Alan Pearsall book signing

Artist Alan Pearsall is signing his recent book American Town: The History of Ipswich, Massachusetts next weekend. It's the companion to his Ipswich history mural on the wall of Ebsco Publishing along the city's Riverwalk (which he graciously allowed me to reproduce photos of it in the NSLT) and is chock-full of illustrations and photographs.

June 14, 2–4 pm
Ipswich Historical Society

June 19, 3–7 pm
First National Bank of Ipswich

Ipswich Poets or Poems about Ipswich

April is National Poetry Month, and as part of Ipswich's 375 anniversary celebration historian Chris Wright reads and discusses Ipswich poets.

Monday, April 6, 2009 at noon, $5
Ipswich Historical Society, Heard House Museum
54 South Main Street, Ipswich, 978-356-2811

(It was also 45 years ago today that Updike was elected to the National Institute of Arts and Letters.)

March 8 is John Updike Day

March 8, 2009 was unanimously declared John Updike Day in Ipswich, the writer's home for more than 20 years before moving to Beverly Farms in 1982.

On Sunday, March 8 at 2 p.m. at the Ipswich Performing Arts Center, Ipswich students and residents will present a dramatic reading of John Updike's pageant, "Three Texts from Early Ipswich."

Written in 1968 for that year's 17th Century Day, Updike's work draws upon the work of Ipswich historians Thomas Franklin Waters and Joseph B. Felt and the early literary works of residents Nathaniel Ward and Anne Bradstreet.

More talks, a remembrance of Updike, and a patriotic sing-along are all also on the bill in what is the first of several events celebrating of Ipswich's 375th anniversary. Tickets are available at essexheritage.org.

PS: Did you know that ABC is developing a pilot based on the Witches of Eastwick?