Cambridge Common Writers

Emerson YA Author Alumni Panel
2021-11-17 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Online Zoom Event
Come out to this young adult author alumni panel on Wednesday 11/17 at 7pm on Zoom! Hear from Amy Tintera (All These Monsters & All These Warriors), Margot Wood (Fresh), Maurene Goo (Somewhere Only We Know & The Way You Make Me Feel), and Katie Cotugno (Fiction, June 2015) (You Say It First & Rules for Being a Girl) about their books, their Emerson experience, and their thoughts on the world of YA publishing.

Sewanee Reading Series with Kristina Gorcheva-Newberry, Clifford Garstang, Karin Cecile Davidson, and Mashuq Mushtaq Deen
2021-11-18 20:00 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | Online Event
Registration for the virtual SWC Reading Series is free, and they’ll raffle books at all readings.

Karin Cecile Davidson (Fiction, June 2009) is the author of the novel Sybelia Drive. Her stories have appeared in Five Points, Story, The Massachusetts Review, Colorado Review, Passages North, Post Road, The Los Angeles Review, and elsewhere. Her awards include an Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award, the Waasmode Prize, the Orlando Prize, and residencies at the Fine Arts Work Center, Atlantic Center for the Arts, and the Studios of Key West. Independent bookstore link: Pagination Bookshop.

Tufts English Department Creative Writing Showcase
2021-12-01 18:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | Tufts University, 419 Boston Ave, Medford, Massachusetts, 02155, United States
A reading from recent books by faculty and staff, followed by an audience Q&A. Featuring Poetry alum Jennifer LeBlanc (June 2012). This event will follow Tufts’ COVID protocols. Please complete the health survey and wear a mask. The event will be held in the Sophia Gordon Hall, Room 100.

Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival: Short Fiction Story Awards Ceremony
2021-12-04 18:30 - 19:30 (America/New_York) | Facebook Live
Hosted by fiction alum Celeste Mohammed (June 2016) and featuring remarks by Dr. Elizabeth Nunez, the Short Fiction Story Awards Ceremony will celebrate the work of Patrice Grell-Yursik and Akhim Alexis.

Streaming live from the BCLF Facebook page.

Lily Poetry Salon Celebrates Jon D. Lee & Michael Mercurio
2021-12-05 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Online Event
Join the Lily Poetry Salon as they celebrate Jon D Lee’s (Poetry, January 2017) In/Desiderato.

Jon D. Lee is the author of four books, including IN/DESIDERATO and An Epidemic of Rumors: How Stories Shape Our Perceptions of Disease. His poems and essays have appeared or are forthcoming in The Atlantic, Sugar House Review, Sierra Nevada Review, The Writer’s Chronicle, One, Lily Poetry Review, The Laurel Review, and The Inflectionist Review. He has an MFA in Poetry from Lesley University and a Ph.D. in Folklore. Lee teaches at Suffolk University, where he also serves as a senior poetry reader for Salamander.

Also joining will be fellow poetry alum Michael Mercurio (January 2017). Michael Mercurio’s poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Sierra (the magazine of the Sierra Club), The Inflectionist Review, Lily Poetry Review, THRUSH, Palette Poetry, Bear Review, Cider Press Review, Sugar House Review, Rust + Moth, and elsewhere. His poem “Mercy in a Cold April” was included in the anthology Voices Amidst the Virus and was adapted into a short film by filmmaker Michael Rautio. Michael lives and writes in Western Massachusetts, where he teaches occasional workshops for Writers in Progress and serves on the steering committee for the Tell It Slant Poetry Festival, held each September at Emily Dickinson’s house. In addition, Michael is Director of Community Engagement for the Faraday Publishing Company, a non-profit press dedicated to amplifying the voices of marginalized and underrepresented writers. A graduate of the Lesley University low-residency MFA in creative writing, Michael is also executive director of Cambridge Common Writers, an association for alumni, faculty, and friends of the Lesley MFA program. Michael also curates What The Universe Is: A Reading Series, with a Zoom reading held each month. Find out more about him at poetmercurio.com.

