Rutland Square Author Mari Passananti Will Read From Her First Novel, "The Hazards of Hunting While Heartbroken," Tuesday June 19 at 6:30 PM

"Don't go to the beach without it," is the advice of  Wendy Walker for her colleague Mari Passananti's first novel, "The Hazards of Hunting While Heartbroken." Passananti who like Walker once worked as an attorney, was raised by a Finnish mother and an Italian dad in Rhode Island before settling in the South End with her family. She is currently wriiting a suspense novel, tentatively titled, "The K Street Affair," scheduled for publication sometime this year. The reading will take place on Tuesday, June 19, at 6:30 PM at the South End Library, upstairs in the community room.

The same evening, there will be a fundraiser on the library's first floor to raise money for an ethnic weaving scholarship to honor the memory of fiber artist Theresa-India Young. The event will start at 5:30 PM.

Memoirist Christine Chamberlain and Custom Publisher Jane Karker will Tell You All You Need to Know About Memoir-writing, Tuesday, May 22, 6:30 PM

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On Tuesday May 22, at 6:30 PM, The South End Writes will host memoirist Christine Chamberlain and custom-publisher Jane Karker,who will discuss how to write memoirs of people and places AND get published. Here’s your chance to learn how to put into words your observations about the block you’ve lived on for so many years, or just a family memoir to encourage your children to think of you fondly. Chamberlain and Karker have helped develop a small body of such memoirs produced by residents of Maine, where they hail from, and would be happy to assist in starting such a collaborative venture in the South End.

Chamberlain, a Wellesley College graduate and former journalist who reported from Europe for various publications in the U.S., began to write memoirs when a friend asked her to do one of her mother. She has since completed more than 70, as well as histories of places and institutions, including the history of rowing at Dartmouth and one of the Cambridge School of Weston. Samples of her work will be available for viewing at the event.

Tonight's Reading by Author Leah Hager Cohen Cancelled Due to Family Emergency

The scheduled reading tonight, May 15, by Leah Hager Cohen had to be cancelled to to an emergency in the author's family. We wish her the very best and hope to reschedule the event when it is convenient to do so.

Next week, Tuesday May 22, at 6:30 PM, The South End Writes will host memoirist Christine Chamberlain and custom-publisher Jane Karker, who will discuss how to write memoirs of people and places AND get published.

Here's your chance to learn how to put into words your observations about the block you've lived on for so many years, or just a family memoir to encourage your children to think of you fondly. Chamberlain and Karker have helped develop a small body of such memoirs produced by residents of Maine, where they hail from, and would be happy to assist in starting such a collaborative venture in the South End.

We hope to see you there.

Author Leah Hager Cohen Will Read from "The Grief of Others" on Tuesday, May 15, after an Introduction by South End Novelist Sue Miller

The South End Writes author series will bring author Leah Hager Cohen to the South End Library on Tuesday May 15th to read from her latest novel, The Grief of Others. She will be introduced by South End novelist Sue Miller, who invited her to speak at the program. The event will start at 6:30 PM.

Hager Cohen has been described as one of this country’s best novelists by the editor of the New York Times Book Review, Sam Tanenhaus. The Grief of Others delves into a family fighting for its emotional survival while whipsawed by the loss of a small child. A Boston Globe’s book reviewer described the writing as “fluid and insightful." The author, a graduate of the Columbia Graduate School for Journalism, has published both fiction and non-fiction books, and is a regular contributor to newspapers and magazines. In one recent Boston Globe opinion piece she explained why the Pulitzer Prize Committee’s refusal to select a winner for its 2012 Fiction category was ‘a good thing;’ in another, she provided an insightful look into the working life of the South End Writes' most recent speaker, award-winning short-story writer Edith Pearlman.

Hager Cohen's other titles include the non-fiction books Train Go Sorry: Inside a Deaf World, and Glass, Paper, Beans, as well as the novel Heart, You Bully, You Punk.

Head Librarian Anne Smart has many of the titles available at the South End branch for those who wish to borrow them: all you need is your BPL library card.

