & Positive Psychology Expert Robert Mack
promises that, with a little effort, anyone--regardless of their
circumstances-- can find joy and contentment on the inside while
living a prosperous and abundant life on the outside, too. In this
inspiring evening, Mack delivers a turn-by-turn ... (more)road map and a simple-
to-follow instruction manual, based in science, business experience,
and personal experience, for living a happier, healthier, and
wealthier life starting today.
free talk and booksigning

The SF&F discussion group, meets every 2nd
& 4th Wednesday monthly, talks about the books they have read recently. Open to older teens and adults. Ends around 8:30 p.m.

"Eric Bogosian has an ear for the way Americans talk. He also has an entertaining knack for exposing the appalling yet hilarious way American men think"Sarah Vowell author of The Wordy Shipmates and Assassination Vacation Eric Bogosian is the author of Mall, the plays Talk Radio, subUrbia and Griller, ... (more)and the Obie Award-winning solo performances Drinking in America, Pounding Nails in the Floor with My Forehead and Sex, Drugs, Rock and Roll. He is the recipient of the Berlin Film Festival Silver Bear Award, a Drama Desk Award, and two NEA fellowships. An actor who has appeared in more than a dozen feature films and television shows, Bogosian lives in New York City.

"A visionary and inspired response to the question of what made us human. [This book] will forever change the way we look at cooking and gender in the evolution of civilization."Barbara Haber author of from Hardtack to Home Fries "A tour de force. With elegance and clarity, Wrangham combines original ... (more)ideas with an extraordinary range of science."Robert Foley, Director of the Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, University of Cambridge Richard Wrangham is the Ruth Moore Professor of Biological Anthropology at Harvard University and Curator of Primate Behavioral Biology at the Peabody Museum. He is the co-author of Demonic Males and co-editor of Chimpanzee Cultures. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The Socrates Cafe, hosted by Rick Branch, meets for thoughtful reflection on the first Wednesday each month. Drop-ins always welcome. Call or stop by for details.

"Sedaris belongs on any list of people writing in English at the moment who are revising our ideas about what's funny."San Francisco Chronicle "When a writer like Sedaris comes along who can make you giddy with laughter at the same time that he's visiting some of the darker corners of existence, we ought ... (more)to celebrate."San Jose Mercury News This is a ticketed event. Tickets are available at the bookstore or can be reserved with a credit card over the phone. Tickets are $16.79 and entitle the bearer to one free copy of the paperback edition of When You Are Engulfed in Flames. Tickets go on sale on May 4. David Sedaris's half-dozen books have been translated into twenty-five languages, including Estonian, Greek, and Bahasa. His essays appear frequently in The New Yorker and are heard on Public Radio International's This American Life.

Join Porter Square Books for the book launch party of Grace Lin's new book, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon. In the valley of Fruitless mountain, a young girl named Minli lives in a ramshackle hut with her parents. In the evenings, her father regales her with old folktales of the Jade Dragon and the ... (more)Old Man on the Moon, who knows the answers to all of life's questions. Inspired by these stories, Minli sets off on an extraordinary journey to find the Old Man on the Moon to ask him how she can change her family's fortune. She encounters an assorted cast of characters and magical creatures along the way, including a dragon who accompanies her on her quest for the ultimate answer. Grace Lin, author of the beloved Year of the Dog and Year of the Rat, returns with a wondrous story of adventure, faith, and friendship. A fantasy crossed with Chinese folklore, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon is a timeless story reminiscent of The Wizard of Oz. Her beautiful illustrations, printed in full-color, accompany the text throughout. Once again, she has created a charming, engaging book for young readers.

Diesel, A Bookstore in Oakland is turning over in its grave with excitement to present Seth Grahame-Smith as he discusses and signs his sure-to-one-day-be-a-cult-classic Pride and Prejudice and Zombies!
Seth Grahame-Smith is a film & television writer/producer living in America's Heartland - Los Angeles, ... (more)CA. He's the founder of The Department of Homeland Apology, a grassroots initiative demanding an apology from President George W. Bush for the offenses of his two terms. He's also founder of the groups: Democrats for Levi Johnston, Progressives Against Progress, and Please, Steve Doocy, Commit Suicide Already. In addition to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, he is also the author of Pardon My President: Ready-To-Mail Apologies for 8 Years of George W. Bush, How to Survive a Horror Movie: All the Skills to Dodge the Kills, The Spider-Man Handbook: The Ultimate Traning Manual, and The Big Book of Porn: A Penetrating Look at the World of Dirty Movies.

