Books

Fall Books Preview: Getting booked

Readings, festivals, and other seasonal literary events

By EUGENIA WILLIAMSON | September 14, 2010

STOCKING STUFFER: With Simple Times, Amy Sedaris fashions “crafts for poor people.”

Two Sedarises, two New Yorker favorites, and a famous neurologist are among the highlights of this fall’s book events.

“SO YOU WANT TO BE A WRITER” | September 28 | At long last, an author event where questions about process won’t send eyes rolling. Grub Street presents a roundtable discussion for aspiring writers whose participants include three novelists (Michelle Hoover, Jill McDonough, Chris Castellani) and a journalist who wrote a book about LARPing (Ethan Gilsdorf). | Porter Square Books, Porter Square Shopping Center, Cambridge | 7pm | Free | 617.491.2220 or portersquarebooks.com

SMALL PRESS SATURDAY | October 2 | Five authors published by four local and national small presses will show major publishers exactly what they’re missing. Adam Golaski (Rose Metal Press), Joseph McElroy (Small Anchor Press), Sumanth Prabhaker (Madras Press), and William Walsh and Myfanwy Collins (Dzanc), plus others, will read their work. | Newtonville Books, 296 Walnut St, Newtonville | 2 pm | Free | 617.244.6619 or newtonvillebooks.com

MICHAEL CUNNINGHAM | October 6 | Five years have passed since Michael Cunningham’s previous novel, 12 since he published his Pulitzer-winning blockbuster, The Hours. Now he turns an eye to a cadre of soigné New York artistes in the throes of middle age. Will By Nightfall (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) occasion Nicole Kidman to wear a prosthetic nose? One can always hope. | Boston Public Library Abbey Room, Copley Square, Boston | 6 pm | Free | 617.536.5400 or bpl.org

CHARLES OLSON CENTENNIAL | October 9 | Poets Michael Rumaker and Diane DiPrima (poet laureate of San Francisco) were great pals of Charles Olson — Rumaker even wrote a book about his days as Olson’s student at Black Mountain College. Their reading is part of Gloucester’s week-long celebration honoring the 100th birthday of its most renowned poet. | Unitarian Universalist Church, 10 Church St, Gloucester | 7 pm | Free | 978.283.4582 or Olson100.blogspot.com

BOSTON BOOK FESTIVAL | October 16 | This free, day-long extravaganza brings dozens of writers together for readings, signings, and panels. Everyone from Ashbrook, Tom to Zheng, Da will make an appearance. Celebrity book-jacket designer Chip Kidd and the astonishingly prolific Joyce Carol Oates are among the more recognizable of the participants. | Copley Square, Boston | 617.252.3240 or bostonbookfest.org

DINAW MENGESTU | October 25 | Dinaw Mengestu represents 1/20th of those the New Yorker has anointed the best fiction writers under 40, and for good reason — his debut, The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears, offered an exquisitely heartbreaking take on the struggles of Ethiopian immigrants. How To Read the Air (Riverhead) expands his scope across generations and continents. | Brookline Booksmith, 279 Harvard St, Brookline | 7 pm | Free | 617.566.6660 or brooklinebooksmith.com

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Fall Books Preview: Reading list
Even if you’re not back in the classroom, autumn inspires a desire to learn, to restore the intellectualism that was fried by too many beers and barbecues and sunburns. Fortunately, Portland is full this fall with opportunities to spark your smarts.
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Topics: Books , Boston Book Festival, Madras Press, Sumanth Prabhaker, More

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ARTICLES BY EUGENIA WILLIAMSON

IS BOSTON RIGHT FOR WRITERS? | March 05, 2013
Boston, the birthplace of American literature, boasts three MFA programs, an independent creative-writing center, and more than a dozen colleges offering creative-writing classes.

INCREMENTALLY MORE KIND: GEORGE SAUNDERS CHANGES THE WORLD | March 05, 2013
George Saunders: satirist, humanist, and — after 20 years, four magisterial short story collections, a novella, and a book of essays — now a bestselling author.

INTERVIEW: THE PASSION OF MIKE DAISEY | February 14, 2013
Last January, storyteller Mike Daisey achieved a level of celebrity rarely attained among the off-Broadway set when the public radio program This American Life aired portions of his monologue The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs .

GETTING BOOKED: WINTER READS | December 21, 2012
Who cares about the fiscal cliff when we'll have authors talking about Scientology, the space-time continuum, and Joy Division?

BRILLIANT FRIENDS: GREAT READS OF 2012 | December 17, 2012
You already know Chis Ware's Building Stories is the achievement of the decade (thanks, New York Times!), but some other people wrote some pretty great books this year too.