tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15796816225565792132024-03-05T17:09:42.454-05:00The North Shore Literary TrailRuby Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12494831506769077683noreply@blogger.comBlogger62125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1579681622556579213.post-91287769875315482742010-11-04T09:47:00.002-04:002010-11-04T09:47:00.801-04:00Old Town Hall lecture series in SalemVia Bonnie Hurd Smith of <a href="https://historysmiths.com/Home.html">HistorySmiths</a> is news of a new lecture series in Salem sponsored by the Gordon College Institute for Public History. The lectures happen on the third Thursday of every month, November through May, at 7:30 at the Old Town Hall (where <a href="http://www.gordon.edu/historyalive"><i>Cry Innocent</i></a> is performed).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhspS9ViqV4EBv1t8hozay7sZVMdyf44qok32_iCCIyOtIQ12N8mhfVFM7zSPWjprVWuo2tMN2WSwAKKl5oT4SmcZN_Bj8gNPkWwqB9lq9lLaFiiZLEZYr_JuZLV9lDqPVNaLJHFsJpf2U/s1600/Jacket.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhspS9ViqV4EBv1t8hozay7sZVMdyf44qok32_iCCIyOtIQ12N8mhfVFM7zSPWjprVWuo2tMN2WSwAKKl5oT4SmcZN_Bj8gNPkWwqB9lq9lLaFiiZLEZYr_JuZLV9lDqPVNaLJHFsJpf2U/s320/Jacket.jpeg" width="211" /></a>First up is author and historian Richard Francis discussing his 2005 book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0007163630?ie=UTF8&tag=thenorsholitt-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0007163630">Judge Sewall's Apology: The Salem Witch Trials and the Forming of an American Conscience</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=thenorsholitt-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0007163630" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />. Samuel Sewall's diary, which he kept for his own reasons and not with an eye to posterity, is one of the most well-rounded pictures we now have of life in Puritan New England and includes charming, light-hearted passages about his romantic courtships. But he is best known for his role as one of the nine judges during the witch trials of 1692, and was one of the only people to publicly apologize for his role in the hysteria. On his <a href="http://richardfrancis.wordpress.com/">blog</a>, Francis writes:<br />
<blockquote>My biography of [Sewall] explores a complex and endearing human being, who participated in an injustice that reflected an essentially medieval view of the world, and who, by the time he embarked on an extraordinary series of courtships late in his life, had taught himself how to be a modern man.</blockquote>Visit <a href="http://oldtownhalllectures.com/">Old Town Hall Lectures</a> for the complete schedule, which includes Smith speaking about Judith Sargent Murray on January 20.Ruby Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12494831506769077683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1579681622556579213.post-5454147866216905172010-10-12T12:33:00.000-04:002010-10-12T12:33:05.733-04:00New edition of The House of the Seven Gables<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit_dygX2ZapSVGXR6MvvrV4-fEjkqm8PpFBh0p9e-mLihrfk9pDaB2p-I-89RUMWjuyzgPsLo3QSpANuD0aDiLfUMKelD93cWbvrCEs2U1kWaeoNMuQVBTdWlC8rVQHAd4i3wpjlPuIms/s1600/The+House+of+the+Seven+Gables.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit_dygX2ZapSVGXR6MvvrV4-fEjkqm8PpFBh0p9e-mLihrfk9pDaB2p-I-89RUMWjuyzgPsLo3QSpANuD0aDiLfUMKelD93cWbvrCEs2U1kWaeoNMuQVBTdWlC8rVQHAd4i3wpjlPuIms/s320/The+House+of+the+Seven+Gables.jpeg" width="198" /></a>The recent Signet Classics edition of Nathaniel Hawthorne's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0451531620?ie=UTF8&tag=thenorsholitt-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0451531620">The House of the Seven Gables</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=thenorsholitt-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0451531620" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /> features a new introduction by Marblehead's Katherine Howe, friend of the NSLT and author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1401341330?ie=UTF8&tag=thenorsholitt-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1401341330">The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=thenorsholitt-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1401341330" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />. Not bad double-billing, Kate!<br />
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As she points out, one of Hawthorne's more notable, irascible comments is something he wrote to his publisher in 1855, "America is now wholly given over to a damned mob of scribbling women, and I should have no chance of success while the public taste is occupied with their trash..." Sorry Nate, there's no stopping the scribblers.<br />
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Brenda Wineapple, author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0812972910?ie=UTF8&tag=thenorsholitt-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0812972910">Hawthorne: A Life</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=thenorsholitt-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0812972910" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />, contributes a new afterward as well. (Her more recent book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0307456307?ie=UTF8&tag=thenorsholitt-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0307456307">White Heat: The Friendship of Emily Dickinson and Thomas Wentworth Higginson</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=thenorsholitt-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0307456307" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />, has been on my impossibly long to-read list for the last year.)Ruby Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12494831506769077683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1579681622556579213.post-91454965684501690212010-10-09T18:02:00.001-04:002010-10-09T18:12:40.605-04:00The Great Boston Poetry Marathon: Monday, October 11Long time, no update—yikes! Life and work have veered away from the North Shore and away from the literary world over the past year (among other things, some travel writing and a return to school for Tufts University's museum studies program), but I'm still keeping my eyes open for events that north-of-Boston book lovers might be interested in.<br />
