Date: April 2, 2015
Time: 5-8 pm
Location: The Homestead
Fee: Free
Starting on Thursday, April 2, the Emily Dickinson Museum will be joining the monthly Amherst Art Walk.
The Art Walk is held on the first Thursday of every month from 5 to 8 pm, with participating venues hosting gallery openings, concerts, lectures, and other creative events. The Museum will offer free “express” tours of Emily Dickinson’s bedroom and light refreshments from 5 to 7 pm. Poetry readings will be held in the Homestead parlor starting at 6:45 pm.
“We’re so pleased to join the Amherst Art Walk, which is such a popular event and an important part of Amherst’s cultural landscape,” says Emily Dickinson Museum Executive Director Jane Wald. “Supporting contemporary poets, as we’ve done through the Amherst Poetry Festival, fits well with the Museum’s mission. We hope Art Walk participants will enjoy hearing from some of western Massachusetts’s most exciting voices in the house where Emily Dickinson wrote her poetry.”
For the April Art Walk, Northampton Poet Laureate and Amherst resident Richard Michelson will read from his new book of poetry, More Money than God. Poets Jocelyn Mosman and Poorna Swami (Mount Holyoke) and Melanie Chitwood (Hampshire College), who were recently featured in the 2015 Five College Poetry Festival, will open for Michelson.
In addition to his poetry from More Money than God, Michelson plans to debut a new poem about Emily Dickinson inspired by time spent in her bedroom and looking at the view through her windows.
“I drive past Emily Dickinson’s house daily on my way to and from work,” says Michelson, “and I never fail to turn my attention momentarily toward the Homestead to remind myself of the legacy she has gifted us all.”
Find out more about the Emily Dickinson Museum’s Art Walk offerings and other upcoming events here. For more about the Amherst Art Walk, visit www.amherstartwalk.com.
About Richard Michelson
Richard Michelson is the author of the poetry collections Battles & Lullabies and Tap Dancing for the Relatives. His many children’s books have been named among the 10 Best Books of the Year by the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and the New Yorker, and among the 12 Best Books of the Decade by Amazon.com.
Michelson has been a finalist for the Massachusetts Book Award, the National Jewish Book Award, the Phillis Wheatley Award, and he is the only author to receive both the Sydney Taylor Gold and Silver Medal from the Association of Jewish Librarians. Michelson owns R. Michelson Galleries, hosts a poetry radio program, and is the current Poet Laureate of Northampton Massachusetts.
About the Five College Poets
Jocelyn Mosman is a student at Mount Holyoke College. She’s written two collections of poetry, Soul Painting and Soul Music, has been published in numerous literary magazines and anthologies, and is active in the spoken word communities of Northampton, South Hadley, and West Texas.
Poorna Swami is in her final semester at Mount Holyoke College, where she studies English and Dance-Theatre. Her poetry is forthcoming in the Indiana Review.
Melanie Chitwood is a student at Hampshire College. Her studies combine creative writing, public health, and biology research.