The final two South End Writes events of the season will take place on Tuesday, May 22 and Tuesday, June 19, both at 6:30 PM at the South End Library. Memoirist Christine Chamberlain and custom-publisher Jane Karker will talk about how to write memoirs of people and places AND get them published on May 22; and South End resident Mari Passananti will read from her first novel, The Hazards of Hunting While Heartbroken.

Edith Pearlman Will Read at the SE Library May 1, Followed by Fiction Writer Leah Hager Cohen (May 15), Memoirist Christine Chamberlain Accompanied by Custom-Publisher Jane Karker (May 22)

The South End Writes authors' series will be in full swing in May when authors Edith Pearlman and Leah Hager Cohen will read from recent work at the South End branch on Tuesday, May 1 and Tuesday, May 15, respectively. They will be introduced by local novelist Sue Miller, who invited them. Edith Pearlman's much-prized collection of new and selected short stories, Binocular Vision, has just been released in paperback. Just in time ,as every book venue in Boston was sold out of the hardcover version. The collection won the 2012 National Book Critics Circle Award, the 2011 PEN/Malamud Award, and was a finalist in the 2011 National Book Award for Fiction. Pearlman won other awards, such as the Pushcart Prize, the O'Henry Prize and a number of others for previous work.

Leah Hager Cohen has been described as one of this country's best novelists by the editor of the New York Times Book Review, Sam Tanenhaus. Her latest novel, The Grief of Others, delves into a family fighting for its emotional survival while whipsawed by the loss of a small child. The Boston Globe's book reviewer described the writing "fluid and insightful." Hager Cohen, a graduate of the Columbia Graduate School for Journalism, is a regular contributor to newspapers and magazines, as well, and recently explained in a commentary for the Boston Globe why the Pulitzer Prize Committee's refusal to select a winner for its 2012 Fiction category was 'a good thing.'

CHRISTINE CHAMBERLAIN, a memoirist and biographer, will talk about how to turn your oral history, family history and any other history of interest to you and others into books that can be self-published. It can be the history of rowing, of first-generation families who want to preserve culture and customs for their children, or the history of institutions that don’t yet have one written down. Chamberlain, a former journalist working from Europe, will bring Jane Karker, a small publisher from Maine, who will provide pointers on self-publishing and display samples of self-published work. Tuesday, May 22, 6:30 PM.

Award-winning Author Edith Pearlman Will Read from Her Bestseller, "Binocular Vision," at the South End Branch on May 1, with an Introduction by South End Novelist Sue Miller

Good luck trying to find a hard-cover copy of Edith Pearlman's latest short-story collection, Binocular Vision, at any of the local bookstores.

Barnes and Noble is out. Trident Books and Raven Used Books are out. Brookline Booksmith is out. The publisher is out. And there's a long waiting list at the Boston Public Library for the book, which won the 2011 Pen/Malamud, National Book Critics Circle, and Edward Lewis Wallant award and was a finalist for the National Book Award. The good news is the paperback issue will show up in the stores next week. But the BEST NEWS is that Edith Pearlman herself will read from the collection at the South End Library on Tuesday evening, May 1, at 6:30 PM.

South End resident and nationally known novelist Sue Miller will introduce Ms. Pearlman, whose profile was featured earlier this week in the Boston Globe. The event is sponsored by the Friends of the South End Library as part of its The South End Writes/The South End Invites authors series.

Author/Librarian Catherine Willis to Talk about Surprising Facts in her Recent Book about the History of the Boston Public Library, Tuesday, March 27, at 6:30 PM, at the South End Library

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CATHERINE WILLIS, who recently wrote a pictorial history of the Boston Public Library, will talk about some of the things she discovered while researching the book, which is part of the Images of America series. Currently the Manager of Technical Services at the BPL, and the 2007 recipient of the New England Library Association’s Award for Excellence in Library Technical Services, Ms. Willis can tell you, among other things, that the idea of the BPL was first proposed by French ventriloquist Alexandre Vattemare in 1841 and that the lions flanking the staircase in the BPL’s McKim building precede those of the New York Public Library by 15 years. 

Tuesday, March 27, 6:30 PM. Sponsored by FOSEL as part of The South End Writes series. The South End Branch's staff has made numerous copies available at the library to patrons who wish to borrow a copy and take a closer look...