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Fortunately it's not <i>too </i>late to pass along news of the <a href="http://deadpoets.typepad.com/gbpm/">Great Boston Poetry Marathon</a>, organized by Walter Skold of the <a href="http://www.deadpoes.org/">Dead Poet's Society</a>. The day-long event starts on Monday in Gloucester with readings of Vincent Ferrini and Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, just to pick two poets who are featured in The North Shore Literary Trail. Check out the <a href="http://deadpoets.typepad.com/gbpm/sunrise-to-sunset-schedule.html">sunrise-to-sunset schedule here</a> and join them for the long haul, or drop in anywhere along the path from Gloucester to Boston to Concord.<br />
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Here's a great post on <a href="http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/intelligenttravel/2010/10/we-dig-dead-poets.html">National Geographic's Intelligent Traveler blog</a> (nice!) about Dead Poets Remembrance Day (October 7) and some of the events organized around it, including the poetry marathon. The <a href="http://deadpoets.typepad.com/rpgs/2010/09/frost-farm-hosts-1st-dead-poets-remembrance-day.html">events planned at the Robert Frost Farm</a> in Derry, New Hampshire for Sunday, October 10, would be a great field trip from greater Boston.Ruby Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12494831506769077683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1579681622556579213.post-80284846997866611892009-06-25T07:23:00.003-04:002009-06-25T07:56:57.824-04:00William Lloyd Garrison, always getting people in trouble<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.thegrimkesisters.com/sites/lanipeterson.com/files/grimke-ed1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 335px;" src="http://www.thegrimkesisters.com/sites/lanipeterson.com/files/grimke-ed1.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>This Sunday at 5 pm, Susan Lenoe and Lani Petersen from Andover perform "The Grimké Sisters, Turning the World Upside Down" at the Rocky Hill Meeting House on Portsmouth Street in Amesbury <span style="font-size:85%;">(<a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=rocky+hill+meeting+house+amesbury&sll=37.579413,-95.712891&sspn=45.957837,68.291016&ie=UTF8&ll=42.852223,-70.912145&spn=0.005254,0.008336&z=17&iwloc=A">map</a>; a freewill offering to benefit local food pantries will be taken, according to the Newburyport Daily News).</span><br /><br />The sisters, Angelina and Sarah, grew up in a wealthy South Carolina slave-owning family, but fought against it from an early age. Sarah often told the story that she was so upset at age five at seeing a family slave whipped that she tried to run away to a place where slavery didn't exist.<br /><br />From the <a href="http://www.newburyportnews.com/punews/local_story_174231012.html">Newburyport Daily News</a>:<br /><p class="text1"></p><blockquote><p class="text1">Angelina herself was thrust into the spotlight of the abolitionist movement by William Lloyd Garrison who, as publisher of The Liberator in Newburyport, mistakenly published a letter from Angelina that was meant to be private correspondence. </p> <p class="text1">In her letter, she urged the passionate newspaperman Garrison to continue his fight against slavery, stating, "The ground upon which you stand is holy ground. Never, never surrender it ... if you surrender it, the hope of the slave is extinguished."</p> <p class="text1">While the letter resulted in the sisters' being driven from their communities, it also thrust them into the national spotlight, prompting their trip to the North and setting the course of their destinies. </p></blockquote><p class="text1"></p>The two ended up in Massachusetts, with Angelina being the first woman to address the state legislature and skillfully debating slavery supporters in Amesbury.<br /><br />Angelina and Sarah's connection to the NSLT extends beyond Garrison. Their nephew Francis Grimké eventually married Salem's Charlotte Forten, who was the first black woman to teach white children at the integrated Epps Grammar School in the 1860s and who wrote extensively about her experiences teaching the Gullah-speaking children of freed slaves on St. Helena Island, South Carolina.<br /><ul><li>See a <a href="http://www.necn.com/Boston/New-England/Grimke-sisters-antislavery-message-revived-in-Boston/1206408346.html">video of Lenoe and Petersen</a> performing at the State House in 2008</li><li>Read about the Grimké sisters on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grimk%C3%A9_sisters">Wikipedia</a></li><li>Read Sarah Grimké's <a href="http://antislavery.eserver.org/religious/grimkeepistle/">An Epistle to the Clergy of the Southern States</a></li><li><a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0142001031?ie=UTF8&tag=thenorsholitt-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0142001031">Lift Up Thy Voice: The Grimke Family's Journey from Slaveholders to Civil Rights Leaders</a> by Mark Perry<a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0142001031?ie=UTF8&tag=thenorsholitt-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0142001031"><br /></a></li><li>Historian Gerda Lerner has two Kindle books about the Grimké sisters on Amazon <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001H0GBAA?ie=UTF8&tag=thenorsholitt-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B001H0GBAA">The Grimke Sisters from South Carolina: Pioneers for Women's Rights and Abolition</a> and <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000VDK8B2?ie=UTF8&tag=thenorsholitt-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B000VDK8B2">The Feminist Thought of Sarah Grimke</a></li><li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1570035113?ie=UTF8&tag=thenorsholitt-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1570035113">Walking by Faith: The Diary of Angelina Grimke, 1828-1835</a> edited by Charles Wilbanks</li><li>Read John Greenleaf Whittier's "<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=Hy0AAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA50&lpg=PA50&dq=john+greenleaf+whittier+%22pastoral+letter%22&source=bl&ots=ZHMbJk1DN0&sig=dAAKH8JQQo6AX6wfMct196jBIg0&hl=en&ei=QmJDStXQN4WNtgfXwIiYAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4">Pastoral Letter</a>," writen in response to a letter issued by the General Association of Congressional Ministers disapproving of the Grimké's pursuit of "perplexed and agitating subjects." The Association urged member churches not to debate slavery and warned that such inflaming passions threatened "the female character with widespread and permanent injury."