Poet April Bernard to Read from "Miss Fuller," a Fictionalized History of Feminist Margaret Fuller, Once "the Most Famous Woman in America," Tuesday, February 5, 6:30 PM at the SE Library

The cover of  Miss Fuller shows a stormy sea seen from the coast, ostensibly New York's Fire Island, where, in 1850, Margaret Fuller perished in a shipwreck with her Italian husband and two-year-old son. The tragic dimensions of Fuller's life and death are narrated from the points of view of various characters belonging to the Concord Transcendentalists, who had awaited her return. Henry David Thoreau, traveling to Fire Island hoping to find manuscripts among the soaked debris that washed ashore after the hurricane passed, finds something else instead, which forms the fictionalized framework of Bernard's 2012 work.

April Bernard is a novelist, poet, and essayist whose most recent book of poems is Romanticism (2009).  Previous poetry collections are Blackbird Bye Bye, Psalms, and Swan Electric.  Her work has appeared in The New York Review of Books, The New Yorker, The New York Times Book Review, The New Republic, The Nation, and Slate. She has taught widely and was for many years a magazine and book editor in New York City. Her honors include a Guggenheim award, the Walt Whitman Award from the Academy of American Poets, a Whitney Humanities Fellowship at Yale University, a Sidney Harman Fellowship, and the Stover Prize. As Director of Creative Writing, she is a member of the English Department faculty at Skidmore College, and is also on the faculty of the Bennington MFA Writing Seminars. Her five favorite novels are listed under The South End Reads tab of the FOSEL web site.

Ms. Bernard will read from Miss Fuller as well as from her poetry collection, Romanticism. Both books will be available for sale, signing and borrowing from the library. The writer will be introduced by author Doug Bauer, also on the faculty of Bennington College, whose next collection of essays --What Happens Next?--will be published this fall.

On February 26, the South End Writes will host nationally known writer Andre Dubus III, who will read from Townie, a Memoir.

Looking Back 45 Years and Longer, Lynne Potts Will Read from her Memoir, "A Block in Time: a History of the South End from a Window on Holyoke Street" Tuesday, January 29, 6:30 PM

Lynne Potts

"Holyoke Street, a single block of row houses in the South End of Boston, was built in the 1860s as housing for upper- and middle-class families," is how Lynne Potts begins the memoir of her time in what is now the largest Victorian neighborhood in the United States. In a carefully documented paperback illustrated with photographs and drawings, the author weaves a history of the beginnings of the South End in the early 1800s, when it was still mostly underwater, to its nascent form  as a neighborhood for wealthy Bostonians decades later, and its subsequent decline toward the end of the 19th century. How it reemerged in the 20th and 21st centuries as one of the most sought-after and diverse neighborhoods in Boston is the tale  with which she intertwines her own, arriving first in 1968 from New York City as a student and ten years later as a single mother with two young children, Sam and Emmy, to whom the book is dedicated.

Many names of local characters who helped shape the history of the neighborhood can be found in the pages of this delightful book, some still around, others not, including Eleanor Strong, Allan Crite, Ann Hershfang, Marcie Curry and Mel King. The movement to preserve open space in the neighborhood by means of establishing community garden plots,  the opening of first Bread and Circus store  (now Whole Foods), the creation of Southwest Corridor Park and historic fights to keep the South End branch of the Boston Public Library open are covered as well. In the 1980s, Potts began to write about it all for The South End News, then just founded as a 24-page local newspaper by Alison Barnet and Skip Rosenthal.

Lynne Potts is a poet who currently lives both in the South End and in New York City, where she received an MFA from Columbia University. Her poems have appeared in the Paris Review and other literary journals, and she was the Poetry Editor of the Columbia Journal of Literature and Art. Her five favorite books are listed under The South End Reads on this web site.

Author Leah Hager Cohen Explores the Unique Dimension of Sorrow Experienced by Each of her Characters in her Novel, "The Grief of Others,"

A roomful of people greeted Leah Hager Cohen on January 15 when she read at the South End branch from her latest, and highly acclaimed, novel, The Grief of Others. Introduced by author Doug Bauer, who substituted for Sue Miller, out with a bad cold, Hager Cohen started out by saying that she is happiest when writing but "second happiest' when in a library "with other library people." She read a section from the novel that harkened back to a summer vacation in a family cabin where a couple and three children from two relationships are united for the first time in years, each bringing with them an assortment of wounds and sorrows that are explored underneath the starry skies of the Adirondack mountains, a place where, as Hager Cohen described it, the lake's  black water  at night "is warmer than the air."  This is the first novel where she used physical details from places she knows well, the Adirondacks and the town of Nyack, NY, something she had resisted in her previous work, she told the spellbound audience, until her agent suggested doing otherwise for this novel.

Author Leah Hager Cohen at the South End library

How people grieve is not quantifiable, the author suggested in response to various comments about how contemporary culture  deals with sorrows large and small because "we each do it in our own unique way." Her mother taught her  "no one lives very long without sorrow or grief," and that, through like experiences,  we are all part of a larger community, in our own time --horizontally-- and through time --vertically-- with our ancestors and descendants.

One of Hager Cohen's earlier non-fiction books, Train Go Sorry, offered personal history of a different kind, specifically the experience of her immigrant grandparents, both deaf, and of her father who ran a school for deaf children, told from the author's perspective as a person with hearing. Or, as Doug Bauer put it, as someone who "yearns to be part of that culture, one she grew up so close to, and yet could not fully be a member of."

Author Doug Bauer introduced Hager Cohen

Answering a question from the audience of how she became a writer Hager Cohen said that, when she was little, she would name each of her fingers and tell stories about them, which her mother transcribed. "She gave me the gift of taking seriously what I was doing," Hager Cohen said. Later on, in journalism school, a professor asked whether he could show the non-fiction she had written, about the deaf culture, to his agent, which set her on the road to being a published writer, first in non-fiction, but in fiction shortly after.

Hager Cohen said she is "excited" about the new book she is working on:  It is based on the question of how to love, or live with, someone who is hard to love.

Her five favorite books are listed on the FOSEL web site under The South End Reads.

The "South End Writes" Author Series Resumes Tuesday, January 15, with Leah Hager Cohen Reading from her 2012 Novel, "The Grief of Others"

FOSEL president Marleen Nienhuis, author Margot Livesey and novelist Sue Miller

When the Friends of the South End Library (FOSEL) began to sponsor authors at the South End Library to read from their work three years ago, we had no idea how popular the adventure would become, or whether anyone would show up. What we did know was that the South End branch had an incredibly supportive and interested staff who would help us, that the South End is, was, and likely will always be a haven for writers, artists, musicians and other creative minds, and that we had a wonderful graphic designer  on our board, Mary Owens, who would generously and cleverly volunteer to do the posters we needed to announce the readings.

It's easy to take for granted all the different roles a free public library plays in the community it serves, from the vaulted place of research to the simple refuge that is cool in the summer, warm in the winter, with a free, clean bathroom in a culture where that sort of basic amenity can be hard to find.