"Frances Osborne writes in a warm, sympathetic and engrossing way, evoking in well-chosen detail the razzmatazz of the very rich."Times Literary Supplement "From the opening scene in Claridge's Hotel in the mid-1930's, it is possible to forget that The Bolter is non-fiction, as the heady pace and richness ... (more)of detail propel the reader through each sensational and increasingly tragic phase of Idina's life."Evening Standard Frances Osborne's first book, Lilla's Feast: A True Story of Love, War and a Passion for Food, was listed as a Kiriyama Prize Notable Book and translated into five languages. Frances worked as a barrister and investment research analyst before becoming a full-time writer. She has written for Daily Telegraph, The Times, The Independent and Moneyweek, as well as Sunday Times, The Daily Mail, The Spectator and Vogue.

"I have read lots of books about investigative and other public-service journalism. So when a book in that realm is fresh and exciting to me, that is an accomplishment."Steve Weinberg author of A Journalism of Humanity: A Candid History of the World's First Journalism School "At a time when the business ... (more)model of the American newspaper lies broken, this book tells us, by vivid examples, why newspapers are essential to our national well-being. It is a sobering yet inspiring message."John S. Carroll former Los Angeles Times editor and Pulitzer Prize board member from 1993 to 2002 Roy J. Harris Jr., senior editor of the Economist Group's CFO magazine, served from 1971 to 1994 as a reporter with the Wall Street Journal, including six years as deputy chief of its fourteen-member Los Angeles bureau. Early in his career he reported at the Los Angeles Times and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He now lives in Hingham, Massachusetts.

"A sage and well-documented book presenting powerful evidence for the most important single factor in prolonging health and retarding aging."James Fries coauthor of Take Care of Yourself "A potent and healthy prescription for the mind and the body. It's like an invigorating walk on the beach, making ... (more)you reflect on your life in new ways, throwing over old ways of thinking. Stimulating and scientifically engaging, it documents the new science behind the impact of exercise on far more than our waistlines. As soon as you put down this inspiring book, you'll want to get up and get moving."Nicholas Christakis, Harvard Medical School Jorg Blech is the U.S.-based science correspondent for Der Spiegel, Europe's largest weekly news magazine. His work has also appeared in international publications such as New Scientist and the Guardian. His five best-selling books have together been published in a dozen languages. Jorg Blech lives with his wife and their three children in Arlington, Massachusetts.

DIESEL, A Bookstore in Brentwood is pleased to welcome Barbara Isenberg as she discusses and signs Conversations with Frank Gehry. Culling the most candid, revealing, and entertaining interviews from her twenty years of talking with Frank Gehry, Isenberg gives us an intimate portrait of one of our most ... (more)influential working architects, and one who has left an indelible imprint on the Los Angeles skyline.

DIESEL, A Bookstore in Oakland is pleased to welcome David Carr as he discusses and signs The Night of the Gun : A Reporter investigates the Darkest Story of His Life. This event is free and all are welcome!

"Winn writes with clarity and keen perception; her stories come together like a mosaic to create a compelling, deeply textured world. You won't easily forget characters, mill owners and union organizers, hair dressers and immigrants, whose lives are full of loss and discovery, regret and beauty, and ... (more)whose stories brush against one another, overlap, and intersect in unexpected ways. These are deeply satisfying stories, subtle, intelligent, and beautifully crafted."Kim Edwards author of The Memory Keeper's Daughter "A rare achievement. Tracy Winn's characters struggle with unexpected losses and damaging habits, rarely triumphing over the troubles that fill their lives, but always questioning the hard truths that hold them in place."C. Michael Curtis, senior fiction editor, Atlantic Monthly Tracy Winn is the recipient of grants from the Massachussets Cultural Council, the Barbara Deming Memorial Trust, and the Arch and Bruce Brown Foundation, and fellowships from the MacDowell and the Millay colonies. Her stories have appeared in New Orleans Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, Hayden's Ferry Review, and Western Humanities Review, among others. She works with Gaining Ground, a local non-profit farm that gives its produce to local shelters and meal programs. She lives near Boston with her husband and daughter.