<br /></li></ul>Ruby Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12494831506769077683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1579681622556579213.post-36708351954220933842009-06-24T14:34:00.004-04:002009-06-24T15:16:58.312-04:00NSLT links<ul><li>Bonnie Hurd Smith on Salem's many self-guided walking trails, including ones about Nathaniel Bowditch and Nathaniel Hawthorne, as well as women's history and African-American history. Many of these tours are available to download for free from places like the <a href="http://www.nps.gov/sama">Salem Maritime National Historic Site</a>.</li><li><a href="http://www.nsartthrob.com/2009/06/19/charles-olson-at-the-harbor/">North Shore Art Throb</a> posts a review of Ralph Maud’s new biography, Charles Olson at the Harbor.</li><li>The <a href="http://www.ajc.com/services/content/printedition/2008/08/10/lace.html">Boston Globe</a> on the symbiotic marketing of Brunonia Barry's <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0061624764?ie=UTF8&tag=thenorsholitt-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0061624764">The Lace Reader</a> and Salem tourism. (This is from last summer, but just turned up in RSS feeds today and is still an interesting tidbit.)</li></ul>Ruby Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12494831506769077683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1579681622556579213.post-19028853873978106392009-06-24T09:35:00.001-04:002009-06-24T14:33:49.938-04:00The Pioneer in Women's Rights Who Was on the Wrong Side of History<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6Hb7d1WIvFLchbBO9sFgYvNCq2LpFBegpBzcWqo22QfHlvjHvdZbPU1hcAPmvhFfK7mb8nDlEKasDSsywsRO9iq2GZjBoXerD-Z_TBeEDGwBplIQub17QlaDDQDMw8D9xUxN6Py8_Zfw/s1600-h/14629.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 215px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6Hb7d1WIvFLchbBO9sFgYvNCq2LpFBegpBzcWqo22QfHlvjHvdZbPU1hcAPmvhFfK7mb8nDlEKasDSsywsRO9iq2GZjBoXerD-Z_TBeEDGwBplIQub17QlaDDQDMw8D9xUxN6Py8_Zfw/s320/14629.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350599364900293394" border="0" /></a>George Mason University's History News Network has <a href="http://hnn.us/articles/86355.html">an article about Gloucester's Judith Sargent Murray by Sheila Skemp</a>, author of a new biography of the early agitator for women's equality: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0812241401?ie=UTF8&tag=thenorsholitt-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0812241401"><span style="font-style: italic;">First Lady of Letters: Judith Sargent Murray and the Struggle for Female Independence</span>.</a><br /><br />Skemp makes the case that Sargent Murray's class bias is a large part of why she remains less known than someone like Mary Wollstonecraft, whose essay "<a href="http://www.bartelby.com/144/">A Vindication of the Rights of Women</a>" receives more credit as an early feminist text than Murray's own earlier essays in <span style="font-style: italic;">The Gleaner</span>. From Skemp's article:<br /><span class="bodytext"></span><blockquote><span class="bodytext">It is no wonder, then, that virtually every historian familiar with her work sees Murray as a modern woman whose failure to achieve the recognition she deserved can be explained by the “fact” that her view of women’s rights was so far ahead of its time. A careful analysis of Murray’s conception of gender and class, however, reveals that her attitudes rested on a distinctly old fashioned intellectual foundation, and were already becoming obsolete. In some ways, she was not a forward-looking character at all—she was someone whom history would soon pass by. </span></blockquote>Related: Gloucester's <a href="http://sargenthouse.org/">Sargent House Museum</a>Ruby Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12494831506769077683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1579681622556579213.post-32480190436308027292009-06-23T13:41:00.004-04:002009-06-23T13:53:46.481-04:00Whittier events at Amesbury DaysThe 110th annual Amesbury Days celebrations begin tomorrow. The first event is a guided tour of the <a href="http://www.whittierhome.org/">Whittier Home</a>, where the poet lived with his mother, aunt, and sister for much of his adult life.<br /><br />It starts at 2 pm, at <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=86+friend+street+amesbury+ma&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=47.080837,72.685547&ie=UTF8&z=16&iwloc=A">86 Friend Street</a>, and the Amesbury Days kick-off block party starts just a little later at 5:30 at the Huntington Square gazebo (which no one seems to provide an address for, although I'm sure if you're from Amesbury you know it. I think it's on Main Street not far from the Whittier Home.)<br /><br />Wicked Local Amesbury has the <a href="http://www.wickedlocal.com/amesbury/news/business/x1662358299/Amesbury-Days-events-schedule">full schedule of events</a>.<br /><br />Later, on Saturday, June 27 from 2 to 3 pm, the Whittier home hosts one of their monthly teas in the garden. From the Whittier Home website:<br /><span class="event-details-label"></span><span class="event-description"></span><blockquote>Whittier’s love of nature was clearly exhibited in his garden. Today, the descendents of the purple gentian, monarda, and grapevines he wrote about still bloom. <span class="event-description">Enjoy an elegant tea in the beautiful historic gardens of the John Greenleaf Whittier Home in Amesbury, MA. 2p.m. in the garden. 86 Friend St. $15. Purchase tickets online by clicking our <a href="http://whittierhome.org/wordpress/products-page/">Gift Shop link</a> above, or call 978-38-1337 for reservations.