Join us as we welcome author Tim Spofford for a conversation about his new book What The Children Told Us. Tim will discuss the lives and work of Drs. Kenneth and Mamie Phipps Clark, including Clark/Phipps genealogy (guided by vintage family photos), the Doctors’ famous Doll Test, and their roles as Black activists, humanitarians and intellectualists in Springfield, MA and nationally.
This event is drop-in and masks will be required.
Author Bio:
Tim Spofford’s writing career was inspired by the May 1970 slayings on the Kent and Jackson State campuses amid antiwar unrest. He wrote Lynch Street, the only book about the black students slain in Mississippi. A writing career focused on racial issues in education followed the completion of his first book.
For seven years, Spofford covered educational policymaking for the Albany Times Union, including at the NYS Education Department, the NYS Legislature and the 64-campus State University of New York system. He often interviewed Kenneth Clark, a policymaker on the NYS Board of Regents.
Spofford has taught writing and journalism in schools and colleges and has a Doctor of Arts in English degree from the State University at Albany. He’s published articles in the New York Times, Newsday, Mother Jones, Columbia Journalism Review and other publications. He also worked as a copy editor, most recently at the St. Petersburg Times in Florida, where he coached young editors. Spofford is an avid but unaccomplished hiker, swimmer and landscaper. He lives with his wife, Barbara, in St. Petersburg, Florida, and Lee, Massachusetts.
Join the Library and Meat for Tea in welcoming local authors Jane Yolen and Peter Tacy! Jane and Peter will read selections from “The Black Dog Poems” (pub. 2022), and other works, including pairs of poems written by them that they call “back and forth poetry”. Masks are required at this in-person program.
Author Bios:
Jane Yolen is best known as the author of many best-selling and award-winning children’s books. However, among her 400 published books are 14 books of adult poetry — many of which have recently won awards, including the Sophie Brody Medal and the Sydney Taylor Body of Work Award. Her husband Peter Tacy is a retired independent-school educator. He and Jane first met through their shared interest in poetry during the 1950’s, when they were at Smith and Williams Colleges; but then they went separate ways and into separate marriages — until, both widowed, they re-connected and began writing with and to each other in 2019. They divide their time between Jane’s home in Hatfield and Peter’s in Mystic, CT.
Join Jim Armenti (poet) and Dave Madeloni (photographer) in support of Sun On The Muddy a book of poetry and fantastic photos published by Levellers Press of Amherst, for a short presentation, poetry reading, a few songs and conversation. Books will be available for purchase.
Jim Armenti is a poet, musician, and composer. In Sun on the Muddy he gives us fifty irresistible reflections on the people and objects that make a life. He was born in Ann Arbor, MI, the third-generation product of Italian immigrants. Jim grew up in a household of musicians, his father a classical mandolin player, one sister (of three) a guitar player, another a flute player and everyone a singer. In high school Jim started a band called H&WA, named after the school counselor’s report that Jim is “happy and well-adjusted.”
Jim performs with the legendary band, The Lonesome Brothers. He tours internationally with The Young at Heart Chorus, and he constantly writes poetry.
Dave Madeloni is a photographer, educator, and journalist. Early on, his parents strongly encouraged his curiosity and creativity. He immersed himself in the lyrics of great songwriters while capturing images of performers, protesters, and most recently, puddles. For the last forty years, he has also taught and supported young people with social/emotional disabilities, inspiring their curiosity and creativity. In Sun on the Muddy, Dave explores in photos the beauty and meaning found all around us, but not where we ordinarily look.
Join us for this special event — A Meat for Tea author reading with Christian Livermore! Christian will read from her debut novel, The Very Special Dead, a spellbinding blend of fable and realism that examines lost love and the ruins of the American Dream. Copies of The Very Special Dead will be available for purchase.
Christian Livermore is a novelist, essayist and short story writer. Christian’s stories and essays have appeared in anthologies and literary journals including Longreads, Santa Fe Writers Project, Salt Hill Journal, The Texas Review, Meat for Tea, and Witch-Pricker. Her memoir in essays, We Are Not Okay, is out now. She has a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of St Andrews with an academic focus on medieval English literature and has taught creative writing at Newcastle University and medieval literature at the University of St Andrews. Learn more at christianlivermore.com