Essayist and Literary Critic Sven Birkerts to Read at the South End Library on Tuesday, March 6, 6:30 PM, with an Introduction by Author Sue Miller

Sven Birkerts has written extensively about the threat posed by fast-paced and analysis-driven data and information on the art of contemplative thought and reading. Not too surprising for an acknowledged devotee of book stores, among other places in Ann Arbor, MI, where Birkerts worked closely with the Borders' brothers in their first booksellers' venture.

As the editor of the --mostly-- on-line literary magazine, AGNI, published by Boston University, Birkerts doesn't shy away from cyberspace but does review, and regularly rings the alarm bell about, unintended consequences of the inescapable digital imperative and electronic surround of our lives.

In addition to his many articles on the subject, including Resisting the Kindle (2009), Reading in a Digital Age (2010) and You Are What You Click (2010), Birkerts has written eight books, including The Gutenberg Elegies: The Fate of Reading in an Electronic Age, The Electric Life: Essays on Modern Poetry, and a memoir, My Sky Blue Trades: Growing Up Counter in a Contrary Time.

His latest collection of essays, The Other Walk, came out in paperback recently, with many of its pieces set in and around Boston, where Birkerts lives with his family, and some in Latvia, where he was born.

The author will be introduced by South End resident and writer, Sue Miller, who invited the author as part of The South End Writes series, sponsored by The Friends of the South End Library.

Former Area D4 Police Blotter Scribe John Sacco Returns to the South End Library to Reminisce About Those Very Good Very Bad Old Days

JOHN SACCO, the Poet Laureate of the South End News’s Police Blotter, who for decades reported on those flaunting the rule of law, at least such as it existed in the (much rowdier) South End at the time, will talk at the South End Library next Tuesday, February 7. Sacco’s iconic and oft-repeated declaration, “The Scoundrel Was Arrested on the Spot,” lives in the heart of many Area D4 police-blotter aficionados. Retired but much missed since 2000, Sacco will reminisce about his days as law-and-order scribe when he once cited a man for making love to his dog and was forced to research the law on bestiality then on the books. Tuesday, February 7, 6:30 PM. THE SOUTH END WRITES is a program sponsored by the Friends of the South End Library (FOSEL) with the generous cooperation of the staff of the South End Branch. Previous readings have included South End luminaries like novelist Sue Miller, essayist Doug Bauer, poet Henry Cole, culinary writers Chris Kimball and Joanne Chang, filmmaker and screenwriter Alice Stone,  authors Philip Gambone and Johnny Diaz, and many others.

The 2012 South end Writes Spring Season Will Start with Wendy Wunder's "The Probability of Miracles" on Tuesday, January 17, 6:30 PM

Growing up in a small town in New Jersey and feeling she faced a certain kind of death by leaving the life she knew for the unknown territory of college, Wendy Wunder asked herself what it would be like to be dying at the age of eighteen. Now an author, parent, yoga teacher and  city dweller, Wendy Wunder will start the new season of THE SOUTH END WRITES  by reading from her debut  novel, "The Probability of Miracles," in which she explores that very question. Written from the point of view of a sixteen-year-old who has been in and out of hospitals for years fighting a fatal illness, the story of Cam Cooper is a meditation on life and death for Young Adults (15 and up) with crossover appeal to the older set.

THE SOUTH END WRITES is a program sponsored by the Friends of the South End Library (FOSEL) with the generous cooperation of the staff of the South End Branch. Previous readings have included South End luminaries like novelist Sue Miller, essayist Doug Bauer, poet Henry Cole, culinary writers Chris Kimball and Joanne Chang, filmmaker and screenwriter Alice Stone, and many others.

In addition to the January 17 reading by Wendy Wunder, the 2012 Spring Season will feature the following local writers:

JOHN SACCO, the Poet Laureate of the South End News's Police Blotter, who for decades reported on those flaunting the rule of law, at least such as it existed in the (much rowdier) South End at the time. Sacco's iconic and oft-repeated declaration, "The Scoundrel Was Arrested On The Spot," lives in the heart of many Area D4 police-blotter aficionados. Retired but much missed since 2000, Sacco will talk about his days as law-and-order scribe when he once cited a man for making love to his dog and was forced to research the law on bestiality then on the books. Tuesday, February 7, 6:30 PM.