</span></blockquote>Ruby Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12494831506769077683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1579681622556579213.post-51383562928532098212009-06-12T09:12:00.000-04:002009-06-12T09:12:00.622-04:00Whittier sites<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqarR-4mb3M9T653rnj7gpATvInY7FapFSyy__tyj9-DyFdtd8fRrJcHRMaQyImrtpKPEVqKT9AhCiXEgRNZ_swo3SKfD28Zf3YZduS9q5GDqRGPcpu3Fjf0C9bA5aBvSgthuOncABhdA/s1600-h/whit-homestead1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqarR-4mb3M9T653rnj7gpATvInY7FapFSyy__tyj9-DyFdtd8fRrJcHRMaQyImrtpKPEVqKT9AhCiXEgRNZ_swo3SKfD28Zf3YZduS9q5GDqRGPcpu3Fjf0C9bA5aBvSgthuOncABhdA/s400/whit-homestead1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5345717574360352354" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWwfU8kDX3ATCQwGbFIuGZAdr0kKddqynVPEufoS4SXiZSf0kFeSZYDoNLGh7g4KWJXVIV6kEUeilEKgDSI5s_-BIxYvOUWnDEA8LMqL4qAFzuOZADWFr1qPD_KBPRdhKbssFLtzJ53_g/s1600-h/whit-homestead2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWwfU8kDX3ATCQwGbFIuGZAdr0kKddqynVPEufoS4SXiZSf0kFeSZYDoNLGh7g4KWJXVIV6kEUeilEKgDSI5s_-BIxYvOUWnDEA8LMqL4qAFzuOZADWFr1qPD_KBPRdhKbssFLtzJ53_g/s400/whit-homestead2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5345717509475591266" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGw6Fmtmkyrs4LStvr8_lidawO4ZUE6nPHhF6P81Nn242MmwLvLajTdYCInAXSgzSl4Ait0IoLNhUjdPg6ixRH-7uw4VRzEdn9WC4jCGRKQfcKN0cOxs2hOW19pIAA9-3eHLjIB6Ow8bg/s1600-h/whit-home1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGw6Fmtmkyrs4LStvr8_lidawO4ZUE6nPHhF6P81Nn242MmwLvLajTdYCInAXSgzSl4Ait0IoLNhUjdPg6ixRH-7uw4VRzEdn9WC4jCGRKQfcKN0cOxs2hOW19pIAA9-3eHLjIB6Ow8bg/s400/whit-home1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5345717443121941394" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcnfSIouNefvTZkmxZUFaYaNn3cOboWX3yEtbzlYzdliFOQrmPD3d5mAWMtxZdAxtjNStKeGRVyD5JT4yLaA3bGUfFky29NeumDZuJPZzXRAvPIvXV00-jVvDID6D3_cyxpDHTqg2qUYg/s1600-h/whitgrave.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcnfSIouNefvTZkmxZUFaYaNn3cOboWX3yEtbzlYzdliFOQrmPD3d5mAWMtxZdAxtjNStKeGRVyD5JT4yLaA3bGUfFky29NeumDZuJPZzXRAvPIvXV00-jVvDID6D3_cyxpDHTqg2qUYg/s400/whitgrave.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5345717389349238002" border="0" /></a>Some of Jeff's photos from our tour of Whittier sites last spring. Pantry and barn at the <a href="http://www.johngreenleafwhittier.com/">Whittier Homestead</a> in Haverhill, the <a href="http://www.essexheritage.org/sites/amesbury_whittier-home.shtml">Whittier Home</a> in Amesbury, and Whittier's gravesite in Amesbury.Ruby Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12494831506769077683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1579681622556579213.post-72529308124743810262009-06-10T10:28:00.007-04:002009-06-10T11:04:04.049-04:00Alan Pearsall book signing<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4sS498OlHOaXjzyoyu_b_eeO_hOEWvQiCia0Rffw1rYwwWp-Elx9fWKomvCsubtdDr34sGX7oBS6YwYDF4KAMOx1uBUXUACKS3mLnoDZE4ZXTXXipxtna1LgC0sKwIU_-5GPGNehqlnE/s1600-h/riverwalkmural.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4sS498OlHOaXjzyoyu_b_eeO_hOEWvQiCia0Rffw1rYwwWp-Elx9fWKomvCsubtdDr34sGX7oBS6YwYDF4KAMOx1uBUXUACKS3mLnoDZE4ZXTXXipxtna1LgC0sKwIU_-5GPGNehqlnE/s400/riverwalkmural.jpg" alt="Photo (c) Jeff Steward" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5345714714461343858" border="0" /></a><br />Artist <a href="http://alanpearsall.com/">Alan Pearsall</a> is signing his recent book <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002BK9D5K?ie=UTF8&tag=thenorsholitt-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B002BK9D5K">American Town: The History of Ipswich, Massachusetts</a> next weekend. It's the companion to his Ipswich history mural on the wall of Ebsco Publishing along the city's <a href="http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=ipswich%20riverwalk&w=all">Riverwalk</a> (which he graciously allowed me to reproduce photos of it in the NSLT) and is chock-full of illustrations and photographs.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">June 14, 2–4 pm<br />Ipswich Historical Society<br /><br />June 19, 3–7 pm<br />First National Bank of Ipswich</div>Ruby Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12494831506769077683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1579681622556579213.post-8408730638616343852009-06-09T19:17:00.004-04:002009-06-09T19:34:05.654-04:00Physick Book out today!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://images.indiebound.com/902/340/9781401340902.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 263px; height: 400px;" src="http://images.indiebound.com/902/340/9781401340902.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>The much hyped, eagerly awaited debut novel by Marblehead's Katherine Howe, <a href="http://www.physickbook.com/">The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane</a>, came out today and shot directly to the top of Barnes & Noble's best-seller list. (Seriously, <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=physick+book+of+deliverance+dane&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a">reviews aplenty</a>. One calls it a cross between Harry Potter and The DaVinci Code, which sounds like a recipe for summer book list domination.)<br /><br />It's known as <span style="font-style: italic;">The Lost Book of Salem</span> overseas... Anyone want to put bets on what the movie will be called, because if the rights aren't sold already they will be by next week.<br /><br />Recent mentions in the <a href="http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2009/06/07/marblehead_messenger/?rss_id=Boston+Globe+--+Book+reviews">Boston Globe</a>, cover of <a href="http://www.indiebound.org/indie-next-list">Indie Bound's Next List</a> for this month, and Kate will be on <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/">Good Morning America</a> tomorrow morning.<br /><br />Catch her first local reading tomorrow at Marblehead's <a href="http://www.abbotlibrary.org/calendar/index.html">Abbott Library</a> at 6:30 pm.<br /><br />Goooooo Kate! Congratulations!Ruby Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12494831506769077683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1579681622556579213.post-45878448635784674842009-06-06T10:40:00.003-04:002009-06-06T10:54:12.053-04:00Today at the North Shore Barnes & NobleYikes! Glad I called ahead to confirm... apparently today's event at Barnes & Noble is a talk and <span style="font-style: italic;">then</span> a signing, not just a signing. So get there at 1 pm for some stories about folks like John Greenleaf Whittier, Jones Very, and Lucy Larcom.