Poet DAVID FERRY on Virgil’s Aeneid

Harvard Book Store welcomes award-winning poet and translator DAVID FERRY for a discussion of his translation of Virgil’s Aeneid. He will be joined in conversation by award-winning poet and critic, former poet laureate, and Boston University professor ROBERT PINSKY. This event is co-sponsored by Mass Humanities.

This event is free and also includes a book signing. Doors close at 6:00pm!

About The Aeneid

“I sing of arms and the man . . . ”

So begins the Aeneid, greatest of Western epic poems. Virgil’s story of the journey of Aeneas has been a part of our cultural heritage for so many centuries that it’s all too easy to lose sight of the poem itself—of its brilliantly cinematic depiction of the sack of Troy; the monstrous hunger of the harpies; the intensity of Dido’s love for the hero, and the blackness of her despair; and the violence that Aeneas and his men must endure before they can settle in Italy and build the civilization whose roots we still claim as our own.
This new translation brings Virgil’s masterpiece newly to life for English-language readers. It’s the first in centuries crafted by a translator who is first and foremost a poet, and it is a glorious thing. DAVID FERRY has long been known as perhaps our greatest contemporary translator of Latin poetry, his translations of Virgil’s Eclogues and Georgics having established themselves as much-admired standards. He brings to the Aeneid the same genius, rendering Virgil’s formal metrical lines into an English that is familiar and alive. Yet in doing so, he surrenders none of the feel of the ancient world that resonates throughout the poem and gives it the power that has drawn readers to it for centuries. In FERRY’s, the Aeneid becomes once more a lively, dramatic poem of daring and adventure, of love and loss, of devotion and death. Never before have Virgil’s twin gifts of poetic language and urgent, compelling storytelling been presented so powerfully for English-language readers. FERRY’s Aeneid will be a landmark, a gift to longtime lovers of Virgil, and the perfect entry point for new readers.

DENIS LEARY on “Why We Don’t Suck”

From the actor/comedian and author of the bestselling Why We Suck, Denis Leary comes a searing comic look at these divisive times, skewering liberals and conservatives alike with a signature dose of sarcasm and common sense, Why We Don’t Suck.

This event, sponsored by the Brookline Booksmith, will take place at the Wilbur Theatre. Tickets are $38 and are to be ordered online. Each ticket includes a signed copy of Why We Don’t Suck.

Award-Winning Poet/Critic KEVIN YOUNG on the History of “Bunk”

Harvard Book Store welcomes award-winning poet and critic KEVIN YOUNG for a discussion of his latest book, Bunk: The Rise of Hoaxes, Humbug, Plagiarists, Phonies, Post-Facts, and Fake News. This event is co-sponsored by Mass Humanities.

This event is free and open to the public!

About Bunk

Bunk traces the history of the hoax as a peculiarly American phenomenon, examining what motivates hucksters and makes the rest of us so gullible. Disturbingly, Young finds that fakery is woven from stereotype and suspicion, race being the most insidious American hoax of all. He chronicles how Barnum came to fame by displaying figures like Joice Heth, a black woman whom he pretended was the 161-year-old nursemaid to George Washington, and What Is It?, an African American man Barnum professed was a newly discovered missing link in evolution.
Bunk then turns to the hoaxing of history and the ways that forgers, plagiarists, and journalistic fakers invent backstories and falsehoods to sell us lies about themselves and about the world in our own time, from pretend Native Americans Grey Owl and Nasdijj to the deadly imposture of Clark Rockefeller, from the made-up memoirs of James Frey to the identity theft of Rachel Dolezal. In this brilliant and timely work, Young asks what it means to live in a post-factual world of “truthiness” where everything is up for interpretation and everyone is subject to a pervasive cynicism that damages our ideas of reality, fact, and art.

Author/environmentalist BILL McKIBBEN at Harvard Book Store

Harvard Book Store welcomes celebrated author and environmentalist BILL McKIBBEN—founder of 350.org, the first planet-wide, grassroots climate change movement—for a discussion of his debut novel, Radio Free Vermont: A Fable of Resistance. This event is co-sponsored by 350 Mass.

Tickets: $5 for only entrance into the event itself; $23.75 for the book & entrance into the event. Tickets are to be purchased online. Doors close at 5:30PM.

In Radio Free Vermont, BILL McKIBBEN entertains and expands upon an idea that’s become more popular than ever—seceding from the United States. Along with Vern and Perry, McKIBBEN imagines an eccentric group of activists who carry out their own version of guerilla warfare, which includes dismissing local middle school children early in honor of ‘Ethan Allen Day’ and hijacking a Coors Light truck and replacing the stock with local brew. Witty, biting, and terrifyingly timely, Radio Free Vermont is BILL McKIBBEN’s fictional response to the burgeoning resistance movement.

Mad Men-creator MATTHEW WEINER in conversation with BRET ANTHONY JOHNSTON

Harvard Book Store welcomes Emmy Award–winning writer, director, and producer MATTHEW WEINER for a discussion of his debut novel, Heather, the Totality. He will be joined in conversation by Bret Anthony Johnston, author of the bestselling novel Remember Me Like This.

About Heather, the Totality:
A collision course between a privileged family and a dangerous young man, Heather, The Totality is a chilling debut novel by the creator of Mad Men, MATTHEW WEINER.

Tickets: $26.25 for the book & entrance into the event. Tickets are to be purchased online. Doors close at 5:30PM.

ALEC BALDWIN and KURT ANDERSEN at Harvard Book Store

Harvard Book Store welcomes award-winning actor, producer, and comedian ALEC BALDWIN and bestselling author and Studio 360 host KURT ANDERSEN for a signing of their co-authored book, You Can’t Spell America Without Me: The Really Tremendous Inside Story of My Fantastic First Year as President Donald J. Trump (A So-Called Parody).