SVEN BIRKETS, essayist and literary critic, editor of AGNI literary magazine, and director of Bennington (College's) Writing Seminars. Author of many books, literary reviews and articles, including a number on the impact of electronic media on the act of reading: Reading in a Digital Age (2010), and You Are What You Click (2010). While he does not exactly live in the South End (but in Arlington), he has important friends here... Tuesday March 6, 6:30 PM

CATHERINE WILLIS, who recently wrote a book on the history of the Boston Public Library, will talk about some of the things she discovered while researching the book, which is part of the Images of America series. Currently the Manager of Technical Services at the BPL, and the 2007 recipient of the New England Library Association's Award for Excellence in Library Technical Services, Ms. Willis can tell you, among other things, that the idea of the BPL was first proposed by French ventriloquist Alexandre Vattemare in 1841 and that the lions flanking the staircase in the BPL's McKim building precede those of the New York Public Library by 15 years. Tuesday, March 27, 6:30 PM

NANCY DEVILLE, an author who divides her time between Santa Monica, California, and the South End, previously wrote "Healthy, Sexy, Happy: A Thrilling Journey to the Ultimate You." She now has come out with "Death by Supermarket," a diatribe against the "fattening, dumbing down and poisoning of America."  Fasten your seat belts for this reading on Tuesday, April 24, 6:30 PM.

This reading has been postponed since the author, who lives part-time in California, was unable to return to Boston in time. We hope to reschedule her reading for the 2012/2013 season.

EDITH PEARLMAN, 2011 nominee of the National Book Award for her collection of new and selected stories, Binocular Vision, and the 2011 winner of the  Pen/Malamud  Award.  Even as the author of more than 250 works of fiction and non-fiction, she describes herself as slow: "A sentence often takes an hour to compose before I throw it out. What can I do?" Find out more about her dilemma on Tuesday, May 1, 6:30 PM

LEAH HAGER COHEN, who wrote among other novels, The Grief of Others and House Lights, teaches in the low-residency MFA program at lesley University. She is a frequent contributor to The New York Times Book Review and considered one of the best novelists in America by some. Tuesday, May 15, 6:30 PM

CHRISTINE CHAMBERLAIN, a memoirist and biographer, will talk about how to turn your oral history, family history and any other history of interest to you and others into books that can be self-published. It can be the history of rowing, of first-generation families who want to preserve culture and customs for their children, or the history of institutions that don't yet have one written down. The former journalist and her husband will provide pointers on self-publishing and display samples of their work. Tuesday, May 22, 6:30 PM.

MARI PASSANANTI, a South End resident who practiced law until she began to write, will read from her first novel, The Hazards of Hunting While Heartbroken. It addresses the notion many women have that their lives will be perfect as soon as they meet the right guy. So you have to come and find out....Tuesday, June 19, 6:30 PM

Reminder: South End Filmmaker Alice Stone Will Return to the South End Library Tomorrow, December 6, With an Update of and Behind-the Scenes Look at her Documentary-in-Progress, “Angelo Unwritten.”

Alice Stone, whose gripping documentation of teenager Angelo’s life after having been adopted out of foster care mesmorized an overflowing room earlier this year, will return to the South End Library tomorrow night. Stone will give an update with new material gathered since March and how, as a filmmaker, she may make decisions about the presentation of the surprising twists and turns of the story of Angelo’s life. Stone is raising funds to complete the film and will make an announcement about her strategy.

The evening is part of FOSEL’s series, The South End Writes, and will begin at 6:30 PM. There will be refreshments.   of new material gathered since March, and how, as a filmmaker, she may make decisions about the presentation of the surprising twists and turns of the story of Angelo’s life. Stone is raising funds to complete the film and will make an announcement about her strategy.