<br /><br />Barnes & Noble (<a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&q=210+Andover+St,+Peabody,+Essex,+Massachusetts+01960&sll=37.579413,-95.712891&sspn=37.099797,69.169922&ie=UTF8&cd=1&geocode=FW0wiQId1XjF-w&split=0&ll=42.545745,-70.944557&spn=0.008489,0.016887&z=16&iwloc=A">map</a>)<br />North Shore Mall at the junction of Highways 114 and 128 and adjacent to Shaws Supermarket<br />Saturday, June 6, 1–3 pmRuby Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12494831506769077683noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1579681622556579213.post-13269529830253391692009-06-05T08:45:00.002-04:002009-06-05T08:48:16.323-04:00Uncle Tom's Cabin<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.massmoments.org/moment.cfm?mid=166"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://www.massmoments.org/mo_top/06_05_05title1.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>A nice overview at the always interesting <a href="http://www.massmoments.org/moment.cfm?mid=166">Mass Moments</a> blog.Ruby Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12494831506769077683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1579681622556579213.post-594449194065511492009-06-04T08:08:00.000-04:002009-06-04T08:08:01.186-04:00Catching up with my RSS feeds<ul><li>Forgot to add this to my recent <a href="http://thenorthshoreliterarytrail.blogspot.com/2009/05/north-shore-writers-on-film-sort-of.html">post about literary-themed movies</a>: <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1311071/"><span style="font-style: italic;">Kill Your Darlings</span></a> is about the 1944 murder of <a href="http://www.cosmicbaseball.com/kammerer0.html">David Kammerer</a> by Lucien Carr, which <a href="http://www.firstshowing.net/2009/03/17/jesse-eisenberg-joins-kill-your-darlings-as-allen-ginsberg/">this article</a> says "helped spawn the Beat generation." <a href="http://www.boston.com/ae/celebrity/more_names/blog/2009/04/sixpack_kerouac.html">Chris Evans</a> will star as Lowell native Jack Kerouac. It's set to come out next year.<br /><br /></li><li>Maine senator Olympia Snowe is promoting legislation that could lead to the <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=63+Federal+Street+in+Brunswick,+Maine&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=42.716829,90.615234&ie=UTF8&z=16&iwloc=A">Harriet Beecher Stowe House in Brunswick</a> becoming part of the National Parks system. The house, where Stowe wrote <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0451530802?ie=UTF8&tag=thenorsholitt-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0451530802">Uncle Tom's Cabin</a> just before moving to Andover, is currently on the National Register of Historic Places, but it's owned by Bowdoin College and was a dormitory at least as recently as 2003. (Andover's Stowe house is also a dorm for Phillips Academy.)<br /><br /></li><li><a href="http://www.salemnews.com/puopinion/local_story_131005849.html?keyword=secondarystory">This article</a> traces the origins of the North Shore Children's Hospital. Lydia Pinkham's daughter Aroline Gove was a supporter of what was then called the North Shore Babies' Hospital, as was the Salem journalist Kate Tannant Woods. Gove also founded the Lydia E. Pinkham Memorial Clinic, still in operation as a women's clinic at 250 Derby Street in Salem.<br /><br /></li><li>Happened across D. H. Lawrence's description of Nathaniel Hawthorne as a romanticist, in <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0140183779?ie=UTF8&tag=thenorsholitt-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0140183779">Studies in Classic American Literature</a>: "And what’s a romance? Usually, a nice little tale where you have everything As You Like It, where rain never wets your jacket and gnats never bite your nose and it’s always daisy-time… Hawthorne obviously isn’t this kind of romanticist." (via <a href="http://www.bookslut.com/blog/archives/2009_05.php#014518">Bookslut</a>)<br /><br /></li><li>A sonnet by mystical, Shakespeare-obsessed, "divinely inspired" poet Jones Very: <a href="http://tcminc.blogspot.com/2009/05/to-canary-bird-sonnet-by-jones-very.html">"To the Canary Bird"</a><br /><br /></li><li><a href="http://www.salemnews.com/puopinion/local_story_144233404.html?keyword=secondarystory">A brief round-up of excerpts from sailor's journals</a>, including Salem's Nathaniel Bowditch, whose book <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0939837544?ie=UTF8&tag=thenorsholitt-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0939837544">The American Practical Navigator</a> was written in 1802 and is still standard issue aboard all Naval vessels.<br /><br /></li><li>In his <a href="http://richardhowe.com/2009/05/31/lowell-connections-in-nytimes-book-review-today/">blog about Lowell culture and politics</a>, Richard Howe points to a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/31/books/review/Green-t.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper">NYT review</a> of Elinor Lipman's novel <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0618644660?ie=UTF8&tag=thenorsholitt-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0618644660">The Family Man</a> and mentions that Lipman is a member of the Lowell High School Alumni Hall of Fame.</li></ul>Ruby Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12494831506769077683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1579681622556579213.post-81188145016619556052009-06-03T10:54:00.005-04:002009-06-03T11:10:53.993-04:00poetry tour of Gloucester<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1100/562185344_522a2ad1c4.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 312px; height: 233px;" src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1100/562185344_522a2ad1c4.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Looking for a nearby day-trip itinerary? If you have a web-enabled phone, Carl Carlsen's <a href="http://myweb.northshore.edu/users/ccarlsen/poetry/gloucester/poetrydrive.htm">Poetry of Places in Essex County</a> has a mini tour of some Gloucester sites that have inspired poets past and present. Driving directions <a href="http://myweb.northshore.edu/users/ccarlsen/poetry/gloucester/poetrydrive.htm">here</a>.<br /><br />Poetry of Places in Essex County focuses on the Lynn poets and Gloucester right now, but an update about Nahant—where Longfellow spent many summers with his family—is coming soon.<br /><br />Prof. Carlsen also recommends contemporary Lynn poet <a href="http://www.dianekendig.com/">Diane Kendig</a>'s latest chapbook, <span style="font-style: italic;">The Places We Find Ourselves</span>, to be published by <a href="http://www.finishinglinepress.com/index.htm">Finishing Line</a> in July. Kendig was the North Shore Community College's poet in residence in 2007, and her current volume includes Lynn's Egg Rock as one of its many settings.