"The question Why me? haunts survivors for the rest of our lives. For some of us, life is only possible under the anesthesia of silence. After 63 years, Leon Rubinstein has broken his silence with this book. [This] is a remarkable story of life's victory over death and about one generation passing ... (more)the torch to another."Marian Marzynski, Holocaust survivor, documentary filmmaker, author of acclaimed film Shtetl As I Am Presently Known is the fascinating account of one Jewish boy's survival during World War II. The story of Leon Rubinstein, as written with Emily Rubin, reveals a historic journey, both haunting and illuminating. Born in Poland in 1930, Leon lost his parents and most of his family to the Nazi invasion when he was a child. Surviving the war against all odds, he eventually became part of the exodus of Jewish orphans to British Palestine, where he participated in Israel's War of Independence. Through the discovery of an uncle in America, Leon immigrated and began a new, prosperous life in the Boston area. As I Am Presently Known is a book about the politics of war, the power of memory, and the strength of the human spirit. Father of two and grandfather of five, Leon Rubinstein is a tireless inventor who resides with his wife on Cape Cod. Emily Rubin's writing has appeared in magazines, newspapers and anthologies, and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

"The question Why me? haunts survivors for the rest of our lives. For some of us, life is only possible under the anesthesia of silence. After 63 years, Leon Rubinstein has broken his silence with this book. [This] is a remarkable story of life's victory over death and about one generation passing ... (more)the torch to another."Marian Marzynski, Holocaust survivor, documentary filmmaker, author of acclaimed film Shtetl As I Am Presently Known is the fascinating account of one Jewish boy's survival during World War II. The story of Leon Rubinstein, as written with Emily Rubin, reveals a historic journey, both haunting and illuminating. Born in Poland in 1930, Leon lost his parents and most of his family to the Nazi invasion when he was a child. Surviving the war against all odds, he eventually became part of the exodus of Jewish orphans to British Palestine, where he participated in Israel's War of Independence. Through the discovery of an uncle in America, Leon immigrated and began a new, prosperous life in the Boston area. As I Am Presently Known is a book about the politics of war, the power of memory, and the strength of the human spirit. Father of two and grandfather of five, Leon Rubinstein is a tireless inventor who resides with his wife on Cape Cod. Emily Rubin's writing has appeared in magazines, newspapers and anthologies, and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

Join Porter Square Books and Tags Hardware for a milkshake demonstration, by Adam Ried, author of Thoroughly Modern Milkshakes. The demonstration will take place at Tags Hardware. Adam Ried is the cooking columnist for Boston Globe Magazine and the kitchen equipment specialist on the PBS show America's ... (more)Test Kitchen. For ten years he was an editor for Cook's Illustrated and was responsible for the magazine’s kitchen equipment testing and ingredient tasting features.

"The characters are marvelously realized, and when Christensen's on a roll, her wit is irresistible."Publisher's Weekly Kate Christensen is also the author of the novels In the Drink, Jeremy Thrane, and The Epicure's Lament, and The Great Man, winner of the 2008 PEN/Faulkner Award. Her essays and articles ... (more)have appeared in various publications, including Salon, Mademoiselle, The Hartford Courant, Elle, and the bestselling anthology The Bitch in the House. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband.

You're in invited to a soiree! (That's fancy for party!) So put on your fancy dress, join us for some fancy refreshments and make some fancy crafts! Please sign up by calling 673-1734 or at the desk when you stop into the store! Tiaras welcome!

"This book is the cat's pajamas. It's the clearest account anywhere of who Jane [Jacobs] was, what she did for cities, and how she did it."Max Allen author of Ideas That Matter: The Worlds of Jane Jacobs "A vivid account of Jane Jacobs that will encourage young people to make observations and think critically."Susan ... (more)Goldman Rubin author of There Goes the Neighborhood: Ten Buildings People Love to Hate Glenna Lang's previous work includes illustrations for classic poems for children with Godine. She wrote and illustrated the award-winning Looking Out for Sarah. Although she grew up in New York, she now lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and teaches at the school of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Marjory Wunsch has illustrated numerous children's books, and is author and illustrator of Spaceship Number Four and Aunt Belle's Beach. While studying architecture in the early 1970's, she encountered the ideas of Jane Jacobs. Marjory and her husband live in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

"This is an exciting collection that respects workers enough to engage them in desperately needed discussions about union strategy. It presents a radical defense of the working class and an uncompromising critique of the labor movement as it exists today."Sam Gindin, York University Former Research Director, ... (more)Canadian Auto Workers "Steve Early has long been a voice of distinctive clarity, honesty and intellectual seriousness in and about the labor movement. This collection performs a valuable service in bringing together a broad sample of his writing on class, politics, the trade union movement, its status and prospects."Adolph Reed Jr., Professor of Political Science, University of Pennsylvania Steve Early has been an organizer, strike strategist, labor educator, and lawyer. He recently retired from his job as national staff member of the Communications Workers of America. Early's articles, reviews, and op-ed pieces have appeared in The Nation, New Politics, CounterPunch, The Progressive, American Prospect, Working USA, New Labor Forum, the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, and many other publications.