What FOSEL was not fully cognizant of  at the time is that a library is also a place where local residents can find out who else actually lives here, who is writing what, who is thinking what, and what our local history is. This is what The South End Writes has become: a mirror of literary achievement by the many fine writers, journalists and poets who live where we live, shop where we shop, take the T and go to the polls just like we do. We just didn't know who they were, but increasingly we do. Writers are invited by FOSEL board members, by FOSEL supporters and literary luminaries like Sue Miller and Doug Bauer, and by the South End Library staff, headed by Anne Smart. The ones who have enriched us with their work  include Sue Miller, Doug Bauer, Chris Kimball, Joanne Chang, John Sacco, Phil Gambone, Johnny Diaz, Susan Naimark,, Henri Cole, Sara Lawrence Lightfoot, Stephen Davis, Margot Livesey, Alice Stone, Mari Passananti, Maryanne O'Hara, L. Annette Binder, Edith Pearlman, Christine Chamberlain, Sven Birkerts, Wendy Wunder, Lily King, Susan Conley, Alison Barnet and Scott Pomfret, among others.

Coming up between now and the summer are:Leah Hager Cohen, Lynne Potts, April Bernard, Andre Dubus III, Mari Passananti, Doug Bauer, Dennis Lehane, Alice Hoffman, Alice Stone, and Phil Gambone. Some will read at the South End branch for the first time; others are returning to update us on new work, or work in progress.

Perhaps the best compliment paid to The South End Writes is that another library Friends group, at the Jamaica Plain branch, has begun its own series, Jamaica Plain Writes, with the first author, JP resident Chuck Collins,  appearing there on Thursday, January 24, at 6:45 p.m. Collins is an expert on U.S. inequality, the author of several books, and a senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies, a progressive think tank. For further information about the JP Writes series, check the link to their web site here.

Below is the list of writers scheduled to appear at the South End Library until July. Occasionally, schedules need to change, but FOSEL posts them on this web site as soon as they become known.

Wishing you a Happy and Writerly New Year....

UPCOMING READINGS FOR THE SOUTH END WRITES ARE:

January 15, 2013, 6:30 p.m.

Leah Hager Cohen

The Grief of Others

The author, who publishes both fiction and non-fiction, will read from her latest novel which the New York Times described as “her best work yet.” With an introduction by  Sue Miller

Tuesday, January 29, 6:30 p.m.

Lynne Potts

A Block in Time: a History of Boston’s South End from a Window on Holyoke Street. The author, who moved into a house on Holyoke Street with two young children in 1978, has written a personal history that includes what it was like to be young in the 60s, the turmoil and transformations of the South End from the time it was created out of Boston Bay, and captivating details of the characters in her neighborhood. A poet as well as a writer, she splits her time living on Rutland Street and in New York City, where she was Poetry Editor of the Columbia Journal of Literature and Art.

Tuesday, February 5, 6:30 p.m.

April Bernard

The poet (Romanticism)and novelist, most recently of  history (Miss Fuller), is currently the director of creative writing at Skidmore College. With an introduction by South End author Doug Bauer, whose own new collection of essays, "What Happens Next?" will come out this fall.

Tuesday, February 26, 6:30 p.m.

Andre Dubus III

Townie, a Memoir

The examination of the author’s violent past has been described ”best book” of non-fiction of 2011 and 2012 by many literary-gate guardians, and was preceded by his previous novelsHouse of Sand and Fog (made into a movie by the same name) and The Garden of Last Days.  Sue Miller will introduce the author.

Tuesday, March 19, 6:30 p.m.

Mari Passananti

will read from her second novel, The K Street Affair.

Tuesday, April 16, 6:30 p.m.

Doug Bauer

Editor, writer of numerous books of fiction and non-fiction, and revered professor of English at Bennington College (to where he commutes from the South End), Bauer will read from his most recent collection of essays, What Happens Next?, to be published in the fall of 2013  by the University of Iowa Press.

Tuesday, May 14, 6:30 p.m.

Dennis Lehane, the spectacularly successful author who grew up in Dorchester and is ALSO a BPL trustee, published his latest novel, Live by Night, in 2012. Set in Boston in the 1920s, the New York Times’ reviewer called the book a “sentence-by-sentence pleasure.”

Tuesday, May 21, 6:30 p.m.

Alice Hoffman

The Dovekeepers, a historical novel describing the AD70 massacre at Masada from the point of view of four women at the fortress before it fell during the Jewish-Roman war, is the most recent of the nearly two dozen novels by Hoffman and just came out in paperback. To be introduced by Sue Miller.

Tuesday, June 11, 6:30 p.m.

Alice Stone,

the local filmmaker whose mesmerizing documentary, Angelo Unwritten, has followed the life of a teenager adopted out of foster care when he was twelve, will return with an update of new material gathered since December 2011.

Tuesday, June 18, 6:30 p.m.

Philip Gambone

will return to read from his current work-in-progress, retracing the steps of his father who, as a soldier, was sent to Europe during the Second World War.

The five favorite books recommended by the authors mentioned above, and previous speakers, can be found under THE SOUTH END READS.

Author Marylou Depeiza Will Read from her Suspense Novel, "Walking in her Shoes," the Story of her Mother's Secret Life While Raising a Traditional Family in the South End

Marylou Depeiza

After her mother's death in the mid-1990s, Marylou Depeiza decided to find out what might be the mystery at the center of her mother's life, something she had tried to uncover before but been told to stay away from. Leola Williams, wife of a World War II veteran who was raising a family of six while living in the South End, had a secret life that her daughter discovered doing genealogical research on the Internet. "Walking in her Shoes" is the result. Depeiza will read from the suspenseful novel based on her mother's life at the South End Library, Tuesday, November 27, at 6:30 PM.  

Recent Readings by Authors at the South End Library Illustrate the Varied Richess of the Local Writing Scene and the Unique Role Played by Branch Libraries in their Neighborhoods

FOSEL founding president Marleen Nienhuis and novelists Margot Livesey and Sue Miller

The range of authors who came to talk about their work at the South End Library during Halloween season provided a nice illustration of the  deep and varied pool of writing talent that exists at the local level, and the supportive role neighborhood libraries play in hosting them. On October 25, Maryanne O’Hara, a short-story writer who lives in the South End, discussed her much-praised first novel, Cascade, which is based on the flooding of a town in Western Massachusetts in the 1930s. She was followed a few days later by acclaimed novelist  and Distinguished Writer-in-Residence at Emerson College,  Margot Livesey, who talked about her latest work, The Flight of Gemma Harding,a re-imagening of Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre. That same week, rock biographer Stephen Davis, arrived at the South End branch with a seemingly inexhaustible collection of anecdotes and observations about the rock and pop stars he’d written about for decades, after reading from his most recent (unauthorized) biography of Carly Simon, More Room in a Broken Heart.

Maryanne o'Hara giving a talk at the South End library

O’Hara’s novel, while a fictionalized account of a to-be-drowned town, attracted an audience interested in the actual flooding of small towns in Massachusetts by the Quabbin reservoir in the 1930s. The author did not disappoint: she brought copies of old photographs of the four towns that became submerged –Dana, Enfield, Greenwich and Prescott– and, after signing copies of her book, even used a stamp with a special postmark of the novel's make-believe town, Cascade, on the last date of its supposed existence, December 27, 1934. Part of the research for the novel was done at the Waterworks Museum on Chestnut Hill, O’Hara said, which documents the history of the country's first metropolitan water systems. O’Hara’ inspiration for the main character, artist Dez who is torn between ambition and family tradition, was sparked by an interview with WPA painter James Lechay in Truro, MA, a decade ago. Her subsequent interest in the WPA, and the 1930s' government support for the arts, turned first into a magazine article, but eventually found its way into her novel, as did O'Hara's love for Shakespeare --a Shakespeare summer theatre features prominently,-- and the author's fascination with the actual drowned towns of the Quabbin reservoir.

