CHAYA BHUVANESWAR in Conversation with CHRIS CASTELLANI at Brookline Booksmith

In sixteen remarkable stories, Chaya Bhuvaneswar spotlights diverse women of color–cunning, bold, and resolute–facing sexual harassment and racial violence, and occasionally inflicting that violence on each other. Winner of the 2017 Dzanc Short Story Collection Prize, White Dancing Elephants marks the emergence of a new and original voice in fiction and explores feminist, queer, religious, and immigrant stories with precision, drama, and compassion.

Join her for this reading with Christopher Castellani, renowned novelist and teacher of writing, whose work THE ART OF PERSPECTIVE will be brought into conversation with her story collection. He is the author of three critically-acclaimed novels, A Kiss from Maddalena (Algonquin Books, 2003)—winner of the Massachusetts Book Award in 2004— The Saint of Lost Things (Algonquin, 2005), a BookSense (IndieBound) Notable Book; and All This Talk of Love (Algonquin, 2013), a New York Times Editors’ Choice and finalist for the Ferro-Grumley Literary Award. The Art of Perspective: Who Tells the Story, a collection of essays on point of view in fiction, was published in 2016 by Graywolf Press. He has recently completed a new novel, Leading Men, for which he received Fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the MacDowell Colony, and the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Leading Men will be published in February 2019 by Viking Penguin.

Independent Film Festival Boston: Nothing is Truer Than Truth, A Documentary about Shakespeare

NOTHING IS TRUER THAN TRUTH will premiere at the Independent Film Festival Boston. Please help us celebrate at the historic Brattle Theatre in Harvard Square on SUNDAY APRIL 29TH at 1:00 P.M. There will be a post-screening Q&A session with director Cheryl Eagan-Donovan, and cast and crew from the film, followed by a reception. Festival badges and tickets are available at IFFB.org.

NOTHING IS TRUER THAN TRUTH introduces Edward de Vere, Seventeenth Earl of Oxford, A-list party boy on the continental circuit, who spent a year and a half in Venice and traveling in Italy, learning about commedia dell’arte and collecting the experiences that would become known as the works of Shakespeare. Filmed in Venice, Verona, Mantua, Padua, and Brenta, the film ventures to actual sites De Vere visited in 1575-76, including the settings for The Merchant of Venice, Othello, Romeo and Juliet, and Two Gentlemen of Verona. The film features renowned Shakespeare scholars, actors, and directors, including Sir Derek Jacobi, Mark Rylance, Tina Packer, and Diane Paulus, and argues that De Vere’s bisexuality is the reason for the pseudonym “Shake-speare.”

Grub Street instructor and screenwriting consultant Cheryl Eagan-Donovan’s debut feature All Kindsa Girls screened at film festivals and art house theaters in London, Toronto and the U.S., was short-listed for the PBS series POV, and is featured in Paul Sherman’s book Big Screen Boston. She served on the Board of Directors of Women in Film & Video New England, The Next Door Theater, and The Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship. She teaches writing, literature, and filmmaking and has published articles on Shakespeare and film.

Before I Had the Words: A Reading with Trans Memoirist SKYLAR KERGIL

Brookline Booksmith welcomes Youtuber Skylar “skylarkeleven” Kergil for a reading of his memoir Before I Had The Words.  KERGIL is a transgender activist, artist, and writer living in Boston.

Before I Had the Words is the story of what came before the videos and what happened behind the scenes. From early childhood memories to the changes and confusion brought by adolescence, KERGIL reflects on coming of age while struggling to understand his gender. As humorous as it is heartbreaking and as informative as it is entertaining, this memoir provides an intimate look at the experience of transitioning from one gender to another. KERGIL opens up about the long path to gaining his family’s acceptance and to accepting himself, sharing stories along the way about smaller challenges like choosing a new name and learning to shave without eyebrow mishaps.

This event is free and open to the public.

Author STEPHANIE GAYLE reads Idyll Fears, the 2nd in her LGTBQ crime series

Attention crime-novel enthusiasts!  A new series is underway, and you can meet the author, STEPHANIE GAYLE, at Porter Square Books for a reading of the second novel in her crime series: Idyll Fears.