"I couldn't put it down. It nailed me to the wall, not bad for a grand sweeping in-depth exploration of American Music with not one mention of myself. Wald's book is suave, soulful, ebullient and will blow out your speakers."Tom Waits "A bracing, inclusive look at the dramatic transformation in the way ... (more)music was produced and listened to during the 20th century...One of those rare books that aims to upend received wisdom and actually succeeds."Kirkus Reviews Elijah Wald is a musician, writer and historian, whose books include Escaping the Delta: Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues; Narcocorrido, about the modern Mexican ballads of drug trafficking; The Mayor of MacDougal Street (with Dave Van Ronk), and Global Minstrels: Voices of World Music. He is currently teaching at UCLA, and contributing regular pieces to the Los Angeles Times.

"Starkly, carefully, painfully told, this is the journey of a true American hero. Faced with unimaginable horror, a decent man struggles against the onslaught of unspeakable grief. Battling demons without and within, he staggers, rights himself, flails, then stumbles and falls. And yet again, an inspiring ... (more)challenge to all, he rises."Mike Farrell co-chair emeritus of Human Rigts Watch in California nad President of Death Penalty Focus "I have never read a more compassionate understanding of the realities of a family torn apart by horrific murder. This book--ultimately a book about hope--promises to change all who read it."Michael Patrick Macdonald author of All Souls and Easter Rising For the last twenty years, Brian Macquarrie has been a reporter and editor for the Boston Globe, where he has covered a wide range of major breaking stories, including the invasion of Iraq, the September 11, 2001 attacks, and Hurricane Katrina. He lives in Boston.

Neef, the official Changeling of Central Park, has gone on a life-threatening quest and faced down a dragon, but that looks like a piece of cake compared to her first day at school. At Miss Van Loon’s School for Mortal Changelings—and that’s pronounced “Van Lo-en’s,” if you please—she meets ... (more)her counterparts from all over Manhattan, learns the basics of diplomacy and simple magic, and memorizes what seems like an endless list of rules. She also makes an enemy: Tiffany of the Upper East Side, queen bee of the school. But all that pales when Central park and all of Manhattan’s green places are threatened. If New York Harbor’s Mermaid Queen doesn't get her magic mirror back, she's going to turn the city's fresh water to salt… and everything and everyone Neef knows will die. It's up to Neef to save the day. Again. And this time, she has changeling friends. Delia Sherman was born in Tokyo, Japan and raised in New York City, where she now lives. She is the author of numerous short stories and three adult fantasy novels, as well as the predecessor to this book,Changeling. She has twice been nominated for the World Fantasy Award, and has won they Mythopoeic Award. She is one of the founders and president of the Interstitial Arts Foundation.

"Nobody writes better about mountaineering"Jon Krakauer author of Into Thin Air David Roberts is an avid climber and the author of more than twenty books, among them On the Ridge Between Life and Death, the New York Times bestseller No Shortcuts to the Top (with Ed Viesturs), and The Mountain of My Fear, ... (more)which was named to National Geographic Adventure's list of the 100 Greatest Adventure Books of All Time. His articles have appeared in numerous publications, including National Geographic Adventure, National Geographic, Men's Journal, and Smithsonian. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

"Beth Taylor's memoir is one of the most tender and moving books I've read in a long time. Written with poise and grace, never falling into self-pity, [this book] will surely touch the heart of anyone who has found the means to salvage a kind of meaning out of great tragedy. This is a book I will not ... (more)forget."Tim O'Brien author of The Things They Carried "[This book] blesses us all with its wisdom and grace. It is a luminous, powerful, and unforgettable book that is ultimately a triumph of the human spirit and a sister's love."Laura Palmer author ofShrapnel in the Heart Beth Taylor teaches in the nonfiction writing program at Brown University. Beth has been a feature writer and currently is a book reviewer for The Providence Journal. She has published other work in Friends Journal, and War, Literature, and the Arts, and on the website "Writing Vietnam."