Children's Book Author and Journalist Victoria Griffith Will Read from "The Fabulous Flying Machines of Alberto Santos-Dumont" on Saturday Morning, December 3, at the South End Library

The South End Writes Authors' Series will feature its first reading by a children's book author Saturday, December 3, at 11:00 AM. Victoria Griffith, a South End resident and financial journalist, will introduce her new book which just won the Fall 2011 Parents Choice Award.

"The Fabulous Flying Machines of Alberto Santos-Dumont" describes how Alberto, the son of a Brazilian coffee magnate who lived in Paris while his father was undergoing medical treatment, used the balloon-inspired precursor to airplanes, the "dirigible," to run errands to and from his apartment on the Champs-Elysees. He was the first aviator to ride it around the Eiffel Tower in 1901, two years before the Wright Brothers did.

After Saturday's reading, children will be invited to make paper airplanes and bat around balloons. Refreshments are available, too.

The South End Library is located at 685 Tremont Street, between Rutland Square and West Newton Street.

Journalist/Author Johnny Diaz Will Read From His Latest, "Take the Lead," Tuesday, October 4, at 6:30 PM at the South End Library

Boston Globe writer and author Johnny Diaz will read from his fourth novel, Take the Lead, tomorrow night, October 4, at 6:30 PM. The Cuban-American media writer for the Boston Globe's Business Section weaves issues facing the latino gay community into the  urban settings he is familiar with, such as Boston or Miami, where he worked for the Miami Herald before moving north. His previous novels include Boston Boys Club (2007), Miami Manhunt (2008) and Beantown Cubans (2009). He currently teaches Journalismat Emerson College. The library is located at 685 Tremont Street, between West Newton Street and Rutland Square Air Blower. The event is free, and sponsored by the Friends of the South End Library as part of its The South End Writes series.

Author Lily King Will Read From "Father of the Rain" Tomorrow, Tuesday, September 27 at the South End Library

The Friends of the South End Library are resuming their author's series, The South End Writes, with a reading tomorrow night by author Lily King from her most recent novel, Father of the Rain. Lily King, not a South End resident but with many friends in the neighborhood, grew up in Manchester, MA, and has taught English and Creative Writing at universities here and abroad. Her first novel, The Pleasing Hour, won the Barnes and Noble Discover Award and was a NY Times Notable Book. Her second, The English Teacher, won the Maine Fiction AwardWater Obstacle. Copies of King's novels are available at the SE branch, thanks to head librarian, Anne Smart. The reading starts at 6:30 PM at the South End Library. Refreshments will be available.

Whether "Back-in-Town" or "Never-Left-to-Begin-With," the Fall 2011 FOSEL Season Resumes

Hurricanes came and went this summer, and some may visit yet belatedly, but the South End Library is still standing. Its programming, and best of all, Saturday hours from 10 to 2,, have resumed. Just before Labor Day, FOSEL  cleaned up and refurbished the gardens in the tree enclosures around the library. In addition, FOSEL also removed the debris left by Hurricane Irene in Library Park. One of the park's steady visitors, Orlando, spent two days assisting FOSEL bagging the trash and sweeping the pavement in and around the park. Thank you, Orlando. The South End Writes Author's Series, which last year hosted literary luminaries like Sue Miller, Henri Cole, Doug Bauer, film writer Alice Stone, and culinary authors Chris Kimball and Joanne Chang, will start afresh on Tuesday, September 27 at 6:30 PM. Award-winning fiction writer Lily King will read from the just-issued paperback version of her 2010 novel, Father of the Rain, set in a suburb on Boston's North Shore. Her previous novels include The Pleasing Hour (winner of the Barnes and Noble Discover Award), and The English Teacher (winner of the Maine Fiction Award). Father of the Rain has won the New England Book Award for Fiction and was listed as a New York Times Editor's Choice.

Boston Globe reporter Johnny Diaz will read from his fourth novel, Take the Lead, on Tuesday, October 4, 6:30 PM. Diaz's novels explore the lives of Latino gay men in urban venues such as Boston's South End and Miami, where Diaz was previously a reporter for The Miami Herald. At The Herald, he shared in the 2000 Pulitzer prize for the paper's coverage of the seizure by federal agents of Elian Gonzales, a young boy who had fled Cuba with his mother and her boyfriend, but whose father demanded his return to the island after the mother drowned during the escape. Diaz's earlier novels include Beantown Cubans, Miami Manhunt, and Boston Boys Club. Diaz wrote in an email that Take the Lead was partially inspired by an article he wrote for the Boston Globe about a physical therapy dance class for people who suffer from Parkinson's Disease. In the novel,  the dance class forms the background for the main character's coming to terms with the relationship with his father, who struggles with the illness, and his love affair with the dance instructor..