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">(Photo of Gloucester's Hammond Castle from <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/herzogbr/562185344/in/set-72157600385668460/">herzogbr</a> on Flickr)</span>Ruby Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12494831506769077683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1579681622556579213.post-18543223219973302692009-05-29T08:18:00.000-04:002009-05-29T08:18:00.504-04:00Andre Dubus speaking in LexingtonAccording to Wicked Local Lexington, Andre Dubus III will speak about <span style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0393335305?ie=UTF8&tag=thenorsholitt-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0393335305">The Garden of Last Days</a></span> at <a href="http://www.carylibrary.org/foundation/events.html">Cary Memorial Library</a> on Friday, June 5 from 7 to 9 p.m. Call 781-862-6288 Ext. 324 or e-mail cmlfoundation@carylibrary.org to reserve a seat.<br /><br />Newsweek has <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/id/195040">an excerpt</a> from the book.<br /><div id="storyBody"><p></p></div>Ruby Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12494831506769077683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1579681622556579213.post-87607736573666975342009-05-27T16:16:00.003-04:002009-06-03T16:23:15.183-04:00Whittier's "In School Days" readingFrom the Eagle-Tribune:<br /><blockquote><div id="storybody"> <p class="nostyle">HAVERHILL — The most romantic poem by John Greenleaf Whittier will be recited by a complete school class tomorrow at 10 a.m. in a cemetery over a grave.</p> <p class="text1">The poem, "<a href="http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/in-school-days/">In School Days</a>," tells of a spelling bee in which a girl outspells the boy she loves and tells him about her feelings at the end of the day.</p> <p class="text1">The fifth-grade class of teacher Renee Murphy of Bradford Elementary School has memorized the poem and will recite it in unison in the Walnut Cemetery at the grave of Lydia Ayer, the neighbor girl accepted as the heroine of the poem, with Whittier as the boy.</p> <p class="text1">In previous years the poem was recited at the grave on Valentine's Day, usually in cold weather. Augustus Reusch, who retired as a teacher at the Bradford school and is now curator at <a href="http://www.johngreenleafwhittier.com/">the birthplace</a>, was instrumental in promoting the poem and assisting with the trip to the grave.</p> <p class="text1">The public will be welcome at the recitation of the poem.</p> </div></blockquote>Ruby Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12494831506769077683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1579681622556579213.post-15813766760754986062009-05-23T09:43:00.002-04:002009-05-23T09:55:44.706-04:00New England literary road tripThe blog <a href="http://www.examiner.com/x-4715-North-American-Travel-Examiner%7Ey2009m5d22-A-road-trip-through-literary-New-England">North American Travel Examiner</a> has mapped out an itinerary that connects major literary sites from Twain's Hartford to Frost's farm in Derry, NH. It hits only the highlights and biggest literary names, but looks like a great place to start planning a literary road trip on a long weekend.<br /><br /><iframe marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=104426292669255011860.00046a62896fd9cb585a4&source=embed&ll=42.350973,-72.046994&spn=1.420875,2.334595&output=embed" frameborder="0" height="350" scrolling="no" width="425"></iframe><br /><small>View <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=104426292669255011860.00046a62896fd9cb585a4&source=embed&ll=42.350973,-72.046994&spn=1.420875,2.334595" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255); text-align: left;">Literary New England road trip</a> in a larger map</small>Ruby Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12494831506769077683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1579681622556579213.post-69394847063975184452009-05-22T08:26:00.004-04:002009-05-22T08:54:48.619-04:00North Shore writers on film, sort ofI posted <a href="http://thenorthshoreliterarytrail.blogspot.com/2009/03/march-8-is-john-updike-day.html">a while ago</a> that ABC is adapting John Updike's Witches of Eastwick as a TV series.<br /><br />Earlier this spring news was released that Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter is being adapted into a teen comedy called <span style="font-style: italic;">Easy A</span> starring Emma Stone as a<br /><blockquote>high school student who pretends to be the school slut, hoping to benefit from the publicity. Which is sort of, but actually not really at all, like the ordeal endured by Hawthorne’s heroine, Nester Prynne. (<a href="http://www.empireonline.com/news/feed.asp?NID=24491">Empire Movie News</a>; Nester is their typo, or maybe the artistic license of the screenwriters?)<br /></blockquote>Sounds terrible, but other literary classics have inspired a few good movies in that genre, if you're the kind of person who thinks any teen movie could be good. <span style="font-style: italic;">Clueless</span> drew on Austen's Emma, <span style="font-style: italic;">Ten Things I Hate about You</span> was a re-working of Taming of the Shrew, and <span style="font-style: italic;">She's All That</span> was based on Pygmalion. So who knows? <span style="font-style: italic;">Easy A</span> is shooting now.<br /><br />This morning I caught a story about summer movies, and one called <span style="font-style: italic;">Fireflies in the Garden</span> starring Julia Roberts and Willem Dafoe, named after the Robert Frost poem. Some articles describe the movie, about a dysfunctional family dealing with unexpected tragedy, as being based on or an adaptation of the poem. The <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0961108/">Internet Movie Database</a> even gives Frost a writing credit. Here's the 1928 poem in its entirety. <span class="h1 small"><br /></span><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em;"></div><blockquote><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em;">Here come real stars to fill the upper skies, </div> <div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em;">And here on earth come emulating flies, </div> <div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em;">That though they never equal stars in size, </div> <div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em;">(And they were never really stars at heart) </div> <div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em;">Achieve at times a very star-like start. </div> <div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em;">Only, of course, they can't sustain the part.