"The battle at Loon erupts suddenly and sucks you in. Like Jack McLean, you ask: what am I doing here? The answer is: you joined the Marines and now it's time to fight for your life. A gripping story of violence and dedication to survival."Bing West author of The Strongest Tribe "McLean's debut ... (more)is a perceptive memoir of the Vietnam war...McLean reconstructs his time in the Marines with a sharp eye for detail and very readable--at times almost poetic--prose."Publisher's Weekly The third of four children, Jack McLean was born in Huntington, New York, on May 26, 1947. He was brought up in Summit, New Jersey, where he lived until admittance to Phillips Academy, Andover, at age fourteen. Upon graduation, McLean enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. After boot camp and a year on stateside duty, he served in Vietnam with Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division. McLean returned to enter Harvard University in the fall of 1968 as the college’s first Vietnam veteran. After graduation, he held marketing positions in New York; Boston; Portland, Maine; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Washington, D.C. McLean is the father of three daughters and is currently the Tsien Writer in Residence in Fort Lee, New Jersey.

I loved this book and have recommended to as many people as I can think of. I hope you enjoy it too and I think we'll have a great discussion.

"Few happy people writer books, but when they do, they confer the blessings of wisdom and their sanguine nature on the unhappy many. I learned so much from [this book]. I felt that Willard Spiegelman was personally walking me throughall the steps necessary to dance the tango of bliss that he has so delightfully ... (more)mastered."Edmund White author of Hotel de Dream "Willard Spiegelman's Seven Pleasures mounts a gentle and persuasive argument for what years ago would ahve been called a more civilized life. And it reminds us what we owe ourselves: that attempt to appreciate as fully as possible that we are here, right now, wherever here may be."Jim Shepard author of Like You'd Understand, Anyway Willard Spiegelman is the Hughes Professor of English at Southern Methodist University and has been editor at the Southwest Review since 1984. Dr. Spiegelman is the author of two books about the English Romantic poets: Wordsworth’s Heroes and Majestic Indolence: English Romantic Poetry and the Work of Art. He has also written The Didactic Muse: Scenes of Instruction in Contemporary American Poetry and dozens of scholarly articles on English and American poetry. He lives in Dallas, Texas.

"In this gripping and inspiring story of one woman who galvanized her community against powerful, destructive forces, Anthony Flint gets to the heart of what makes neighborhoods--and cities--thrive."Richard Florida author of Who's Your City? "Jane Jacobs, the crownless queen of cities, defended ... (more)New York against the assault that would have destroyed its pattern of the daily life. [This book] is a masterly tale of how her mandate endures."Jane Holtz Kay author of Asphalt Nation Anthony Flint is the director of public affairs at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, a think-tank on land and development issues located in Cambridge, MA, and was a reporter at The Boston Globe for sixteen years. He is the author of This Land: The Battle Over Sprawl and the Future of America. He lives in Boston.

"Crafting a dense, flashback-filled narrative that stutters across two summer outings to New England...Russo convincingly depicts life coming apart at the seams."Publisher's Weekly Richard Russo is the author of numerous novels including The Risk Pool, Nobody's Fool, Bridge of Sighs and the Pulitzer ... (more)Prize winning Empire Falls. He is also the author of the short story collection The Whore's Child. Russo lives in Maine and is retired from the faculty of Colby College.

"A snappy and heartfelt family drama... The family's interactions are sharp, raw, and often laugh-out-loud funny... Tropper strikes an excellent balance between the family history and its present-day fallout, proving his ability to create touchingly human characters and a deliciously pageturning story."Publisher's ... (more)Weekly "[An] hilarious, testosterone driven thrill ride... Highly recommended for Tropper fans, who will rejoice at the opportunity to indulge; others will wonder where he's been all their lives."Library Journal (starred review) Jonathan Tropper is the author of How to Talk to a Widower, Everything Changes, The Book of Joe, and Plan B. He lives with his family in Westchester, New York, where he teaches writing at Manhattanville College.

Join Porter Square Books for a special story hour as children's author Victoria Adler reads from and signs copies of her book All of Baby, Nose to Toes. With just an hour between nursings, new mom Victoria Adler hit the gym and composed this bouncy rhyming story to the rhythm of the elliptical machine. ... (more)Ms. Adler is a speech-language pathologist and lives with her husband in Jackson Heights, New York. This is her first book for children.

"A good way to introduce little children to the most positive cultural event of the century--the 1969 Woodstock Festival."Elliot Landy official photographer of the 1969 Woodstock Festival "[This book] is a jubilant reminder of Max Yasgur's generosity."Naomi Howland of Latkes, Latkes, Good to Eat Author ... (more)Abigail Yasgur has spent the past 40 years saying 'yes' when asked on a weekly basis if she is "related to that guy who had Woodstock." She is a professional librarian. Her husband and co-author, Joseph Lipner, is an attorney and writer. They live in Los Angeles.