Creative Writing Minor Speaker Series: Enzo Silon Surin & Cheryl Clark Vermeulen
2021-12-06 18:30 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Online Zoom Event
The final reading in the Creative Writing Minor Speaker Series. A reading & conversation about first books, literary friendships, and interdisciplinary arts.

Enzo Silon Surin (Poetry, 2012), Haitian-born poet, educator, speaker, publisher and social advocate, is the author of When My Body Was A Clinched Fist (Black Lawrence Press, July 2020) and two chapbooks, A Letter of Resignation: An American Libretto (2017) and Higher Ground. He is a PEN New England Celebrated New Voice in Poetry, the recipient of a Brother Thomas Fellowship from The Boston Foundation and a 2020 Denis Diderot [A-i-R] Grant as an Artist-in-Residence at Chateau d’Orquevaux in Orquevaux, France. Surin’s work gives voice to experiences that take place in what he calls “broken spaces” and his poems have been featured in numerous publications and exhibits. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Lesley University, teaches creative writing and literature at Bunker Hill Community College and is President and Director of Faraday Publishing.

Cheryl Clark Vermeulen is author of the book They Can Take It Out (this reading is a part of the launch for the book due out in November by The Word Works, 2021) and the chapbooks Dead-Eye Spring and This Paper Lantern. Her poems, translations, and poetry reviews have appeared in Caketrain, The Drunken Boat, Jubilat, Tarpaulin Sky, Third Coast, Two Lines, Interim, DIAGRAM, EOAGH, among others, and the anthology Connecting Lines: New Poetry from Mexico. She received an M.F.A. from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Beyond teaching at MassArt, she is Poetry Editor at Pangyrus. She lives in Jamaica Plain with her family.

Dr. Lisa Gruenberg discusses her memoir My City of Dreams with Laurel Braitman
2021-12-07 10:00 - 11:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Online Event
Join author Dr. Lisa Gruenberg (Nonfiction, June 2007) for a virtual reading and discussion of her second-generation Holocaust memoir, My City of Dreams. This event, hosted by the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics and their Medicine and the Muse Program, will be moderated by Laurel Braitman, the program’s Director of Writing and Storytelling and author of the New York Times bestseller, Animal Madness.

In My City of Dreams, Gruenberg, confronted with her elderly father’s flashbacks and nightmares, begins to inhabit the story of his sister Mia, who disappeared into Germany in 1941 when she was just fifteen years old. After her father’s death in 2005, Gruenberg traveled to Vienna, Germany and back to her childhood to explore this lost landscape, and to trace the fates of Mia, their extended family, friends and neighbors. Using letters, old photographs, primary source documents and her father’s writing, she weaves her story with theirs.

Jane Brox (Nonfiction, MFA Writing Faculty), author of Brilliant and Silence writes: “Gruenberg’s search for coherence becomes a journey of both discovery and imagination, and ultimately brings her to an understanding that proves also to be a form of healing.” My City of Dreams is a gift – an honest and thoughtful book, beautifully written and full of compassion.

Learn more about My City of Dreams here: lisagruenberg.com

Holiday Book Signing of The Barn with Leah H. Rogers
2021-12-11 14:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York) | Canio’s Books, 290 Main Street, Sag Harbor, New York, 11963, United States
Holiday book signing with children’s book author Leah H. Rogers (WFYP, January 2017). Copies of her new book, The Barn, illustrated by Barry Root will be on hand. This charming, heart warming book is a winner for children who love animals.

Reading & Book Launch for "The Elixir of Denial" with E. Christopher Clark
2021-12-21 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Facebook Live
Join author E. Christopher Clark for a reading and book launch event for The Elixir of Denial, the fourth book in his Stains of Time Series. Bring your Q’s and Chris will bring his A’s.

Julie Schlack Launch, in Conversation With Jim Glickman
2022-01-05 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Online Zoom Event
Join Belmont Books for the virtual launch of Julie Schlack’s (Nonfiction, June 2013) new book, Burning and Dodging, which she will be discussing with author James Glickman.