</div></blockquote><div style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em;"></div>Hard to hang a 2-hour film on that, but it's an evocative jumping-off point. <span style="font-style: italic;">Fireflies in the Garden</span> is scheduled to be released in the U.S. on June 26.Ruby Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12494831506769077683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1579681622556579213.post-57674073029457167922009-05-21T12:00:00.002-04:002009-05-21T12:38:23.957-04:00Andover Bookstore tonight and a review in the Gloucester Daily TimesLast night's talk at Cornerstone in Salem went well—thanks to everyone who came out. Lots of good questions and ideas to add to my "updates for the next edition" list.<br /><br />Tonight I'll be at the <a href="http://www.andoverbookstore.com/Events.html#Bierfelt">Andover Bookstore at 7 pm</a>. I'm brushing up on my dates and timeline for Harriet Beecher Stowe and the Elizabeth Stuart Phelpses, all of whom lived within walking distance of where the bookshop is now.<br /><br />And, there's also <a href="http://www.gloucestertimes.com/pulife/local_story_140225849.html?keyword=secondarystory">a review in today's Gloucester Daily Times</a>. It points out that I overlooked T. S. Eliot, who spent summers in Gloucester and wrote about it in his <span style="font-style: italic;">Four Quartets</span>. I've been meaning to write a post about Eliot and a few other "missed" authors here. He, like Sylvia Plath, spent time on the North Shore and included some landmarks in their work. (In <span style="font-style: italic;">The Bell Jar</span>, Esther swims out to Lynn's Egg Rock in one scene.)<br /><br />I have no bulletproof logic for why someone like Lydia Pinkham—a patent medicine marketer—made it into the book and some of our country's most prominent poets didn't; just that I was looking for more of the lesser known, people who deserve to be rediscovered, people for whom buildings and streets are named but whose contributions are forgotten, and quite simply, stories that piqued my interest.<br /><br />There's a lot that can be added to my literary trail, and the more I dig into the each of these authors and their towns the more little tidbits I uncover. If only books didn't have drop-dead printing dates!Ruby Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12494831506769077683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1579681622556579213.post-68360108813126651572009-05-19T14:31:00.001-04:002009-05-19T14:37:38.096-04:00Tomorrow: Cornerstone Books in Salem<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXryTUe7Y2qikFfSVB0SdUk-8fSNxoIE2OqlonnSiOjD01-obJLQaEohzl4MRgTzX9WiLbq9I-nRe3GQBthQ1riYQhLsNPn8oHdRwy_PesIT-UcWYhuYhbH2ymZHNVYf_3lhq7GSOJY0E/s1600-h/.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXryTUe7Y2qikFfSVB0SdUk-8fSNxoIE2OqlonnSiOjD01-obJLQaEohzl4MRgTzX9WiLbq9I-nRe3GQBthQ1riYQhLsNPn8oHdRwy_PesIT-UcWYhuYhbH2ymZHNVYf_3lhq7GSOJY0E/s400/.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5337605848158414210" border="0" /></a><br />See you in Salem tomorrow? Details <a href="http://www.cornerstonebooks-salem.com/">here</a>.Ruby Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12494831506769077683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1579681622556579213.post-43125400123352873572009-05-08T10:15:00.003-04:002009-05-08T10:23:09.458-04:00Rebecca and Ed Emberley<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/articles/images/SLJ/20090501/slj0905_UndCov_Emberleys.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 180px;" src="http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/articles/images/SLJ/20090501/slj0905_UndCov_Emberleys.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">School Library Journal</span> has <a href="http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6654576.html?industryid=47052">a cute interview</a> with father-and-daughter illustrators and children's book authors Ed (an Ipswich native) and Rebecca Emberley (now living in Maine) about their latest book, and first collaboration, <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1596434643?ie=UTF8&tag=thenorsholitt-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1596434643">Chicken Little</a>.Ruby Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12494831506769077683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1579681622556579213.post-57643305750372404022009-04-30T10:23:00.000-04:002009-05-08T10:25:31.963-04:00Burton and Sargent events on May 1From the Gloucester Daily Times<blockquote><p style="font-weight: bold;" class="text1_r_Bullet">Celebrating Burton</p><p class="text1_r_Bullet">The Cape Ann Museum will present "The Art and Legacy of Virginia Lee Burton," a lecture by Elleman, this Saturday at 3 p.m. Elleman will talk about the artistry and power of Burton's illustrations, looking at specific images that demonstrate why her books were so popular when they were published and why they continue to be acclaimed today. She will also draw parallels between Burton's picture books and her Folly Cove Designs. Elleman is a writer, critic, educator and editor.</p> <span class="storysplitter"></span> <p class="text1_r">A published author, Elleman wrote "Tomie dePaola, His Art and His Stories" (Putnam, 1999); "Holiday House: Its First 65 Years" (Holiday House, 2000); and "Virginia Lee Burton: A Life in Art" (Houghton, 2002).</p> <p class="text1_r">Admission is free for museum members and $10 for non-members. Please call 978-283-0455, x11 to make a reservation. The museum, 27 Pleasant St. in Gloucester, offers free admission on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to noon through the end of May. For details, call 978-283-0455.</p><p style="font-weight: bold;" class="headBriefs">Sargent Museum to host birthday party </p> <p class="text1_r">The Sargent House Museum will host an evening birthday celebration tomorrow at 7 for Judith Sargent Murray, a Gloucester native and 18th century writer and early advocate of women's equality. Murray, born in 1751, would be 258 years old if she were alive today. The celebration will feature a keynote address by Roz Barnett, an author and researcher on women's work and family lives. There will be a cake and champagne celebration and a short dramatic reading of a selection from Murray's life-long collection of letters. Gloucester Mayor Carolyn Kirk recently declared May 1, 2009, "Judith Sargent Murray Day" in honor of this pioneering American woman writer and thinker.