May 21 at Ristretto

Amherst, MA

I'm very happy to be reading with Noy Holland and Sara Jaffe in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the UMass Amherst MFA program. 

Tuesday, May 21
7:30 PM
Ristretto Roasters
3808 N. Williams

Bookslut describes Noy Holland’s most recent story collection Swim for the Little One First (FC2) as “a showcase for the technical possibilities of language.” This language, at once minimal and immeasurably potent, serves to crystalize moments of human despair and of joy in or in spite of despair. Holland’s previous collections of short fiction and novellas include What Begins with Bird (FC2) and The Spectacle of the Body (Knopf). She was a recipient of a Massachusetts Cultural Council award for artistic merit and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. She has taught for many years in the MFA Program for Poets and Writers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Sara Jaffe’s short fiction has appeared in journals including NOON, Paul Revere’s Horse, matchbook, and Publication Studio’s Weekday. She is an editor of and contributor to The Art of Touring, an anthology of writing and visual art by touring musicians, released in 2009 by Portland’s Yeti Publications (inspired by her role as guitarist for post-punk band Erase Errata). She is also a co-founding editor of New Herring Press, a purveyor of prose chapbooks.

This reading celebrates the 50th anniversary of the University of Massachusetts Amherst MFA Program for Poets and Writers, in which Holland has taught for many years, and which Zumas and Jaffe attended.

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