Author Stephen Davis

Margot Livesey was introduced by novelist Sue Miller, who said she loved Livesey's novels before she ever met the author, and especially appreciated what she described as the novelist's thoughtfulness for the “mysteriousness of otherness.”  Livesey explained that in The Flight of Gemma Hardy she examined why 21st-century female readers of Jane Eyre still identify in such profound ways with the 19th-century character, even though their lives are vastly different. She suggested that the novel, which has not been out of print in 165 years,  still speaks to readers for two reasons: the heroine represents the arche-type of orphan and pilgrim, and it explores the fundamental question asked by the Bronte sisters of how a girl of no special talents, without a family or special skills, can make her way in the world. In The Flight of Gemma Hardy she wanted to “re-imagine the appeal of Jane Eyre for those who loved it and those who hadn’t read it.” Having been raised herself in a boys’ private school in Scotland, where her father was headmaster, and her ‘severe’ stepmother’s notion of children was they best be ‘seen but not heard,’ the author recounted she spent much time hoping for a natural disaster that would destroy the school and its Gothic buildings. Nevertheless,the English landscape has been the setting for most of her writings but after living in the US  for many years, her current work-in-progress, or  as she described it, “the novel I am failing to write,” is set in contemporary New England.

Stephen Davis’s animated talk about the world of pop and rock as he experienced it, writing first for the Boston Phoenix and Rolling Stone magazine and concentrating on rock biographies later, centered on the life of singer/songwriter Carly Simon, who he knew closely through friendships with her brother Peter, and the time their families spent on Martha’s Vineyard growing up. Describing her rise to fame, Davis placed her squarely in the culture of the 60s and 70s, when successful female singers were few and far between but the female audience of baby boomers was ready for their music, even when they didn’t know it until they heard it. “Carly was part of the continuum of how things should be rather than were,” Davis said. “When her Greatest Hits came out, it was what the women in minivans listened to taking their kids to soccer practice.” The talented Simon had romantic relationships with many stars, and “learned from her boyfriends,” said Davis. They included Cat Stevens --a date with him inspired Simon's song Anticipation-- and  James Taylor, who was her husband until she “threw him out” when she feared his drug addiction would become an issue for their two children. “She doesn’t have his phone number to this day,” said Davis, even though theirs was a “great romantic love story,” he added. Davis, who ghost-wrote the autobiography of Michael Jackson at the request of  Doubleday's then-editor Jacqueline Onassis  --"she made the phone calls; someone else edited,” he said,-- is currently working on the biography of Stevie Nicks, the singer/songwriter who sang for many years with Fleetwood Mac.

The five favorite books recommended by the authors mentioned above, and previous speakers, can be found under THE SOUTH END READS.

UPCOMING READINGS FOR THE SOUTH END WRITES ARE:

January 15, 2013, 6:30 p.m.

Leah Hager Cohen

The Grief of Others

The author, who publishes both fiction and non-fiction, will read from her latest novel which the New York Times described as “her best work yet.” With an introduction by  Sue Miller

Tuesday, January 29, 6:30 p.m.

Lynne Potts

A Block in Time: a History of Boston's South End from a Window on Holyoke Street. 

Details will be posted as they become available.

Tuesday, February 5, 6:30 p.m.

April Bernard

The poet (Romanticism)and novelist, most recently of  history (Miss Fuller), is currently the director of creative writing at Skidmore College. With an introduction by South End author Doug Bauer

Tuesday, February 26, 6:30 p.m.

Andre Dubus III

Townie, a memoir

The examination of the author’s violent past has been described ”best book” of non-fiction of 2011 and 2012 by many literary-gate guardians, and was preceded by his previous novelsHouse of Sand and Fog (made into a movie by the same name) and The Garden of Last Days.  Sue Miller will introduce the author.

Tuesday, March 19, 6:30 p.m.

Mari Passananti

will read from her second novel, The K Street Affair.

Tuesday, April 18, 6:30 p.m.

Doug Bauer

Editor, writer of numerous books of fiction and non-fiction, and revered professor of English at Bennington College (to where he commutes from the South End), Bauer will read from his most recent collection of essays, What Happens Next?, to be published in the fall of 2013  by the University of Iowa Press.

Tuesday, May 14, 6:30 p.m.

Dennis Lehane, the spectacularly successful author who grew up in Dorchester and is ALSO a BPL trustee, published his latest novel, Live by Night, in 2012. Set in Boston in the 1920s, the New York Times' reviewer called the book a "sentence-by-sentence pleasure."

Tuesday, May 21, 6:30 p.m.

Alice Hoffman

The Dovekeepers, a historical novel describing the AD70 massacre at Masada from the point of view of four women at the fortress before it fell during the Jewish-Roman war, is the most recent of the nearly two dozen novels by Hoffman and just came out in paperback. To be introduced by Sue Miller.

Tuesday, June 11, 6:30 p.m.

Alice Stone,

the local filmmaker whose mesmerizing documentary, Angelo Unwritten, has followed the life of a teenager adopted out of foster care when he was twelve, will return with an update of new material gathered since December 2011.

Tuesday, June 18, 6:30 p.m.

Philip Gambone

will return to read from his current work-in-progress, retracing the steps of his father who, as a soldier, was sent to Europe during the Second World War.

Rock'n Roll Biographer Stephen Davis Reads From the Unauthorized Biography of Singer/Songwriter Carly Simon, "More Room in a Broken Heart," at the SE Library, Thursday, November 1, at 6:30 p.m.

stephen davis

Music journalist Stephen Davis will read from his most recent rock'n roll biography, More Room in a Broken Heart: the True Adventures of Carly Simon, at the South End Library this Thursday, November 1, at 6:30 p.m.  It is an unauthorized biography, ostensibly because singer/songwriter Simon feels the book is 'too revealing,' according to Davis, who was interviewed earlier this year on the Emily Rooney show. Controversy also centered on other authors accusing him of using their material in this book. Davis says he'd prefer to recast that criticism as 'copying' of material already published although, he freely acknowledged, without the complete bibliographic attribution by the publisher he had hoped for. "In the paperback, we'll do that," Davis told Rooney.

Davis has a distinguished record of more than a dozen pop and rock biographies, including Hammer of the Gods: the Led Zeppelin Saga (1985), Watch You Bleed: the Saga of Guns 'N Roses (2008), and Bob Marley: Conquering Lion of Reggae (1994). He was the ghostwriter for the autobiography of the late pop star Michael Jackson, Moon Walk, which was edited by Jacqueline Onassis and sold out as soon as it hit the New York Times bestseller list. It was never reprinted or issued in paperback. Davis, whom the Boston Globe described as "the gold standard of rock biographers,"  began his career at The Boston Phoenix. His articles, written in an engaging and lively prose style, have been featured in Rolling Stone magazine and the New York Times, among other publications.

The author will be introduced by FOSEL board member Courtney Fitzgerald, who invited him to speak at the South End branch. Davis has promised to give the audience "an excruciating evening of R & R lore unfit to print but fun to hear about."

Davis's books will be  available for purchase and signatures and, thanks to head librarian Anne Smart, for borrowing, as well.