It’s two weeks before Christmas 1997, and Chief Thomas Lynch faces a crisis when Cody Forrand, a six-year-old with a life-threatening medical condition, goes missing during a blizzard. The confusing case shines a national spotlight on the small, sleepy town of Idyll, Connecticut, where small-time crime is already on the rise and the police seem to be making mistakes left and right.  Further complicating matters, Lynch, still new to town, finds himself the target of prank calls and hate speech that he worries is the work of a colleague, someone struggling to accept working with a gay chief of police.

This event is free and open to the public.

 

Equally Wed: The Ultimate Guide to Planning Your LGBTQ+ Wedding

Harvard Book Store welcomes award-winning editor and writer KIRSTEN PALLADINO, cofounder of EquallyWed.com, for a discussion of her book, Equally Wed: The Ultimate Guide to Planning Your LGBTQ+ Wedding.

By and large, most wedding books in the market are still centered around one bride and one groom. And yet, the advent of full marriage equality in the United States has made a new, polished wedding planning book dedicated to guiding LGBTQ couples both timely and essential.  KIRSTEN OTT PALLADINO will fill that need with this definitive book to inspire couples everywhere who are seeking a meaningful, personal ceremony and a momentous beginning to legally married life.

This book will be for sale at the event for 20% off.  There will also be a signing after the event.

No tickets required for entry.

Biographer MARK SCHNEIDER on Gerry Studs: America’s First Openly Gay Congressman

Porter Square Books welcomes biographer MARK ROBERT SCHNEIDER with his biography of the first openly gay congressman Gerry Studds, who served the Massachusetts South Shore, Cape Cod, and New Bedford congressional district from 1973 to 1997.

On the floor of Congress, Studds confessed to having behaved inappropriately and then courageously declared that he was a gay man— becoming the country’s first openly gay member of Congress.  Defying all expectations, Studds won reelection in a bruising campaign.  For the rest of his career, he remained loyal to his constituents’ concerns while also championing AIDS research and care, leading the effort in Congress to allow gays and lesbians to serve in the military, and opposing the Defense of Marriage Act.  Once a deeply conflicted man, he ultimately found a balance between his public service and his private life, which included a happy, legally recognized marriage.

This event is not ticketed.

LGBTQ Novelists JONATHAN STRONG and KELLY FORD

Porter Square Books hosts novelists JONATHAN STRONG and GrubStreet’s KELLY FORD for a discussion of their work.

JONATHAN STRONG’s Quit the Race is “…the story of a loving long-term couple weighing the best interests of their relationship against the desire of each to live the life he wants…Strong uses this drama to explore the nature of love and compromise, the longing to connect, and the need for independent identity and control.” –Stephen McCauley

KELLY  FORD’s Cottonmouths is the story of Emily Skinner.  College was supposed to be an escape for her. But after failing out of school, she’s left with no choice but to return to her small hometown in the Ozarks, a place run on gossip and good Christian values.  She’s not alone. Emily’s former best friend— and childhood crush— Jody Monroe is back with a baby. Emily can’t resist the opportunity to reconnect, despite the uncomfortable way things ended between them and her mom’s disapproval of their friendship. When Emily stumbles upon a meth lab on Jody’s property, she realizes just how far they’ve both fallen.

This event is not ticketed.

Quit the Race and Cottonmouths are currently being sold at Porter Square Books.

If you cannot attend the event, you can still get a signed copy by purchasing the book online and mentioning in the comments section at checkout that you want it signed (or personalized).  This must be completed at least 24 hours prior to the event.

Local novelists KELLY FORD (Cottonmouths) and MICHELLE HOOVER (Bottomland)

Join local authors and Grubstreet instructors KELLY FORD and MICHELLE HOOVER at Papercuts JP for an evening of reading and discussion.

From a compelling new voice in LGBTQ and Southern fiction, FORD’s Cottonmouths is a gripping tale of crime and desire amid small-town America’s meth epidemic.

At once intimate and sweeping, HOOVER’s Bottomland follows the Hess family in the years after World War I, as they attempt to rid themselves of the Anti-German sentiment that left a stain on their name.

This event is ticketed; you can purchase tickets here.