</p> <p class="text1_r">Call (978)281-2432 for information or tickets.</p> <p class="text1_r">On Saturday, the museum will offer free admission to visitors who bring birthday cards for Judith Sargent Murray. The organizers encourage families to bring daughters and others to the museum to help celebrate Sargent Murray's birthday. </p> <p class="text1_r">Barnett is a senior scientist at the Women's Studies Research Center at Brandeis University and executive director of its Community, Families & Work Program. </p> <p class="text1_r">The Rev. Sarah Clark, a Unitarian Universalist minister and Rockport native who has an extensive background in theater arts, will present the dramatic reading of Sargent Murray's letters in the museum. </p></blockquote>Ruby Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12494831506769077683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1579681622556579213.post-8002219608706149462009-04-28T09:36:00.001-04:002009-04-28T09:36:00.832-04:00Bonnie Hurd Smith on Judith Sargent Murray<a href="http://www.manchesterpl.org/">Manchester Public Library</a><br />Friday, May 1, 11 am<br /><blockquote><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9a/Judith_Sargent_Murray.png/180px-Judith_Sargent_Murray.png"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 180px; height: 237px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9a/Judith_Sargent_Murray.png/180px-Judith_Sargent_Murray.png" alt="" border="0" /></a>Local author Bonnie Hurd Smith will discuss her book “Judith Sargent and John Murray, an Eighteenth-century Love Story,” which chronicles the poignant love story between Judith Sargent Stevens Murray, America’s most prominent female essayist of the 18th century, and the Rev. John Murray, the founder of organized Universalism in America, told through Judith Sargent Murray’s private letters, many never before published.</blockquote><br />I worked with Bonnie a few years ago when she organized and wrote much of the content for the <a href="http://www.escapesnorth.com">Escapes North</a> site, part of which is what morphed into the Literary Trail. She's been researching Judith Sargent Murray for years and transcribing her copious journals. This should be an interesting talk, and you can say you knew all about the Murray's love story before Hollywood options the movie rights.Ruby Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12494831506769077683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1579681622556579213.post-24874840002942006382009-04-24T22:55:00.003-04:002009-04-24T23:19:35.273-04:00Newburyport Literary Festival—tomorrow!Thursday's event at the Spirit of '76 was just lovely. Turns out I wasn't speaking, but was just there to meet and say hi to the throngs of people who came in to buy the book—all six of them, including one who I didn't already know. No one is busting down doors to meet lil' ol' me yet, but I was pleased.<br /><br />But, TOMORROW, I'm speaking at the Book Rack in Newburyport at 10 am as part of the <a href="http://www.newburyportliteraryfestival.org/">Newburyport Literary Festival</a>.<br /><br />Also looking forward to <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1596294817?ie=UTF8&tag=thenorsholitt-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1596294817">Bethany Groff</a> and Beth Welch's talk about Newbury/Newburyport history (1 pm, Old South Church) and Eve Laplante reading from <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060859601?ie=UTF8&tag=thenorsholitt-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0060859601">Salem Witch Judge: The Life and Repentance of Samuel Sewall</a></i> (2:30 pm, Jabberwocky)<i>.<br /></i>Ruby Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12494831506769077683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1579681622556579213.post-77735694432011969652009-04-24T09:37:00.001-04:002009-04-24T23:30:51.782-04:00Jones Very, the band<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQZ-dP6pCCg7F_MW850Eyxj-AXNQxR7c6_l3ldQ7S8md2kMZa7sBZ7dik6Gpcwo1aa4pf59y3xT-GCmj8NEgy8wZ1pjFPB2E7_DyskhEfitNjB1a2h-Pn_opr0w4VLPWhcOr1OpoR9l9k/s1600-h/JONES+VERY+-+words+and+days_001.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 260px; height: 248px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQZ-dP6pCCg7F_MW850Eyxj-AXNQxR7c6_l3ldQ7S8md2kMZa7sBZ7dik6Gpcwo1aa4pf59y3xT-GCmj8NEgy8wZ1pjFPB2E7_DyskhEfitNjB1a2h-Pn_opr0w4VLPWhcOr1OpoR9l9k/s320/JONES+VERY+-+words+and+days_001.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327680927603263458" border="0" /></a>This is really a post about punk rock, but did you know that after Articles of Faith broke up, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vic_Bondi">Vic Bondi</a> taught history at UMass and had a band called <a href="http://shallbejudged.blogspot.com/2007/05/jones-very-words-and-days-lp-hawker.html">Jones Very</a>, after the mystic poet from Salem who thought he was the second coming of Christ?<br /><br />Jones Very the political punk band released some records on Hawker/Roadrunner and Jade Tree (same <a href="http://www.jadetree.com/home">Jade Tree</a> as Jets to Brazil and Joan of Arc and all that Tim Kinsella stuff). You can get the Words and Days LP from <a href="http://www.swapthing.com/product/itemView/107367">this guy</a> for $6. <a href="http://shallbejudged.blogspot.com/2007/05/jones-very-words-and-days-lp-hawker.html">This blogger</a> (who is almost incomprehensible even though I recognize the proper nouns in the post) says it has:<br /><blockquote>a lot of late Hüsker Dü and Mission Of Burma influences. The calmer songs really anticipate a style that will become famous for Sub Pop, Chicago bands, Caulfield etc.</blockquote>Huh! Sounds good to me.<br /><br />We just tracked down the grave of the 19th-century <a href="http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/transcendentalism/authors/very/">Jones Very</a> in Peabody a couple of weekends ago. Some photos from that outing coming soon.Ruby Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12494831506769077683noreply@blogger.com0