Julie Wittes Schlack writes and teaches both fiction and creative nonfiction. Her cultural memoir, This All-at-Onceness, was named by Kirkus Reviews as one of the best Indie Nonfiction Books of 2019, and her novel, Burning and Dodging, was just released in late December of 2021. Her essays and stories have appeared in numerous literary journals, including Pangyrus, Shenandoah, The Writer’s Chronicle, Ninth Letter, Eleven Eleven, and The Tampa Review. She received a Hopwood Award for Fiction, and her essays have been finalists for the Annie Dillard Nonfiction Award and the Clarissa Dalloway Nonfiction Award. She is a regular contributor to NPR station WBUR’s journal of ideas and opinions, Cognoscenti. You can read some of Julie’s work at www.juliewittesschlack.com.

Lesley MFA Winter Reading Series -- David Elliott & Kyoko Mori
2022-01-07 17:00 - 18:00 (America/New_York) | Online Zoom Event
Join David Elliott (WFYP, MFA Writing Faculty) and Kyoko Mori (Nonfiction, MFA Writing Faculty) as they read from their work. Registration is free and open to the public.

Lesley MFA Winter Reading Series -- Kyle Lukoff
2022-01-08 18:00 - 19:30 (America/New_York) | Online Zoom Event
Lesley University’s All Lesley Reads Visiting Writer for the January 2022 residency will be Kyle Lukoff, author of the National Book Award finalist middle grade novel, Too Bright to See, the Stonewall-award winning picture book, When Aidan Became A Brother, Explosion at the Poem Factory, and many more.

While becoming a writer Kyle worked as a bookseller for 10 years, and then nine more years as a school librarian. He lives in New York City, and “hopes you’re having a nice day.”

Registration is free and open to the public.

Lesley MFA Winter Reading Series — Andrea Wang
2022-01-09 11:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | Online Zoom Event
Picture book writing seminar with Andrea Wang (WFYP, June 2011). Registration is free and open to the public.

Lesley MFA Winter Reading Series — Adrian Matejka & Grace Talusan
2022-01-09 18:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | Online Zoom Event
Join Adrian Matejka (Poetry, MFA Writing Faculty) and Grace Talusan, Visiting Nonfiction Author, as they read from their work. Registration is free and open to the public.

Solstice January 2022 Guest Faculty Reading
2022-01-09 19:30 - 20:30 (America/New_York) | Online Zoom Event
Hear a sampling of three-minute readings from Solstice‘s winter 2022 guest faculty and writers-in-residence. Readers include:

• Robbie Gamble (Poetry, January 2017)• Annie Harnett• Lee Hope• Sydney Lea• Shelley Linso• Beth Little• Devi Lockwood• Suzanne S. Rancourt• Lisa Stringfellow• Terrance Hayes

Lesley MFA Winter Reading Series — Tracey Baptiste & Matthew Henry
2022-01-10 18:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | Online Zoom Event
Join Tracey Baptiste (WFYP, MFA Writing Faculty) and Matthew Henry, Visiting Poet, as they read from their work. Registration is free and open to the public.

Lesley MFA Winter Reading Series — SJ Rozan & Thato Mwosa
2022-01-12 18:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | Online Zoom Event
Join SJ Rozan, Visiting Author, Fiction, and WSS Alum Thato Mwosa (June 2017) as they read from and show their work. Registration is free and open to the public.

CCW Virtual Reading January 2022
2022-01-12 20:00 - 21:00 UTC | Online Zoom Event
Cambridge Common Writers will be hosting a virtual reading once more during the January Residency for Lesley University. This event is free and open to the public.

Readers:

Michelle Boland (Poetry, January 2019)Kathy Park Woolbert (Nonfiction, June 2010)Andrea Wang (WFYP, June 2011)Thato Mwosa (WSS, June 2017)Lisa DeSiro (Poetry, June 2010)Jorge Armenteros (Fiction, June 2012)

NEPC / Voices of Poetry - Back at the Library--Featuring Eileen Cleary
2022-01-20 18:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | Online Event
Eileen Cleary (Poetry, June 2016) – founder & editor of Lily Poetry Review and Lily Poetry Review Books – will be reading her work at this free virtual poetry event, presented by New England Poetry Club and Voices of Poetry (hosted by Cambridge Public Library).