The BPL's efforts to create a workable Long-Term Strategic Plan will reach an important moment on Thursday, September 15 when the BPL trustees, at their public meeting, will receive a draft of the document outlining the BPL's modernization plan from the so-called Compass Strategic Planning Committee. The meeting will be held at Copley Library at 8:30 AM. The planning committee is chaired by South End's State Representative and BPL Trustee, Byron Rushing. Other members of the committee include BPL Trustees Carol Fulp and Zamawa Arenas, BPL President Amy E. Ryan, Executive Director of  Codman Academy Charter Public School Meg Campbell, Mayor Menino's Special Assistant Alice Hennessey, Mimi Jones of the Friends of Dudley Branch Library, private attorney  Ronaldo Rauseo-Ricupero and Pamela Seigle, Executive Director, Courage & Renewal Northeast at Wellesley College. The committee met several times during the summer and held a few "roundtables" at branch libraries, regrettably not well advertised through neighborhood associations or similar institutions, and too often held during the summer when many library patrons and supporters are away on vacation or visiting relatives. Nevertheless, the Compass Committee invites everyone to read the draft document and comment by email . FOSEL will report on the document in a later post on this web site.

Also on the BPL Trustee Agenda is the announcement of the resignation of long-time trustee Berthe M. Gaines, creating the second open seat on the nine-member library board. The other vacancy is the result of the retirement earlier this year of author and Boston Globe columnist James Carroll.. A library advocate who in the 1980s fought branch closures, Ms. Gaines had not attended trustee meetings for more than two years or expressed any public opinions about the BPL's recent trials and tribulations. Mayor Menino appoints trustees, but, in contrast with procedures in other library communities, the mayoral nominees have thus far not been asked by the City Council to demonstrate their ability for advocacy on behalf of libraries or library patrons, or their fundraising prowess, in a public forum such as city council hearings. The danger of pro-forma confirmation of library board nominees by the City Council became evident in the last few years when proposed budget cutbacks went unchallenged, BPL foundation fundraising collapsed for lack of inspired leadership and proposed  library closures endorsed by BPL trustees were only averted at the last minute after public outrage made closings politically unpalatable.

Overall South End Library programming will be posted separately, but FOSEL has agreed to sponsor two events for children in September and October. In addition, A FOSEL supporter has purchased a sewing machine for the library's craft program organized by children's librarian Margaret Gardner, who hopes to instruct young tailors and tailorettes in the art of the mechanical needle.

The FOSEL Fundraising Campaign begun earlier this year to collect money to have a handicapped-accessible door installed at the South End Library has not yet reached its goal. The FOSEL board is currently looking into next steps, and will post an update as soon as possible.

Welcome back and stay tuned....

America's Test Kitchen and Cook's Illustrated's Chris Kimball Will Talk About Food Writing at the South End Library on June 7, 6:30 PM

Chris Kimball

Longtime South End resident and culinary-publishing star  Christopher Kimball (America's Test Kitchen) will talk about his personal essays in the bi-monthly Cook's Illustrated this Tuesday at the South End Library at 6:30 PM. And, yes, refreshments will be served: how could we not? For this event, Kimball will bring copies of his recent book, Fannie's Last Supper, a tale of the author's recreation of a 12-course Christmas dinner  given at the end of the 19th Century in the South End  by Fannie Farmer, who wrote The Boston Cooking School Cookbook. The entire meal was prepared on a wood-burning stove at Kimball's home located near where Ms. Farmer used to live.

