Calendar

Barbara Diamond Goldin will read from her brand new book, The Passover Cowboy; discuss her inspiration for this unique picture book; and answer questions from the audience. Copies of The Passover Cowboy will be available for sale, with a book signing to follow. Light refreshments will be served, and all ages are welcome!

This is a drop-in slide show, presented by local author and illustrator Blanche Cybele Derby. Blanche will talk about how some common, early spring weeds can be used as food. You’ll discover how to identify and use often overlooked plants for delicious additions to your meal.
Blanche Cybele Derby is author and illustrator of My Favorite Plants, My Wild Friends (out of print) and More My Wild Friends, and creator of the film trilogy Edible Plants: Wild and Tame (Spring, Summer, and Fall). She has led numerous walks, lectured extensively and regularly includes wild plants in her meal.

Check out her website to learn more!

David Daley, former Editor-in-Chief of Salon, joins the library on June 14th to talk about his book, Rat F**ked: Why Your Vote Doesn’t Count. With much political and judicial debate around gerrymandering in today’s news cycle, we are thrilled to have the man who wrote the book uncovering the GOP-organized REDMAP program to reshape districts and legislatures in favor of Republican interests. Copies of Daley’s book are available at the library for checkout. Daley will be talking about his book with local author Seth Harwood, answering your questions, and signing books. Join us for tea and coffee to follow.

It’s Book Fest at the Library!
Enjoy breakfast treats with local author Daisy Rolland as she reads her picture book How to Enjoy Sweetland: Your Essential Guide to Sweets. Dropin. All ages welcome. Easthampton Book Fest is presented by Easthampton City Arts.

Join us for this special event — A Meat for Tea author reading with Andrew Varnon! Andrew will read his essay “The Other Side of the Net”. This event is drop-in. 

In “The Other Side of the Net,” writer Andrew Varnon imagines playing tennis with the ghost of David Foster Wallace, the author of the monumental novel Infinite Jest. Wallace committed suicide in 2008, but has a devoted following of readers and fans. In his essay, Varnon describes how he came to read Wallace’s novel Infinite Jest through his interest in tennis. The novel is partially set at the fictional Enfield Tennis Academy in Massachusetts. In the tennis community, Wallace is also known for his essay on tennis icon Roger Federer, “Both Flesh and Not,” and is widely credited with the appellation for tennis as “chess on the run.” In his essay, Varnon engages Wallace’s writing style – complete with end notes – and explores the idea of how the activity of reading and writing is, in fact, like playing tennis.

Writer and teacher Andrew Varnon lives in Greenfield with his wife and family. He is the boys tennis coach at Greenfield High School and an active recreational tennis player. He is also a journalist and an award-winning poet. “The Other Side of the Net” was originally published online at The Smart Set (www.thesmartset.com/the-other-side-of-the-net/) and was republished locally in Meat for Tea. Varnon presented a portion of his essay to the David Foster Wallace Conference in Normal, Illinois, this June.

Author and artist Grace Desmarais is back! Grace will give background on her medical experience and then discuss her comic Spoons: a dairy on chronic illness, Tubes: diaries from the hospital and her up-coming book Healing Year. She will then hold a Q&A. At the end, attendees will have an opportunity to buy her mini comics and have them signed.

Artist Bio: 
Grace Desmarais is a French-Canadian illustrator and cartoonist. She currently lives in Eastern Massachusetts and spends most of her time drawing.

Grace Desmarais primarily self-publishes auto-bio comic while also being involved in a variety of anthologies. Most of Grace’s work is rooted in subjects like art history, dis/ability and personal experience. Her long-term goal is to be a published author/illustrator with a committed comics publisher.

In the presentation of her book Freedom From Psychiatric Drugs, Chaya will discuss her work consulting with people coming off psychiatric drugs, what helps them the most, and her other experience working with people in withdrawal from psych meds. She will share wisdom gained from 15 years of professional experience working non-medically with people seeking a variety of alternatives to the mainstream psychiatric paradigm. She will also share from her personal experience of having withdrawn from psychiatric meds herself. There will be time for Q and A so bring your questions.

Author Bio: Chaya Grossberg has been sharing her psychiatric survivor and trauma story publicly for over 15 years and is an advocate and consultant to those coming off psychiatric drugs and/or seeking alternative approaches to distress. She has written a book about her work called “Freedom From Psychiatric Drugs” and has worked professionally with people seeking alternatives to the mainstream psychiatric narrative as a teacher, facilitator, program coordinator, and consultant to individuals and families. She has coordinated open mic speak out style events for psychiatric survivors to share their stories in poetry, speech and performance. She has led many writing groups and support groups as well as taught yoga and meditation for psychiatric and trauma survivors

Inaugural Easthampton Poet Laureate Gary Metras will be reading a selection from his three most recent books: White Storm, Captive in the Here, and River Voice.

Gary Metras’s new books of poetry are River Voice (Adastra Press, 2019), Captive in the Here (Cervena Barva Press 2018), and White Storm (Presa Press 2018), short-listed for the Mass. Poetry Book of the Year by the Mass. Center for the Book. The author of seventeen previous collections of poetry, his poems have appeared in over 250 journals, including America, The Common, Poetry, Poetry East, and Poetry Salzburg Review. He lives in Easthampton, Massachusetts, where he was inducted as the city’s inaugural Poet Laureate in April 2018. He is past president of the Pioneer Valley Chapter of Trout Unlimited, the national cold river conservation non-profit. A retired educator, he fly fishes the rivers of western Mass. as often as possible.