Margot Livesey Will Read from her Latest Novel, "The Flight of Gemma Harding," Tuesday Night, October 30, at 6:30 P.M.

livesey

Scottish-born Margot Livesey, who is currently a distinguished writer in residence at Emerson College, will read from her latest novel, The Flight of Gemma Hardy, this coming Tuesday, October 30, at 6:30 p.m., at the South End Library.  She will be introduced by novelist Sue Miller, who invited her to The South End Writes program. Liveley has suggested that a novel, "as its name intimates, brings us news of another kind, and it is news that we vitally need, though it may not make the headlines. For what a novel does is to help us fill the abyss between the self and other." About learning the craft of writing a novel, she has said, "I had spent many happy hours in the house of fiction, but I knew nothing about plumbing or wiring or putting up drywall."

The Flight of Gemma Harding is Livesey's seventh novel and is loosely based on Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. Other novels include Eva Moves the Furniture  (2001) and The House on Fortune Street (2008). While writing, she has taught at Boston University, Bowdoin College, Brandeis University, Carnegie Mellon, Cleveland State, Emerson College, the Iowa Writers' Workshop, Tufts University, the University of California at Irvine, the Warren Wilson College MFA program for writers, and Williams College. She has been the recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the N.E.A., the Massachusetts Artists' Foundation and the Canada Council for the Arts.

Livesey's books will be available at the reading for borrowing, purchasing and signing.

The BPD's Archivist Margaret Sullivan and her Colleague Dr. Kim L. Gaddy Shine a Light on the History of Boston's Fairest

After personnel files were put on microfilm at the Boston Police Department in the 1970s, a sergeant detective about to retire dumped a box of women's roster cards on the desk of another, Kim L. Gaddy, saying she didn't have the heart to shred them. "That's how it all started," Dr. Gaddy told a rapt audience at the South End Library on October 16, during the slide show of "Boston's Fairest." With Margaret Sullivan, the BPD's archives and records manager, Dr. Gaddy spent hundreds of hours at Radcliffe's library and the "dank basement" of the BPL, among other places, to document the history of Boston police women.

They only had to go back to the 1920s.  The time between the two world wars was one of  social change and the 1919 Boston Police Strike had decimated the department. It  consisted of "rookies and old men," said Sullivan. In 1921 the first six women who had been allowed to take the entry exam were appointed. They were denied uniforms, weapons, cars and handcuffs. But they had their badge. They'd show it, presumably bark "you're under arrest,"  and haul the perps to the police station by hailing a cab. More women were hired in the 1940s, including the first African-Americans, among them Dorothy "Harry" Harrison, the daughter of physician Columbus Harrison, who practiced from his home on Chandler Street. "Can you explain why these women were placed in the South End which was one of the most dangerous parts of Boston?" one member of the audience wanted to know. "Because they were good," said Sullivan, "and they knew the district very well."

The BPD remained largely the domain of men. But the perpetrators included women, as did of course the victims of crime. Handling female prostitutes or battered women caused discomfort among male law enforcement. The female recruits were expected to focus on women by protecting them from "mashers" (men who'd harass them) and bring home lost children. They did that --even bought kids ice cream on the beaches of South Boston-- but would land punches, if necessary, with the best of them.

Despite nine decades of proving their worth, the BPD’s percentage of female officers is still only 14 percent, roughly on par with the police departments elsewhere. “Police work has a very macho image but it is 85 percent social work, instead of knocking heads” said Dr. Gaddy, explaining part of the reason why women many not even see police work as suitable for them to this day. Answering another audience question, the speakers affirmed no specific efforts are underway by the BPD to demystify  what this profession is all about. "It's hard to get across why police work might appeal to college women" now looking to make career choices, agreed Sullivan. "It's not the only barrier," she said, referring to  other disincentives: jobs are not necessarily there right now, you have to be put 'on the list,' you have to live in Boston, there are several tests. "By the time you take care of that, most will have made other choices," she said.

The first African-American female olice officer, Dorothy Harris

A few years ago, Sullivan helped uncover the history of Boston's first  African-American officer in the BPD in 1878,  Sgt. Horatio J. Homer. She is currently working on the biographies of some twelve police officers (she calls them her "dirty dozen") who made difficult choices in their careers, including resigning when that was 'the right thing' to do. "It's hard to be a good cop sometimes," Sullivan said. One of her subjects is a former resident of Rutland Square, Captain Francis Wilson, whose father, Butler Wilson, a staunch Republican, helped start the Boston branch of the NAACP.

Short-story Writer Maryanne O'Hara Will Read from her Debut Novel, "Cascade," Thursday, October 25 at 6:30 PM

maryanne ohara

Maryanne O'Hara's first novel, Cascade, provides a fictionalized account of the attempted flooding of a small town in Western Massachusetts. Something like this really happened, of course,  in the 30s, when the creation of the Quabbin reservoir 65 miles east of our fair city flooded not just one, but four towns: Dana, Enfield, Greenwich and Prescott.

The image of a drowned town once alive with community and history has been an enticing one for storytellers, including South End novelist, Sue Miller, who also used the metaphor in her 2001 novel, The World Below.

O'Hara's Cascade refers not to the flood, but to the actual town in which the main character, Desdemona, is born and raised. When Cascade is jeopardized by the damming of a nearby river, she fights for her own survival as an artist and a wife, as well as the town's.  "Gorgeously written," said Caroline Leavitt, who reviewed it this summer for The Boston Globe.

O'Hara's reading on Thursday, October 25,  starts at 6:30 p.m. Copies to borrow, buy and sign are available at the event.

Dr. Sara Lawrence Lightfoot Says Today's Seniors Seek to Redefine Success in Unconventional Ways During the Third Chapter of Their Lives

Dr. Sara Lawrence Lightfoot walked the 142 steps from her home in the South End to the local library the other day, where a packed room of neighbors and library patrons awaited her. "It's good to be home," she said appreciatively. Reading from her book, The Third Chapter: Passion, Risk and Adventure in the 25 Years after Fifty, the distinguished author and professor of sociology reminded the audience that, each day, 10,000 Americans turn 60. They are healthier, live longer, and represent a specific new demographic group in the 21st century the way 'adolescents' were newly defined in the 20th. They feel less bound by traditional rules, want to reinvent themselves more readily, and hope to leave a legacy that makes a positive difference. "We've honed our expertise," she said, "we're re-calibrating the meaning of success and want to look back and give forward."

In assessing what new thinking might help people navigate the Third Chapter more easily, Lawrence Lightfoot, who is the Emily Hargroves Fisher Professor of Education at Harvard University, focused on four areas:education, which by encouraging specialization at too early an age discourages later learning choices that may be very different but more suitable; the need for an intergenerational compact of 'respectful reciprocity' that reduces competition between young and old by means of mentoring and apprenticeships; crossing boundaries between race, class, gender and age to help us make a "bodacious leap of faith" into different arenas we may be fearful of; and a public discourse that uses imagery and innovation to infuse the purpose of our lives with a more collective view, rather than just individual achievement.