Other poets who will be reading include Charles Coe, Susan Donnelly, and Paul Nemser.

Joan Kwon Glass and Boston Gordon's Release Reading
2022-01-26 20:30 - 21:30 (America/New_York) | Facebook Live
Join Harbor Editions on Facebook Live for a reading by Joan Kwon Glass and Boston Gordon (Poetry, January 2015) from their new chapbooks.

Getting the Words Right: A Look Inside the Writer's Life -- Featuring EA Luetkemeyer
2022-01-28 20:00 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | Online Zoom Event
Host and author Ginna BB Gordon will lead a lively and probing conversation about the writing process and what it takes to be an author. Her guests are psychologist and poet Frank De Luca and fiction author EA Luetkemeyer (May 2015).

These three local authors will discuss their writing process via the WHO, WHAT, HOW, WHEN, WHERE and WHY Questions.

“Each of us has a story within the story – how we do what we’re doing, with whom, why we do it,” Ginna says. “These are some of the topics we explore.”

There will be plenty of time for questions from viewers.

Writing to Astound, with Michael Mercurio
2022-02-05 09:30 - 12:30 (America/New_York) | Online Event
All writers, no matter how accomplished, feel the pressure of finding the right words to invigorate their prose and bring their stories to life. The right word choice and arrangement can surprise and astonish readers, or entice editors and agents to keep reading well after the first page. Think of the power that wordplay, (rhyme, alliteration, lyricism, connotation) holds for you as a reader when you are transported by an author! Join poet (and self-described etymological obsessive) Michael Mercurio (Poetry, January 2017) for this three-hour workshop, and you’ll come away with the tools to punch up your writing, astound your readers, and make your work truly stand out. The workshop includes a brief history lesson on the peculiarities of the English language, an opportunity to discuss some tried-and-true strategies for using words as springboards for inspiration, and plenty of time to explore the power of language.

Robbie Gamble Book Launch "A Can of Pinto Beans"
2022-02-06 14:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York) | Online Event
Robbie Gamble (Poetry/Nonfiction; January 2017/June 2020) reads from “A Can of Pinto Beans” -poetry recounting his work with “No More Deaths”

Julie Wittes-Schlack in conversation with Pamela Petro on Julie's new novel, Burning and Dodging
2022-02-10 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | The Odyssey Bookshop, 9 College St, South Hadley, Massachusetts, 01075, United States
Join Odyssey Bookshop both in person and online on Thursday, February 10 at 7 PM for a reading and discussion of Julie Wittes-Schlack’s (Nonfiction, June 2013) new novel, Burning and Dodging. She will be joined in conversation by Pamela Petro (Nonfiction, MFA Writing Faculty), author of the memoir, The Long Field – Wales and the Presence of Absence.

Julie Wittes Schlack is the author of a memoir in essays, This All-at-Onceness, named one of Kirkus Review’s 100 Best Indie Books of 2019, and of the novel Burning and Dodging. She writes and teaches both fiction and creative nonfiction and has an MFA from Lesley University. Her essays and stories have appeared in numerous literary journals, including Shenandoah, The Writer’s Chronicle, Ninth Letter, Eleven Eleven, and The Tampa Review. She reviews books for The ARTery and is a regular contributor to NPR station WBUR’s journal of ideas and opinions, Cognoscenti.

Pamela Petro is an artist, writer, and educator. She’s the author of four books of literary nonfiction, an artist’s book, and a graphic script, and has widely exhibited her photography. She teaches creative writing on Lesley University’s MFA Program and at Smith College, and is Director of the Dylan Thomas Summer School in Creative Writing at the University of Wales, Trinity St David, where she is also a Fellow. Pamela’s latest book, The Long Field – Wales and the Presence of Absence, A Memoir, was published by Little Toller Books in September, 2021 and chosen by The Telegraph and The Financial Times of London as one of the Year’s Best Travel Books.