Please Note:
-This is a book signing event only. See the event’s signing guidelines below.
-We are not taking requests or pre-orders for signed books for this event.

Tickets and Book Pickup
-Tickets are required to join the signing line. Each ticket admits one (1) and includes one (1) copy of You Can’t Spell America Without Me.
-Tickets go on sale September 22nd at 9am in the store and at harvard.com. Tickets are non-refundable and non-returnable.
-Books will be signed in-person only, one book per ticket holder. Additional copies of You Can’t Spell America Without Me will be available for purchase at Harvard Book Store, but the signing is limited to one book per person.
-Those purchasing tickets online can pick up their book at the bookstore the evening of the signing, but not before. Those purchasing tickets in the store can pick up their books starting on publication date (November 7th).

Timeline
-The signing will begin at 5:00pm on Monday, November 13th, at Harvard Book Store.
-Doors will open to the signing line shortly before 5. Until then the line will form outside the store, down Plympton Street (towards Mount Auburn Street).
-E-ticket and will-call ticket holders will receive their books when checking in on the evening of the event.

Signing Line Guidelines
-This book signing is limited to copies of You Can’t Spell America Without Me—no memorabilia.
-The authors will be signing one book per attendee.
-Due to limited time, no personalizations or photography.

An Evening with Cherry Bombe

Harvard Book Store welcomes KERRY DIAMOND, co-founder and editorial director of Cherry Bombe, for a moderated panel discussion with TRACY CHANG, JOANNE CHANG, JENNIFER BROUTIN FARAH, and ASHLEY STANLEY. The evening will include refreshments and a book signing of the debut cookbook Cherry Bombe.

Cherry Bombe: The Cookbook is the first-ever cookbook from the team behind the hit indie magazine about women and food, and the Radio Cherry Bombe podcast. Inside are 100+ recipes from some of the most interesting chefs, bakers, food stylists, pastry chefs, and creatives on the food scene today.

Tickets: $5 for only entrance into the event itself; $34.75 for the book & entrance into the event. Tickets are to be purchased online. Doors close at 6:30PM.

WALTER ISAACSON on Leonardo da Vinci

Was Leonardo da Vinci history’s most creative genius? Was he also a Florentine spy in foreign courts? Find out when Harvard Book Store welcomes celebrated writer and journalist WALTER ISAACSON—author of the acclaimed bestsellers Steve Jobs and Benjamin Franklin—for a discussion of his latest biography: Leonardo da Vinci.

This event is co-sponsored by Mass Humanities.

Tickets: $5 for only entrance into the event itself; $34.75 for the book & entrance into the event. Please purchase your tickets online.

A Conversation With ANN POWERS, One of America’s Most Influential Pop Music Critics

Northeastern University is pleased to host ANN POWERS NPR music correspondent and author of Good Booty: Love and Sex, Black & White, Body and Soul in American Music, about creating NPR’s recent list of “150 Greatest Albums Made by Women,” and about the state of music criticism in the U.S.

ANN POWERS is NPR Music’s critic and correspondent. Powers served as chief pop music critic at the Los Angeles Times from 2006 until she joined NPR. Prior to the Los Angeles Times, she was senior critic at Blender and senior curator at Experience Music Project. From 1997 to 2001 Powers was a pop critic at The New York Times and before that worked as a senior editor at the Village Voice. Powers began her career working as an editor and columnist at San Francisco Weekly.

Event funded by Faculty Innovations in Diversity and Academic Excellence Grant.

This event is free and open to the public.

Poets & Pints: October 11

Join Porter Square Books in their celebration of poetry: Poets & Pints

The greater Somerville and Cambridge area is lucky to have such a vibrant poetry community. So, once a month we will gather at the community space at Aeronaut on the Duck Village stage, to celebrate that community with readings by three local poets.
The event will feature a social hour from 6-7 in which you can grab a beer and converse with the poets, hosts, and other poetry fans. The formal reading will be from 7-8 and will feature three local poets reading from their latest works.
The poets reading on October 11 are:

Poems by PAULA BONNELL have appeared in a variety of print and online publications including APR, Reviews — Hopkins, Hudson, Manhattan Poetry, Southern Poetry, Women’s of Books — and independents such as Gargoyle, Invisible City, and Rattle. Even in newspapers — The Real Paper and a Sunday Boston Herald. Also in 4 collections — Airs & Voices, which Mark Jarman selected for the Ciardi Prize; Message, which includes “Midwest” as heardon The Writer’s Almanac and “Eurydice”, chosen for a Poet Lore narrative poetry publication award; and two chapbooks, Before the Alphabet – a story in free verse of a child’s kindergarten year, and tales retold, published in April 2017 — new takes on stories you’ll recognize.

SCOTT RUESCHER’s full-length collection of poems, Waiting for the Light to Change, was published by Prolific Press in May 2017. Some of the poems in the book have won the 2016 Write Prize from Able Muse magazine, the 2015 Rebecca Lard Award from Poetry Quarterly, and, in both 2013 and 2014, the Erika Mumford Prize from the New England Poetry Club. Others have appeared in recent issues of Origins Journal, Solstice, About Place, Agni Online, The Harvard Educational Review, Shadowgraph Quarterly, and The Somerville News. A shameless “evangelist for reality” who declaims “its glitzy multitudinosity in long cinematic sentences” (according to Tony Hoagland), he administers the Arts in Education program at Harvard Graduate School of Education and teaches English in the Boston University Prison Education Program.

NATALIE SHAPERO is the Professor of the Practice of Poetry at Tufts University and an editor at large of the Kenyon Review. Her poetry collections are Hard Child and No Object.

This event is free and open to the public!