Raising voices
Christina Pascucci Ciampa went looking for stories that reflected her own, and she found them; but she also noticed these books weren’t the ones getting space on bookstore shelves or attention in mainstream reviews. To help share the sorts of voices that spoke to her, she started All She Wrote Books, a pop-up bookstore focusing on work by female, queer, and non-binary authors. “The overall industry is made up of straight/heterosexual, non-disabled, cis-gendered, and male” editors and critics, she explained in an email. “People are clamoring for more diversified stories, stories that relate to them, and demonstrate that their experiences and stories matter.” She mentions Saeed Jones, Michelle Tea, Jacob Tobia, Kalisha Buckhanon, Elizabeth Acevedo, and Charlotte Nicole Davis as a few of a long list of writers she’s excited about. For each pop-up, she features a rotating selection of books she’s curated alongside titles that are proving to be customer favorites. She’s also working on raising money to start a brick-and-mortar store in Somerville, having raised about 10% of the goal so far. A crowdfunding party will take place on Friday, November 1, at Winter Hill Brewing Company in Somerville, with a dollar of each beer going towards making the shop a full-time force. The next pop-up is scheduled for Tuesday, October 29, from 5 to 10 p.m. at E-Som Market, La Brasa, in Somerville.For more information, visit allshewrotebooks.com.
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Poetry on motion
Mass Poetry is bringing poems to the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston this fall with a series of residencies which invites people to view a new exhibit, “When Home Won’t Let You Stay: Migration through Contemporary Art,” through the lens of poetry. Each of the sessions will involve a writing workshop and a gallery talk. It begins Saturday, October 26, with Boston poetry force Jamele Adams, otherwise known as Harlym 1Two5. It continues on November 10 with Haitian-born poet Enzo Silon Surin, whose first full-length poetry collection, “When My Body Was A Clinched Fist,” comes out from Black Lawrence Press next summer. Founder of the creative writing program at UMass Boston, Martha Collins will lead the workshop on the morning of December 8, and that afternoon, poet and editor Oliver De La Paz will close out the series with a gallery talk. For more information, visit masspoetry.org/2019-ica-residencies.
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Viva libri!
The second annual IDEA Boston festival, a two-day celebration of Italian literature, art, history, and culture, takes place this coming weekend, organized by the North End’s indie bookstore I AM Books. It includes a number of discussions, readings, and performances, including a conversation with author Edoardo Albinati, whose book “The Catholic School” (FSG) won the Strega Prize, Italy’s highest literary honor.Maria Lisella, Marisa Frasca, and Jennifer Martelli will discuss “Writing Outside the Walls of the Italian-American Poetry Community”; translators Anna Lawton and Antony Shuggar will explore “Translating Words and Worlds”; in “Mamma Mia,” Maria Giura, Kathy Curto, Julia Lisella, and Olivia Kate Cerrone will grapple with mothers and mothering in contemporary Italian American writing. Author David N. Schwartz will discuss his book “The Last Man Who Knew Everything: The Life and Times of Enrico Fermi, Father of the Nuclear Age” (Basic). The festival takes place November 1-2 at the Dante Alighieri Cultural Center in Cambridge. For a complete schedule, visit ideaboston.com.
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Coming Out
“The Cheffe” by Marie NDiaye, translated from the French by Jordan Stump (Knopf)
“Feed” by Tommy Pico (Tin House)
“Little Weirds” by Jenny Slate (Little, Brown)
Pick of the Week
William Carl at An Unlikely Story in Plainville, MA, recommends “The Chestnut Man” by Søren Sveistrup translated from the Danish by Caroline Wright (Harper): “A serial killer is on the loose, a cold case kidnapping is brought back to life, and a politician is attacked from all sides. It’s one of the best-plotted mysteries in a long time. What a wonderful group of vivid characters and what a ride!”
Nina MacLaughlin is the author of “Hammer Head: The Making of a Carpenter.” She can be reached at nmaclaughlin@gmail.com.