Join Porter Square Books for an evening with contributors to A Cup of Comfort for Breast Cancer Survivors. The participants will also be collection donations to support a free mammogram project in Bali. The readers for the event are: Maria Judge was born in Germany, raised in Ireland, Chile, and Indiana, ... (more)and now lives in the Boston area. She has written extensively about her childhood and travels with her parents and eight siblings. She works as director of administration at Physicians for Human rights. Donna Conrad is a writer and editor who resides in Boston and Los Angeles. Her children's book, See You Soon Moon, has won several awards, and her short stories and essays appear freqently in literary journals. The founder of College Bound Essays, she helps students discover and craft their college essays. Suzanne Berger teaches advanced students in poetry at the Lesley Seminars at Lesley University. She has two books of poetry, These Rooms and Legacies and a memoir, Horizontal Woman. Her work has also appeared in Ploughshares, The New Yorker, AGNI, Harvard Review, and elsewhere, and she has received a Pushcart Prize and a grant from the Somerville Arts Council.

PEN New EnglandReadings at the Hotel MarloweGail Mazur is the author of Zeppo's First Wife, a Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist, a 2006 Paterson Poetry Prize Finalist, and winner of a Massachusetts Book Award. Her book They Can't That Away from Me, was a finalist for the 2001 National Book Award. ... (more)She is Distinquished Writer in Residence in Emerson College's Writing, Literature and Publishing Program, and founding director of the Blacksmith House Poetry Center. She has won fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Bunting Institute of Radcliffe College, as well as the St. Botoloph Club Foundation Distinquished Artist Award.Please note: this is an off-site event to be held at the Hotel Marlowe in Cambridge, MA. Directions to the Hotel Marlowe. For info or questions, contact: Emily Hiestand, / 617-497-1225. About PEN New England PEN New England is an organization of writers and all those who love the written word. Our mission is to advance the cause of literature in New England and defend freedom of expression everywhere. PEN New England is one of five regional branches of PEN American Center, and part of International PEN, the oldest human rights organization in the world, and also the oldest international literary organization. PEN NE is honored to collaborate with the Marlowe Hotel and Porter Square Books to produce the PEN-Marlowe Reading Series, now in its fourth year. The monthly reading series is programmed by two PEN NE board members and award-winning authors: fiction writer, Edith Pearlman, and essayist/photographer, Emily Hiestand. For more information, visit the PEN New England website.

"Wood is among the few contemporary writers of great consequence...Reading Wood, no matter the book under review, provides enormous pleasure."Los Angeles Times "A perceptive and graceful essay which almost anybody who's interested in books could read . . . Well worth reading."The Sunday Times James Wood ... (more)is a staff writer at The New Yorker and a visiting lecturer at Harvard. He is the author of two essay collections, The Broken Estate and The Irresponsible Self, and a novel, The Book Against God.

[This] is a magical book, at once poetic and scientific, that holds out great hope for all of us...Barry, an excellent brain scientist, illustrates through her personal experiences and the fascinating science of vision that the brain is a marvelously plastic organ tha can continue to change its wiring ... (more)and thereby its function throughout our adult life."Eric Kandel author of In Search of Memory "Beautifully written, deeply informative, and profoundly inspiring...[this book] will appeal to anyone interested in the beauty of the nervous system, and should be required reading for every person involved with the education, behavior, and development of children."Brock and Fernette Eide authors of The Mislabeled Child Susan R. Barry is a professor of neurobiology in the Department of Biological Sciences at Mount Holyoke College. She speaks regularly to scientists, eye doctors, and educators on the topic of neuroplasticity. She has been featured on NPR and in a New Yorker article by renowned neurobiologist Oliver Sacks entitled "Stereo Sue." She and her husband have two grown children and live in South Hadley, Massachusetts.

"How many of the classic problems of philosophy can you solve on the commuting train? More than you might think, if Andrew Pessin's neat and provocative new book is anything to go by. The perfect start to thinking more deeply about life, the universe, and everything."Timothy Chappell, Professor ... (more)of Philosophy, The Open University "A potpourri of philosophical ideas! Written with a deft hand and a light touch."Martin Cohen author of 101 Philosophy Problems Andrew Pessin is Chair of Philosophy at Conneticut College. He is the author of The God Question: What Famous Thinkers from Plato to Dawkins Have Said about the Divine and The Twin Earth Chronicles. He has also appeared on the David Letterman show several times as "The Genius".