Elaborating on these themes in response to many questions, Lawrence Lightfoot suggested, for example,  that in the classroom the concept of how long "wait time" can be matters. Referring to the time a child is allowed by the teacher to answer a question, wait time has been decreased to accommodate larger classes or packed curriculum requirements. But by asking too many questions that have only one correct answer, a child may not develop a necessary comfort level with open-ended questions, or those with multiple answers, and circumscribe new learning later on in life. In a different setting, the institutions people interface with daily, like banks or medical clinics, employees too easily refer to older people as "honey" or call them by their first name, infantilizing them. "We have to learn to say, "don't call us that," Lawrence Lightfoot stated firmly. With respect to her own Third Chapter transformations, she said she cares less about what people think of her, and that she has taken up long-distance swimming again.

Answering another question about her most recent book, Exit: the Endings That Set Us Free, Lawrence Lightfoot explained that it is not a sequel to The Third Chapter, but an exploration of the premise that we live in a society pre-occupied with beginnings. "We ignore the departures," she asserted. For this book, she looked at many 'exits' and found that instead of the negative space of regression and loss it is made out to be, it is a process that can unlock the regenerative powers 'that set us free.'.

FOSEL inquired whether the author would want to return to explore this subject further, and she did not turn us down. Stay tuned.

Sociologist, Educator and Author Sara Lawrence Lightfoot Will Read from "The Third Chapter: Passion, Risk and Adventure in the 25 Years After 50," Tuesday, October 9, at 6:30 p.m.

sara l lightfoot

Sara Lawrence Lightfoot, a MacArthur prize-winning sociologist and Emily Hargroves Fisher Professor of Education at Harvard University, will be at the South End branch Tuesday night to talk about her book, The Third Chapter: Passion, Risk and Adventure in the 25 Years After 50. Written a few years ago when she had entered her sixties, Lawrence Lightfoot discards the notion that being over fifty means acting enthusiastic about new adventures and directions is either "inappropriate" or "undignified," or that just playing golf and leading a life of self-centered leisure is the recipe for successful retirement. Instead, she explores how the bulge of healthy but aging baby-boomers in the population snake is forcing a reconsideration of the options available in the --now extended-- later stages of life.

In her interviews with forty educated and financially stable men and women, the South End resident explored what motivates people in their 'Third Chapter' of life to want to learn something new, even when they have been very successful up till then and even if the new direction is difficult and has a high risk of failure. She asserts her subjects were no longer interested in making it to the top of the ladder of individual achievement but wanted to find a way "to use their privilege, skills, networks, and access for the benefit of the broader community."

Lawrence Lightfoot wants to know what "institutional innovations, cultural priorities, and educational reforms might support the translations from individual gain to public good?"

You wondered about that yourself? The South End library is the place to find the answer Tuesday night, where the author will be introduced by health coach and wellness counselor, Colette Bourassa.

Lawrence Lightfoot has written nine books, including The Good High School: Portraits of Character and Culture (1983), which received the 1984 Outstanding Book Award from the American Educational Research Association and Balm In Gilead: Journey of A Healer (1988), which won the 1988 Christopher Award.Her most recent book, Exit: The Endings That Set Us Free, was published in May 2012. Her selection of five favorite books can be found at The South End Reads. The event starts at 6:30 p.m.

Future South End Writes authors are listed below:

Tuesday, October 16, 6:30 p.m. BPD Archivist Margaret Sullivan and Sgt. Detective Dr. Kim L. Gaddy"Boston's Fairest," an exhibit and lecture about the first 50 years of women in the Boston Police Department by the BPD's archivist, documenting the careers of wives and mothers who took on gangsters and bootleggers.

Thursday, October 25, 6:30 p.m. Maryanne O'Hara a former associate editor at Ploughshares and oft-published short-story writer, O'Hara will read from her debut novel Cascade, a recent People magazine pick, and described as "richly-satisfying" by the Boston Globe.

Tuesday, October 30, 6:30 p.m. Margot LiveseyThe Flight of Gemma Hardy, the seventh novel of Scottish-born Livesey which just came out in paperback, is modeled on the English classic, Jane Eyre, a "risky move" at which she for the most part succeeds, according to the New York Times. Introduction by novelist Sue Miller

Thursday, November 1, 6:30 p.m. Stephen DavisMore Room in a Broken Heart: the True Adventures of Carly Simon, the unauthorized biography of one of the most gifted folk singers by a former Rolling Stone magazine's editor and (now former) Simon family friend.

Tuesday, December 4, 6:30 p.m. Victor Howes A South End poet, decades-long college professor of literature and World War II veteran who published poems and book reviews in the Christian Science Monitor for many years, will read from his selected work.

January 15, 2013, 6:30 p.m. Leah Hager CohenThe Grief of Others The author, who publishes both fiction and non-fiction, will read from her latest novel which the New York Times described as "her best work yet." With an introduction by Sue Miller

Tuesday, February 5, 6:30 p.m. April Bernard The poet (Romanticism)and novelist, most recently of history (Miss Fuller), is currently the director of creative writing at Skidmore College. With an introduction by South End author Doug Bauer

Tuesday, February 26, 6:30 p.m. Andre Dubus IIITownie, a memoir The examination of the author's violent past has been described "best book" of non-fiction of 2011 and 2012 by many literary-gate guardians, and was preceded by his previous novelsHouse of Sand and Fog (made into a movie by the same name) and The Garden of Last Days. Sue Miller will introduce the author.

Tuesday, March 19, 6:30 p.m. Mari Passananti will read from her second novel, The K Street Affair.

Tuesday, April 18, 6:30 p.m. Doug Bauer Editor, writer of numerous books of fiction and non-fiction, and revered professor of English at Bennington College (to where he commutes from the South End), Bauer will read from his most recent collection of essays, What Happens Next?, to be published in the fall of 2013 by the University of Iowa Press.

Tuesday, May 21, 6:30 p.m. Alice HoffmanThe Dovekeepers, a historical novel describing the AD70 massacre at Masada from the point of view of four women at the fortress before it fell during the Jewish-Roman war, is the most recent of the nearly two dozen novels by Hoffman and just came out in paperback. To be introduced by Sue Miller.

Tuesday, June 11, 6:30 p.m. Alice Stone, the local filmmaker whose mesmerizing documentary, Angelo Unwritten, has followed the life of a teenager adopted out of foster care when he was twelve, will return with an update of new material gathered since December 2011.

Tuesday, June 18, 6:30 p.m. Philip Gambonewill return to read from his current work-in-progress, retracing the steps of his father who, as a soldier, was sent to Europe during the Second World War.

South End Writer L.Annette Binder Spins a Modern-day Fairy Tale With a Reading from her Short-story Collection,"Rise"

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"Freda weighed eighteen pounds when she was born. Her feet were each six inches long. At ten she was taller than her father." So began Nephelim, read by L. Annette Binder, from her award-winning debut short-story collection, Rise, at the South End Library recently. Husky-voiced, slightly swaying while leaning into her attentive audience, the author spun a magic tale of love and death, a dance between the physical fate of Freda and her all too human quest for love, which centers on the neglected boy of a neighboring family. Finely woven details describe the cruelty of physical deformity and the tenderness with which Freda's mother tries to find a place in the world for her doomed large child.

The former attorney, a classics major who was born in Germany but raised and educated in Colorado, told the listeners she finds the seeds of her materials from "something I hear on the street," or "a blip in the newspapers," but that what drives her stories is "character." Binder's first novel, unpublished, is stored in a 'lined desk drawer,' as she put it, but she is currently at work on another, based on a short story also included in Rise, called "Dead Languages." Binder's five favorite books are listed under The South End Writes tab on this web site.  