This event will be both in person and streamed on Odyssey’s Facebook page.

What The Universe Is: Gustavo Hernandez and Steven Cramer￼
2022-02-10 19:30 - 20:30 (America/New_York) | Online Zoom Event
What The Universe Is: A Reading Series featuring two fantastic poets in a continent-spanning event:

Gustavo Hernandez is the author of the poetry collection Flower Grand First (Moon Tide Press). Gustavo holds a degree in creative writing from California State University Long Beach, and his poems have been published in Reed, Acentos Review, Sonora Review and other publications. He was born in Jalisco, Mexico and lives in Southern California. You can visit him here.

Steven Cramer’s (Poetry, MFA Writing Faculty) sixth poetry collection, Listen, published in 2020 by MadHat Press, was named a “must read” by the Massachusetts Center for the Book. His previous books of poetry are The Eye that Desires to Look Upward (Galileo Press, 1987), The World Book (Copper Beech Press, 1992), Dialogue for the Left and Right Hand (Lumen Editions/Brookline Books, 1997), Goodbye to the Orchard (Sarabande Books, 2004)—winner of the 2005 Sheila Motton Prize from the New England Poetry Club and named a 2005 Honor Book in Poetry by the Massachusetts Center for the Book—and Clangings (Sarabande Books, 2012). His poems and reviews have appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, Field, Kenyon Review, The Nation, The New Republic, The Paris Review, Ploughshares, Poetry, and other journals. His work is represented in anthologies such as The Autumn House Anthology of Contemporary American Poetry (Autumn House Press, 2005 and 2011), The Book of Villanelles (Knopf Everyman’s Library Pocket Poets Series, 2012), and The POETRY Anthology, 1912–2002 (Ivan R. Dee, 2002). He has also written essays for Simply Lasting: Writers on Jane Kenyon (Graywolf Press, 2005); Touchstones: American Poets on a Favorite Poem (Middlebury College Press, 1996); and Until Everything Is Continuous Again: American Poets on the Recent Work of W. S. Merwin (WordFarm, 2012). Recipient of two grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, he has taught literature and writing at Bennington College, Boston University, M.I.T., and Tufts University; and he founded and now teaches in the Low-Residency MFA Program in Creative Writing at Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Find him online at stevencramer.com.

VIRTUAL: Tell-All: Rejected by Modern Love -- Featuring Deborah Sosin
2022-02-15 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Online Zoom Event
We’ve all read the popular New York Times Modern Love column. What you might not know is that the Times receives thousands of submissions for the 50 essays it publishes each year, making it one of the most sought-after spots for both aspiring and established writers. Join GrubStreet and Belmont Books for an evening of rejected Modern Love essays. Five writers will share the work they poured their hearts into. They’ll share stories of love, loss, and the murky zone in-between. The event will be moderated by Lorena Hernández Leonard.

Readers:

Deborah Sosin (Nonfiction, January 2015)Catherine O’NeillAnri WheelerBritni de la Cretaz

And special guest, Alysia AbbottA virtual event brought to you by the alumni of the GrubStreet Memoir Incubator and co-sponsored by GrubStreet and Belmont Books.

P&P Live! Axie Oh—The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea -- In Conversation with Elizabeth Lim
2022-02-22 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Online Event
Deadly storms have ravaged Mina’s homeland for generations. Floods sweep away entire villages, while bloody wars are waged over the few remaining resources. Her people believe the Sea God, once their protector, now curses them with death and despair. In an attempt to appease him, each year a beautiful maiden is thrown into the sea to serve as the Sea God’s bride, in the hopes that one day the “true bride” will be chosen and end the suffering.

Mina didn’t plan to sacrifice herself to the Sea God but does so to save her brother and his beloved. Rather than drowning, Mina is swept away to the Spirit Realm, a magical city of lesser gods and mythical beasts. A human cannot live long in the land of the spirits, but with the help of a mysterious young man named Shin—as well as a motley crew of demons, gods and spirits—she must seek out the Sea God and wake him to bring an end to the killer storms once and for all.