"This book is a must read for anybody who cares about science, and the growing disconnect between the scientific and popular cultures"Realclimate.org "A truly vital book for the future of our country, because we will fail to revive our nation if we continue to marginalize science and the scientific community."Buzzflash.com ... (more)Chris Mooney is a contributing editor to Science Progress and author of the New York Times bestseller, The Republican War on Science, and Storm World: Hurricanes, Politics, and the Battle Over Global Warming. He contributes to many publications including Wired, Slate, and The American Prospect. He lives in Princeton, New Jersey.

"[This book] is charming, hilarious, effervescent, and dead serious. I read it in one sitting and adored it."Anita Shreve author of Testimony "I fell in love with [this book] on page one, and by novel's end had appointed myself president of Sebastian Stuart's fan club. This story is all heart--at the ... (more)same time it's layered with wit, sorrow, and pitch-perfect satire."Elinor Lipman, author of The Family Man Sebastian Stuart has written novels, screenplays and many Off-Off Broadway plays. His novels include The Mentor and Charm! by Kendall Hart, a New York Times bestselling tie-in with the soap opera All My Children. A native New Yorker, he now lives in Cambridge with novelist Stephen McCauley

Diesel, A Bookstore in Oakland is pleased to present local writers Kathy Briccetti, Meilan Carter, and Jasmine Dawson as they discuss their contributions to the national anthology, Who's Your Mama?: The Unsung Voices of Women and Mothers.
Kathy Briccetti has published essays, poetry, and criticism ... (more)in literary and commercial magazines. She received a Pushcart Prize nomination for an essay excerpted from her forthcoming memoir, Blood Strangers, which will be published by Heyday Books in spring 2010. She lives in El Cerrito and works in Oakland.
Meilan Carter is interested in crossing literary genres, documenting family history, and challenging language. The beauty in death, magic, and the complexities of relationships, are some of the themes that appear in her work. A writer of both fiction and creative non-fiction, Meilan recently completed her MFA in Fiction at Mills College. She is currently working on a creative non-fiction novel about the loss of her father titled The Etiquette of Death. She lives in Oakland with her husband David and son Kamau.
Jasmine Dawson is an Oakland native and received her BA from San Francisco State University and MFA in Creative Writing from Mills College. She has written and published book reviews, essays, and research. She finished her novel and is currently working for the City of Oakland.

"Surely Joyce Maynard is one of our best storytellers. And [this book] is her best novel. It is such a generous book, full of love and hope. Long after I finished reading it, I was full of all it gave me: the joys of a perfect pie, of babies, and of love"Anne Hood author of The Knitting Circle "[This ... (more)is] a sexy, page turning, poignant story told by a sweetly baffled young hero, perhaps the best kind of hero to narrate any tale. Joyce Maynard is at her finest."Jane Hamilton author of Laura Rider's Masterpiece Joyce Maynard has been a reporter and columnist for The New York Times, a syndicated newspaper columnist whose "Domestic Affairs" column appeared in more than fifty papers nationwide, and a regular contributor to NPR. Her writing has also been published in national magazines, including O, The Oprah Magazine; Newsweek; The New York Times Magazine; Salon; USA Weekly; and many more. She has appeared on Good Morning America, The Today Show, Charlie Rose, and on Fresh Air. The author of nine books of fiction and nonfiction, including the novel To Die For, the bestselling memoir, At Home in the World, and the young adult novel The Usual Rules, Maynard makes her home in Mill Valley, California.

"It has often been proposed that the ultimate human future lies in space. It has become clear instead that the strange world really holding our future, now and forever is the ocean. In [this book], Deborah Cramer explains why this is so. Authoritatively researched, clearly written, and beautifully illustrated, ... (more)this book is best of its class."E.O. Wilson author of The Creation and Superorganism "Deborah Cramer's achievement in creating this classic study of the world's seas is destined for lasting importance. Her book is a hymn to something that is both beautiful and fragile, a fervent prayer that we recognize it as such, and an eloquent plea for all humankind to cherish it--to embrace the sea as it embraces us."Simon Winchester author of The Man Who Loved China Deborah Cramer writes about science, nature, and the environment. Currently a visiting scholar at MIT's Earth System Initiative, she is the author of Great Waters: An Atlantic Passage. She lives in Gloucester, Massachusetts.