Stephen Davis, Who Wrote the Unauthorized Biography of Carly Simon, Has been Rescheduled to Talk on November 1 at the South End Branch. Sara Lawrence Lightfoot Will Give a Talk on October 9.

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Stephen Davis, the author of More Room in a Broken Heart: the True Adventures of Carly Simon has been rescheduled to talk at the South End Library on Thursday, November 1, instead of  the previously announced date in early October. An interview opportunity for Davis's next book on Stevie Nicks was the cause for the delay. In an email to FOSEL, Davis promises an "excruciating evening of R & R lore unfit to print but fun to hear about." Fasten your seat belts on Tuesday, November 1. Harvard professor, former Mac Arthur fellow, and long-time South End resident Sara Lawrence Lightfoot will talk at the South End Library on Tuesday, October 9, about her book The Third Chapter: Passion, Risk and Adventure in the 25 Years After 50. It will start at 6:30 p.m.

L. Annette Binder Will Read From her Award-winning Story Collection Tuesday, September 25, at 6:30 P.M. at the South End Library

Author and South End resident L. Annette Binder will read tomorrow, Tuesday, September 25, from her short stories collected in Rise, which won the 2011 Mary McCarthy Prize in Short Fiction in 2011. Binder was born in Germany, grew up in Colorado and attended Harvard University, Berkeley, and the Programs in Writing at the University of California, Irvine. Her writings have appeared in the Pushcart Prize Collection XXXVI and other publications. She  is currently working on a novel based on her tale "Dead Languages," published in The Southern Review. Books will be available for borrowing from the library, private purchase and signing by the author. The event starts at 6:30 p.m. Below are future readings in The South End Writes series:

Tuesday, October 9, 6:30 p.m.

Sara Lawrence Lightfoot  

The Third Chapter: Passion, Risk and Adventure in the 25 Years After Fifty, a review by the long-time Harvard University sociologist, educator, former MacArthur Prize fellow and South End resident, of the career and life choices people make before and after retirement. Introduction by health coach and wellness counselor Colette Bourassa.

Tuesday, October 16, 6:30 p.m.

Margaret Sullivan

"Boston's Fairest,"  an exhibit and lecture about the first 50 years of women in the Boston Police Department by the  BPD's archivist, documenting the careers of wives and mothers who took on gangsters and bootleggers.

Thursday, October 25, 6:30 p.m.

Maryanne O'Hara

a former associate editor at Ploughshares and oft-published short-story writer, O'Hara will read from her debut novel Cascade, a recent People magazine pick, and described as  "richly-satisfying" by the Boston Globe.

Tuesday, October 30, 6:30 p.m.

Margot Livesey

The Flight of Gemma Hardy, the seventh novel of Scottish-born Livesey which just came out in paperback, is modeled on the English  classic, Jane Eyre, a "risky move" at which she for the most part succeeds, according to the New York Times.  Introduction by novelist Sue Miller

Thursday, November 1, 6:30 p.m.

Stephen Davis

More Room in a Broken Heart: the True Adventures of Carly Simon, the unauthorized biography of  one of the most gifted folk singers by a former Rolling Stone magazine's editor and (now former) Simon family friend.

Tuesday, December 4, 6:30 p.m.

Victor Howes

A South End poet, decades-long college professor of literature and World War II veteran who published poems and book reviews in the Christian Science Monitor for many years, will read from his selected work.

January 15, 2013, 6:30 p.m.

Leah Hager Cohen

The Grief of Others

The author, who publishes both fiction and non-fiction, will read from her latest novel which the New York Times described as "her best work yet." With an introduction by  Sue Miller

Tuesday, February 5, 6:30 p.m.

April Bernard

The poet (Romanticism)and novelist, most recently of  history (Miss Fuller), is currently the director of creative writing at Skidmore College. With an introduction by South End author Doug Bauer

Tuesday, February 26, 6:30 p.m.

Andre Dubus III

Townie, a memoir

The examination of the author's violent past has been described "best book" of non-fiction of 2011 and 2012 by many literary-gate guardians, and was preceded by his previous novelsHouse of Sand and Fog (made into a movie by the same name) and The Garden of Last Days.  Sue Miller will introduce the author.

Tuesday, March 19, 6:30 p.m.

Mari Passananti

will read from her second novel, The K Street Affair.

Tuesday, April 18, 6:30 p.m.

Doug Bauer

Editor, writer of numerous books of fiction and non-fiction, and revered professor of English at Bennington College (to where he commutes from the South End), Bauer will read from his most recent collection of essays, What Happens Next?, to be published in the fall of 2013  by the University of Iowa Press.

Tuesday, May 21, 6:30 p.m.

Alice Hoffman

The Dovekeepers, a historical novel describing the AD70 massacre at Masada from the point of view of four women at the fortress before it fell during the Jewish-Roman war, is the most recent of the nearly two dozen novels by Hoffman and just came out in paperback. To be introduced by Sue Miller.

Tuesday, June 11, 6:30 p.m.

Alice Stone,

the local filmmaker whose mesmerizing documentary, Angelo Unwritten, has followed the life of a teenager adopted out of foster care when he was twelve, will return with an update of new material gathered since December 2011.

Tuesday, June 18, 6:30 p.m.

Philip Gambone

will return to read from his current work-in-progress, retracing the steps of his father who, as a soldier, was sent to Europe during the Second World War.

"South End Writes" Speaker and Former School Committee Member Susan Naimark Lists "Ten Things She Wishes She'd Known" Before Sending Her Kids to Boston Public Schools

The South End Library hosted a rapt audience of more than fifty local parents last Thursday night to hear a talk by education activist and author Susan Naimark, who described her experiences as a Boston Public Schools parent in the 1980s and 90s, when she and her husband John guided three children, including a foster daughter,  through eight public schools. "My kids got a great education, even though none received their first choice of school," said the former West Concord Street resident who moved to a Jamaica Plain fixer-upper to raise her family. She recalled that many parents at the time left the Boston public schools over court-ordered busing and mandatory school assignments but, despite years of a crazy schedule caused by both working full time and advocating for quality education in all public schools, Naimark stated firmly "I am glad we didn't bail."

Appointed to the School Committee by Mayor Tom Menino in the late 90s, where she served for a total of eight years, Naimark concluded that conversations about public education are often the wrong ones.  "There are layers of dynamics around race, but we don't talk about race or racism," she said. "So I wrote a book about it." With The Education of a White Parent: Wrestling with Race and Opportunity in the Boston Public Schools, Naimark hopes to share her learning curve which, she said,  is tied to national trends in public schools. "I gave a talk in Minnesota in June and parents there told me that what I had to say sounded just like what was happening in their kids' classroom today," she commented.

Searching for answers as to why so many students of color tested poorly --even though they seemed just as smart as her own white children-- or why selected school activities were dominated by white children, or why parents of color seemed less involved in school committees, Naimark looked beyond standard-fare responses that did not satisfy her. She reminded  the audience that  the parents, as elementary-school kids themselves, were bused to schools in hostile neighborhoods where they were stoned and spat on. "They may simply not be comfortable going to their kids' schools," she suggested. Pointing to a long history of advocacy by Boston's African-American community for better public schools, Naimark said that the first petition for school equity here was filed centuries ago, in 1798. And again in 1800, and 1840, and 1845 and 1846. The lack of responsiveness, or results, finally led to the Racial Imbalance Act of 1965, which culminated in court-ordered busing in the mid-seventies. During that time, the Boston public-school population declined from 60,000 to 40,000 students, when many white parents fled for the suburbs or private schools.