Axie Oh (WFYP, June 2017) is a first-generation Korean American, born in New York City and raised in New Jersey. She studied Korean history and creative writing as an undergrad at the University of California San Diego and holds an MFA in Writing for Young People from Lesley University. She is the author of XOXO, Rebel Soul, and Rogue Heart.

Elizabeth Lim is the bestselling author of Spin the Dawn, Unravel the Dusk, and Six Crimson Cranes. Before becoming an author, Elizabeth was a professional film and video game composer, and she still tends to come up with her best book ideas when writing near a piano.

An Ordinary Wonder – hoopla Live Event with Author Buki Papillon and Narrator Adjoa Andoh
2022-02-24 14:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York) | Online Event
Join hoopla and publisher OrangeSky Audio for a live event with the author, Buki Papillon, and narrator, Adjoa Andoh, of An Ordinary Wonder.

A Very Special Storytime with Andrea Wang at Aspen Grove
2022-02-26 14:00 - 15:00 (America/Denver) | Tattered Cover Book Store, 7301 South Santa Fe Drive, Littleton, Colorado, 80120, United States
Tattered Cover welcomes Andrea Wang (WFYP, June 2011) at their Aspen Grove location on February 26th at 2pm MT. She will be reading from her Caldecott Award-winning picture book Watercress. This is a free event, no registration required.

About the Book:

Driving through Ohio in an old Pontiac, a young girl’s parents stop suddenly when they spot watercress growing wild in a ditch by the side of the road. Grabbing an old paper bag and some rusty scissors, the whole family wades into the muck to collect as much of the muddy, snail covered watercress as they can.At first, she’s embarrassed. Why can’t her family get food from the grocery store? But when her mother shares a story of her family’s time in China, the girl learns to appreciate the fresh food they foraged. Together, they make a new memory of watercress.Andrea Wang tells a moving autobiographical story of a child of immigrants discovering and connecting with her heritage, illustrated by award winning author and artist Jason Chin, working in an entirely new style, inspired by Chinese painting techniques. An author’s note in the back shares Andrea’s childhood experience with her parents.

About the Author:

Andrea Wang is the award-winning author of The Nian Monster and Magic Ramen: The Story of Momofuku Ando. She was inspired to write Watercress by her experience growing up in rural Ohio as a child of Chinese immigrants. Andrea holds an M.S. in Environmental Science and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing for Young People. She lives in Colorado with her family.

The King's English Bookshop presents Sara Zarr in Conversation with Corey Ann Haydu
2022-03-01 18:00 - 19:00 (America/Denver) | Online Event
TKE proudly welcomes acclaimed author Sara Zarr (WFYP, MFA Writing Faculty) for a discussion of and reading from her new middle reader novel, A Song Called Home. Zarr will be in conversation with fellow YA author, Corey Ann Haydu.

This free, virtual event will take place on Crowdcast and you must register here to participate.

About the book:

From award-winning author Sara Zarr comes a story of the small moments that show us who we are, and how family is not just something you’re part of, but something you make.

Lou and her family don’t have much, but for Lou it’s enough. Mom. Her sister, Casey. Their apartment in the city. Her best friend, Beth. It would be better if Dad could stop drinking and be there for her and Casey, and if they didn’t have to worry about money all the time. But Lou doesn’t need better—she only needs enough.

What’s enough for Lou, however, is not enough for Mom. Steve, Mom’s boyfriend, isn’t a bad guy, he’s just…not what Lou is used to. And now, he and Mom are getting married, and that means moving. Packing up life as they’ve known it and storing it in Steve’s garage. Lou will be separated from everything in her small but predictable life, farther from Dad than ever.

Their last night in the city, Lou receives a mysterious birthday gift: A guitar, left for her by their front door. There’s nothing saying who left it, but it must be from Dad. And as she leaves the only place she’s ever known, she starts to believe that if she can learn how to play it, maybe she can bring a piece of him, and of her old life, home.
