On October 4th, Bethel’s Byrd’s Books becomes the new home of the weekly author series, Write America, spearheaded by writer Roger Rosenblatt, featuring award-winning, nationally-renowned authors, as well as new and emerging writers, in readings and conversation about how books and art might bridge the deep divisions in our nation.
The prestigious series, which premiered in February 2021 with former U.S. poets laureate Rita Dove and Billy Collins, will now be streamed on Byrd's Books' Crowdcast channel on Mondays, 7:00pm to 8:00pm. Upcoming writers will include Major Jackson, Alice McDermott, Vijay Seshadrii, Garry Trudeau, Francine Prose, Alan Alda, Amy Hempel, Tyehimba Jess, Natalie Diaz, Paul Auster, Juan Felipe Herrera and many more. The virtual events are all free to attend.
Byrd’s Books’ launch of Write America opens October 4th with episode 30, a conversation among authors Linda Pastan, Tennessee Reed and Frank Langella. The October schedule of conversations continues with:
episode 31 10/11 Emma Walton Hamilton and Hilma Wolitzer
episode 32 10/18 Paul Harding and Subhashini Kaligotla
episode 33 10/25 Nick Flynn, Pablo Medina and Gail Mazur
Registration for each event can be made by visiting ByrdsBooks.com, on which the popular independent bookstore has posted the complete calendar of conversations to date, through April 25, 2022. There, you will also find extensive author bios and, whenever possible, signed copies of the writers’ books to purchase in advance. The calendar is likely to adjust a bit, with many events added daily, so if you haven’t already, you are urged to sign up for Byrd’s Books’ online newsletter to stay tuned.
“Through poems, novels, essays, memoirs, every form in which we attempt to reach out to our human family through the quiet power of art, a writer’s words are a tacit call for people to gather round and discover or rediscover their connections to one another. Writing makes justice desirable, evil intelligible, grief endurable and love possible,” says Roger Rosenblatt. “In this project, then, we have come together to read our work in the interests of life's nobler values.” To view a PBS Newshour feature on Write America, including an interview with Roger, click here.
Born in 1940, Roger Rosenblatt is an American memoirist, essayist, and novelist. He is the author of five New York Times Notable Books of the Year, and three Times bestsellers. He has written seven off-Broadway plays and his essays for TIME magazine and the PBS Newshour have won two George Polk Awards, the Peabody, and the Emmy, among others. In 2015, he won the Kenyon Review Award for Lifetime Literary Achievement. He held the Briggs-Copeland appointment in the teaching of writing at Harvard. A resident of Quoque, Long Island, he is currently Distinguished Professor of English and Writing at SUNY Stony Brook/Southampton. In October 2020, Roger joined Byrd’s Books for an author’s talk on his book “Cold Moon,” which in part led to Write America choosing Byrd’s Books as its new home.
Alice Hutchinson, owner of Byrd’s Books, which will celebrate it 10th anniversary in December, admits that Write America is a large undertaking “but with over a year of author talks on Zoom,” she notes, “we’ve attracted followers from well beyond the region, and we can provide the means to purchase books as you register. It’s an exciting challenge.”
Byrd’s Books is located at 178 Greenwood Avenue, across from the Bethel Public Library. Author discussions and Book Group gatherings are regularly added to Byrd’s Books’ calendar of events at ByrdsBooks.com Open Tuesdays through Saturdays 10:00am to 6:00pm, Sundays 12:00 noon to 4:00pm, for browsing, touch-free purchasing and pick-up, Byrd’s Books also welcomes private shopping by appointment. Byrd’s Books requires masks and provides a hand sanitizer for everyone’s safety. For directions to the store or more information, call Byrd’s Books at 203-730-2973. To review the shop’s expanded catalog of new titles, go to ByrdsBooks.com