The question of why parents don't show up at their children's schools is complicated, Naimark emphasized, and differently complicated again for immigrant parents. There's a role for white parents in addressing this matter, she insisted, which starts with relationship building. To that point, she listed  "ten things I wish I had known before I became involved as a Boston public-school parent," she said.

They are:

1. Stretch yourself to get to know others who are unlike you.

2. Racism and inequity are important for everyone to speak up about. The BPS has an Equity Office that will look into racist remarks. and related problems.

3. Make it a personal commitment to engage with those who appear left out.

4. Don’t take perceived hostility personally—decades of racism and exclusion leave their mark.

5. Make sure kids who are different get together.

6. Model how to talk about race and racism to your children, even if it is difficult and no immediate solution is in sight.

7. Don’t be defensive when you are challenged by parents of color: white liberals often appear most defensive about being called racist or making racist assumptions.

8. The impact of what you say or do trumps the intent. Don’t argue about it.

9. It’s ok to admit you don’t know certain things.

10. If you don’t work for ALL kids, you send the wrong message to your own kids

One of the audience participants said that "great stuff is happening" in many Boston public schools, and that there are resources available to help classroom teachers secure materials for their students, including DonorsChoose, an on-line charity that specializes in funding public-school projects large and small.

"The South End Writes" Resumes Thursday, September 20, 6:30 p.m., with Susan Naimark Reading from "The Education of a White Parent: Wrestling with Race and Opportunity in the Boston Public Schools"

When Susan Naimark sent the first of her two sons into the Boston public school system in 1985, she found out quickly that she was getting an education herself. Not in academic subjects necessarily, but in how race and white privilege play out in the public-school classroom. The former South End resident who had moved to a fixer-upper in Jamaica Plains watched her children thrive, while many of their classmates of color did not, she writes. She wanted to know why. "To understand it from the perspective of white privilege, I had to hold up the mirror," says Naimark, who wrote "The Education of a White Parent:Wrestling with Race and Opportunity in the Boston Public Schools," from which she will read at the South End Library Thursday, September 25 at 6:30 p.m. Naimark was appointed to the Boston School Committee by Mayor Tom Menino in 1997 and re-appointed for a second term in 2000. She currently works in non-profit community development, and serves on boards of several organizations that work for racial justice and the improvement of the Boston public schools.  

THE SOUTH END WRITES 2012-2013

Thursday, September 20, 6:30 p.m.Susan Naimark The Education of a White Parent: Wrestling with Race and Opportunity in the Boston Public Schools, a memoir of white privilege and unequal access as observed by a former Boston School Committee member

Tuesday, September 25, 6:30 p.m.L. Annette Binder Rise, an award-winning debut short-story collection by a writer born in Germany, raised in Colorado and now settled in the South End.

Rescheduled from Tuesday, October 2 to a to-be-confirmed date later this fall Stephen Davis More Room in a Broken Heart: the True Adventures of Carly Simon, the unauthorized biography of one of the most gifted folk singers by a former Rolling Stone magazine's editor and (now former) Simon family friend.

Tuesday, October 9, 6:30 p.m. Sara Lawrence Lightfoot The Third Chapter: Passion, Risk and Adventure in the 25 Years After Fifty, a review by the long-time Harvard University sociologist, educator, former MacArthur Prize fellow and South End resident, of the career and life choices people make before and after retirement. Introduction by health coach and wellness counselor Colette Bourassa.

Tuesday, October 16, 6:30 p.m.Margaret Sullivan"Boston's Fairest," an exhibit and lecture about the first 50 years of women in the Boston Police Department by the BPD's archivist, documenting the careers of wives and mothers who took on gangsters and bootleggers.

Thursday, October 25, 6:30 p.m. Maryanne O'Hara a former associate editor at Ploughshares and oft-published short-story writer, O'Hara will read from her debut novel Cascade, a recent People magazine pick, and described as "richly-satisfying" by the Boston Globe.

Tuesday, October 30, 6:30 p.m. Margot Livesey The Flight of Gemma Hardy, the seventh novel of Scottish-born Livesey which just came out in paperback, is modeled on the English classic, Jane Eyre, a "risky move" at which she for the most part succeeds, according to the New York Times. Introduction by novelist Sue Miller

Tuesday, December 4, 6:30 p.m.Victor Howes A South End poet, decades-long college professor of literature and World War II veteran who published poems and book reviews in the Christian Science Monitor for many years, will read from his selected work.

January 15, 2013, 6:30 p.m. Leah Hager Cohen The Grief of Others The author, who publishes both fiction and non-fiction, will read from her latest novel which the New York Times described as "her best work yet." With an introduction by Sue Miller

Tuesday, February 5, 6:30 p.m. April Bernard The poet (Romanticism)and novelist, most recently of history (Miss Fuller), is currently the director of creative writing at Skidmore College. With an introduction by South End author Doug Bauer

Tuesday, February 26, 6:30 p.m. Andre Dubus III Townie, a memoir The examination of the author's violent past has been described "best book" of non-fiction of 2011 and 2012 by many literary-gate guardians, and was preceded by his previous novels House of Sand and Fog (made into a movie by the same name) and The Garden of Last Days. Sue Miller will introduce the author.

Tuesday, March 19, 6:30 p.m. Mari Passananti will read from her second novel, The K Street Affair.

Tuesday, April 18, 6:30 p.m.Doug Bauer. Editor, writer of numerous books of fiction and non-fiction, and revered professor of English at Bennington College (to where he commutes from the South End), Bauer will read from his most recent collection of essays, What Happens Next?, to be published in the fall of 2013 by the University of Iowa Press.

Tuesday, May 21, 6:30 p.m. Alice Hoffman The Dovekeepers, a historical novel describing the AD70 massacre at Masada from the point of view of four women at the fortress before it fell during the Jewish-Roman war, is the most recent of the nearly two dozen novels by Hoffman and just came out in paperback. To be introduced by Sue Miller.

Tuesday, June 18, 6:30 p.m. Philip Gambonewill return to read from his current work-in-progress, retracing the steps of his father who, as a soldier, was sent to Europe during the Second World War.

"The South End Writes" Authors Series 2012-2013 Season Featuring Local Writers, Poets and their Colleagues, Will Resume at the South End Library on Thursday, September 20, 6:30 PM

Yes, the summer FLEW by but console yourselves:the 2012/2013 season of The South End Writes will start up in less than two weeks. FOSEL has lined up an amazing group of writers and poets, some coming out with a debut collection or novel, others with a long list of nationally acclaimed books of poetry, fiction and non-fiction to their names, but each eager to read from his or her work and ready to answer your questions. With many thanks to TheSouth End Writes supporters who recruited the speakers, including Sue Miller and Doug Bauer, FOSEL board members Courtney Fitzgerald, Barbara Sommerfeld and Rhys Sevier, and head librarian Anne Smart (who also makes all the speakers' books available for lending at the branch).

And many thanks to graphic designer Mary Owens whose excellent posters for the SEW readings are a pleasure to put up around town.