Diesel, A Bookstore in Oakland is delighted to welcome local author and professor of history Gretchen Lemke-Santangelo to the store to discuss and sign Daughters of Aquarius: Women of the Sixties Counterculture.
It was a sign of the sixties. Drawn by the promise of spiritual and creative freedom, thousands ... (more)of women from white middle-class homes rejected the suburban domesticity of their mothers to adopt lifestyles more like those of their great-grandmothers. They eagerly learned “new” skills, from composting to quilting, as they took up the decade’s quest for self-realization. “Hippie women” have alternately been seen as earth mothers or love goddesses, virgins or vamps—images that have obscured the real complexity of their lives. Gretchen Lemke-Santangelo now takes readers back to Haight Ashbury and country communes to reveal how they experienced and shaped the counterculture.
Featuring photographs and poster art that bring the era to life, Daughters of Aquarius provides both an inside look at a defining movement and a needed corrective to long-held stereotypes of the counterculture. For everyone who was part of that scene—or just wonders what it was like—this book offers a new perspective on those experiences and on cultural innovations that have affected all our lives.
Gretchen Lemke-Santangelo is professor of history at St. Mary’s College of California. She is author of Abiding Courage: African American Migrant Women in the East Bay Community and coauthor of Competing Visions: A History of California.

Rin has always been the quiet, helpful girl, her mother’s shadow, her family’s helper. But a secret has been eating away at her, and the solace Rin could once find among the tall trees that surround her forest home seems gone forever. When she leaves home to join her older brother Razo, as well as ... (more)Enna, Dasha, and Isi in the city, she finds intriguing answers to her questions and a sense of self she never thought she would find. In this much-anticipated fourth title in the Books of Bayern series, Shannon Hale delivers an emotionally wrenching journey of self-discovery set in the magical and alluring world we first encountered in The Goose Girl and the other Books of Bayern Shannon Hale is the New York Times best-selling author of five award-winning young adult novels, including the Newbery Honor book Princess Academy, and two books for adults, Austenland and The Actor and the Housewife. She co-wrote a graphic novel, Rapunzel's Revenge, with husband Dean Hale. They live with their two small children near Salt Lake City, Utah. The time of this event is subject to change so please check back.

Rin has always been the quiet, helpful girl, her mother’s shadow, her family’s helper. But a secret has been eating away at her, and the solace Rin could once find among the tall trees that surround her forest home seems gone forever. When she leaves home to join her older brother Razo, as well as ... (more)Enna, Dasha, and Isi in the city, she finds intriguing answers to her questions and a sense of self she never thought she would find. In this much-anticipated fourth title in the Books of Bayern series, Shannon Hale delivers an emotionally wrenching journey of self-discovery set in the magical and alluring world we first encountered in The Goose Girl and the other Books of Bayern Shannon Hale is the New York Times best-selling author of five award-winning young adult novels, including the Newbery Honor book Princess Academy, and two books for adults, Austenland and The Actor and the Housewife. She co-wrote a graphic novel, Rapunzel's Revenge, with husband Dean Hale. They live with their two small children near Salt Lake City, Utah.

"Surely Joyce Maynard is one of our best storytellers. And [this book] is her best novel. It is such a generous book, full of love and hope. Long after I finished reading it, I was full of all it gave me: the joys of a perfect pie, of babies, and of love"Anne Hood author of The Knitting Circle "[This ... (more)is] a sexy, page turning, poignant story told by a sweetly baffled young hero, perhaps the best kind of hero to narrate any tale. Joyce Maynard is at her finest."Jane Hamilton author of Laura Rider's Masterpiece Joyce Maynard has been a reporter and columnist for The New York Times, a syndicated newspaper columnist whose "Domestic Affairs" column appeared in more than fifty papers nationwide, and a regular contributor to NPR. Her writing has also been published in national magazines, including O, The Oprah Magazine; Newsweek; The New York Times Magazine; Salon; USA Weekly; and many more. She has appeared on Good Morning America, The Today Show, Charlie Rose, and on Fresh Air. The author of nine books of fiction and nonfiction, including the novel To Die For, the bestselling memoir, At Home in the World, and the young adult novel The Usual Rules, Maynard makes her home in Mill Valley, California.

"How many of the classic problems of philosophy can you solve on the commuting train? More than you might think, if Andrew Pessin's neat and provocative new book is anything to go by. The perfect start to thinking more deeply about life, the universe, and everything."Timothy Chappell, Professor ... (more)of Philosophy, The Open University "A potpourri of philosophical ideas! Written with a deft hand and a light touch."Martin Cohen author of 101 Philosophy Problems Andrew Pessin is Chair of Philosophy at Conneticut College. He is the author of The God Question: What Famous Thinkers from Plato to Dawkins Have Said about the Divine and The Twin Earth Chronicles. He has also appeared on the David Letterman show several times as "The Genius".

Diesel, A Bookstore in Oakland is pleased to present local author Taije Silverman to the store to celebrate the publication of her first book of poetry, Houses Are Fields. Join us!