Kimball's extraordinarily successful career in food-publishing (The Best Recipe, Grilling and Barbecue, American Classics, Restaurant Favorites at Home, among other cookbooks) has defied general wisdom numerous times since its inception in 1980. Cook's Illustrated lacks the sumptuous photography mandatorily prevalent in food publishing, but offers instead fine line drawings and watercolors of seasonal vegetables, fruits, cheeses, culinary implements and, yes, even its authors. And in an era when print publishing has seen its worst circulation numbers, Cook's Illustrated's subscriber base exploded. What can his secret be?

Perhaps in an era of  formulaic publishing formats, the incongruous and unexpected brings the triumphs. Thus the personal essays Kimball pens for each bi-monthly Cook's Illustrated may seem out of place in a magazine devoted to the dreary task of testing recipes and canned-food products, but the cast of characters that has populated the columns for decades enlivens and anchors this publication's unique approach to food and life. There's Charley Bentley, the farmer who doesn't talk much but whose raised eyebrow will tell you all you need to know; and John Kurasinski, the gruff neighbor who likes to do favors but has trouble accepting them because he doesn't want to be in anyone's debt; and there we have Herbie and Onie, the two local farmhands with whom Kimball weathered the many complications of farming.

For Kimball, all roads seem to lead back to Vermont, where he grew up and owns a farm: even in a 2001 essay, recalling his 1969 trip with high-school friends across the Sahara desert to Agadez (Niger), he wonders, three decades later, after dropping off his kids at the local country store to buy candy, whether the journey and the destination are the same thing.

Kimball's visit will close the first season of FOSEL-sponsored The South End Writes author's series. It will resume in September.

Food Writers Joanne Chang and Chris Kimball on June 2 and June 7, Respectively

Joanne Chang

Smug Little Devil

South End culinary lights Joanne Chang (Myers+Chang, Flour) and Christopher Kimball (Cook's Illustrated, America's Test Kitchen, Cook's Bible) will come to the South End Library to talk about their work (culinary and authory) on Thursday, June 2 and Tuesday, June 7, respectively. Both events start at 6:30 PM and will offer refreshments (how could we not?). Their books will be available at the event. Stay tuned for more information closer to the date.  

Flour Bakery's Joanne Chang Will Talk About Writing the Flour Cookbook, Thursday, June 2, at 6:30 PM at the South End Branch.

Joanne Chang

The South End's doyenne of daily delicacies, Flour Bakery's owner and baked-goods visionary Joanne Chang, will speak at the South End Library on Thursday as part of The South End Writes series. Joanne will talk about what was involved in writing the cookbook,Flour: A Baker's Collection of Spectacular Recipes, and answer any questions you might have about the writing process , her recipes, and what she would like to get into print next. Joanne will bring copies of the book, and sign them. Next week Tuesday, June 7, another South End culinary star, Christopher Kimball, of Cook's IllustratedandAmerica's Test Kitchen, will close The South End Writes author's series for the summer season. FOSEL is currently working on inviting others writers for the 2011/2012 literary year. Stay tuned..

Meg Muckenhaupt On Boston's Green Spaces and Their Changing Use From 1600s to Contemporary Times

May 17th, 2011

When Meg Muckenhaupt comes to the South End Library next Tuesday, she will examine the role of public spaces throughout Boston's historic and contemporary landscape and talk about the changing roles of green space in the Boston area since the 1600s. The author of Boston's Gardens & Green Spaces was born in New Jersey and graduated from Harvard. She has written for the Boston Globe, Boston Magazine and the Boston Phoenix. She currently edits the Belmont Citizens Forum Newsletter and lives in Lexington, MA. Copies of her book will be available at the reading. A light reception will follow the talk.

Author of "Boston's Gardens & Green Spaces" to Speak at the South End Library on Tuesday, May 17, 6:30 PM

When Meg Muckenhaupt comes to the South End Library next Tuesday, she will examine the role of public spaces throughout Boston's historic and contemporary landscape and talk about the changing roles of green space in the Boston area since the 1600s. The author of Boston's Gardens & Green Spaces was born in New Jersey and graduated from Harvard. She has written for the Boston Globe, Boston Magazine and the Boston Phoenix. She currently edits the Belmont Citizens Forum Newsletter and lives in Lexington, MA. Copies of her book will be available at the reading. A light reception will follow the talk.