Below is the list as it currently stands. In addition, Phil Gambone, who two years ago read from his collection Travels in a Gay Nation: Portraits of LGBTQ Americans, hopes to talk in the coming spring about his work-in-progress, in which he retraces the steps of his father who helped liberate Europe as a soldier during World War II. And Mari Passananti, who read from her first novel last June, plans to read from her soon-to-published second novel, The K Street Affair, in the spring, as well. Both dates are currently being finalized.

THE SOUTH END WRITES 2012-2013

Thursday, September 20, 6:30 p.m.

Susan Naimark

The Education of a White Parent: Wrestling with Race and Opportunity in the Boston Public Schools, a memoir of white privilege and unequal access as observed by a former Boston School Committee member

======

Tuesday, September 25, 6:30 p.m.

L. Annette Binder

Rise, an award-winning debut short-story collection by a writer born in Germany, raised in Colorado and now settled in the South End.

=====

Rescheduled from Tuesday, October 2 to a to-be-confirmed date later this fall

Stephen Davis

More Room in a Broken Heart: the True Adventures of Carly Simon, the unauthorized biography of one of the most gifted folk singers by a former Rolling Stone magazine's editor and (now former) Simon family friend.

=====

Tuesday, October 9, 6:30 p.m.

Sara Lawrence Lightfoot

The Third Chapter: Passion, Risk and Adventure in the 25 Years After Fifty, a review by the long-time Harvard University sociologist, educator, former MacArthur Prize fellow and South End resident, of the career and life choices people make before and after retirement. Introduction by health coach and wellness counselor Colette Bourassa.

=====

Tuesday, October 16, 6:30 p.m.

Margaret Sullivan

"Boston's Fairest," an exhibit and lecture about the first 50 years of women in the Boston Police Department by the BPD's archivist, documenting the careers of wives and mothers who took on gangsters and bootleggers.

=====

Thursday, October 25, 6:30 p.m.

Maryanne O'Hara

a former associate editor at Ploughshares and oft-published short-story writer, O'Hara will read from her debut novel Cascade, a recent People magazine pick, and described as "richly-satisfying" by the Boston Globe.

=====

Tuesday, October 30, 6:30 p.m.

Margot Livesey

The Flight of Gemma Hardy, the seventh novel of Scottish-born Livesey which just came out in paperback, is modeled on the English classic, Jane Eyre, a "risky move" at which she for the most part succeeds, according to the New York Times. Introduction by novelist Sue Miller

=====

Tuesday, December 4, 6:30 p.m.

Victor Howes

A South End poet, decades-long college professor of literature and World War II veteran who published poems and book reviews in the Christian Science Monitor for many years, will read from his selected work.

=====

January 15, 2013, 6:30 p.m.

Leah Hager Cohen

The Grief of Others

The author, who publishes both fiction and non-fiction, will read from her latest novel which the New York Times described as "her best work yet." With an introduction by Sue Miller

=====

Tuesday, February 5, 6:30 p.m.

April Bernard

The poet (Romanticism)and novelist, most recently of history (Miss Fuller), is currently the director of creative writing at Skidmore College. With an introduction by South End author Doug Bauer

=====

Tuesday, February 26, 6:30 p.m.

Andre Dubus III

Townie, a memoir

The examination of the author's violent past has been described "best book" of non-fiction of 2011 and 2012 by many literary-gate guardians, and was preceded by his previous novelsHouse of Sand and Fog (made into a movie by the same name) and The Garden of Last Days. Sue Miller will introduce the author.

=====

Tuesday, March 19, 6:30 p.m.

Mari Passananti

will read from her second novel, The K Street Affair.

=====

Tuesday, April 18, 6:30 p.m.

Doug Bauer

Editor, writer of numerous books of fiction and non-fiction, and revered professor of English at Bennington College (to where he commutes from the South End), Bauer will read from his most recent collection of essays, What Happens Next?, to be published in the fall of 2013 by the University of Iowa Press.

=====

Tuesday, May 21, 6:30 p.m.

Alice Hoffman

The Dovekeepers, a historical novel describing the AD70 massacre at Masada from the point of view of four women at the fortress before it fell during the Jewish-Roman war, is the most recent of the nearly two dozen novels by Hoffman and just came out in paperback. To be introduced by Sue Miller.

=====

Tuesday, June 18, 6:30 p.m.

Philip Gambonewill return to read from his current work-in-progress, retracing the steps of his father who, as a soldier, was sent to Europe during the Second World War.

=====

John Sacco Said It First About A (1993) Worcester Square Concert: "Just As Nice As If It Were Symphony Hall..."

worcester square concert

There was a lovely concert in Worcester Square by the Duo Sonidos last Thursday. What does this have to do with the South End Library? Only this: in February at the library, FOSEL's authors' series The South End Writes hosted former Police Blotter scribe Officer John Sacco who talked about his many years as observer and reporter of he local crime scene for the South End News. Occasionally, Officer Sacco, who loved the South End, would drift off into non-criminal subjects, as he did in his column in 1993 when, under the heading Point of View, he described another concert in Worcester Square, held in those very  'bad old days.' The description of the musical scene was nestled between an item about a 'Tremont St female' confronted by a 'culprit who gave her a beating' and another report about 'Meredith' who had been 'flagging down male motorists' for cash. All of which to say that about those Worcester Square concerts John Sacco said it first: "..it was just as nice as if it were in Symphony Hall.." Here is the long version of what John Sacco wrote in September 1993's Police Report for the South End News:

"One night recently a group of Worcester Square area residents held a chamber music concert in the park. It was a beautiful evening of fine music in a lovely setting. People in the area, not interested in the music, remained quieter as they went about their business. Mothers hushed noisy children at play. The soft music came through just as nice as if it were Symphony Hall, not an outdoor park. The South End was a pleasant place to be on a breezy summer night in Worcester Square."

For other Worcester Park concerts, visit the  WS Neighborhood Association's web site for their Facebook link..

South End Resident Judith Klau to Lead a Discussion of Shakespeare's "Coriolanus" at the South End Library on Tuesday, August 7

Long-time South End resident Judith Klau will lead an informal talk about Shakespeare's most political play, Coriolanus, at the South End Library on Tuesday, August 7, at 6:30 PM.Coriolanus, one of Shakespeare's tragedies, is being staged by the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company and directed by Steven Maler. It is performed for free Tuesdays thru Sundays, weather permitting, on the Boston Common, through August 12, at 8:00 PM, 7:00 PM Sundays.

The play is based on the life of the Roman general Caius Marcius Coriolanus (5th Century BC). Its themes of  the military leader's discomfort with civilian rule, as well as prevailing conditions of partisanship and disparities between rich and poor in Rome at the time, has kept the play relevant throughout the centuries. Don Aucoin, the theatre critic for The Boston Globe, commented in his August 3 review that by "staging a modern-dress “Coriolanus’’ in an election year, director Maler clearly wants us to think about what qualities we seek in our leaders, and about the ways in which partisan politics — seen here in the form of a pair of scheming, demagogic Roman tribunes played by Jacqui Parker and Remo Airaldi — can poison and undermine the functioning of a republic."

Ms. Klau, the former Head of the English Department at the Groton School in Western Massachusetts, found the Boston Common performance "brilliantly acted and remarkably affecting."  Although all performances are free, for a donation of $30 one can obtain "a very good seat right in front of the stage," she noted.

Head librarian Anne Smart has copies of the play available at the South End branch.

For more information about the play, call 617 426-0863 or visit www.commshakes.org.