Suanne Scalise: Vessels
March 2 - 29

Leonard Ragouzeos: Big Drawings: Ink on Paper
March 8 - 29

Led by Anne Serafin, this group explores the rich variety of writings from Africa. The group meets on the third Wednesday of the month at 7:30PM in Room A. Meeting Date: March 21: Nervous Conditions, a novel by Tsitsi Dangarembga of Zimbabwe. For further information, call 527-1072.

International Chess Master Satea Husari from Chess Corps leads a drop-in club for players at all levels of skill on the third Wednesday of the month. For all ages. Bring your own chess set if possible. Meeting Date: Wednesday, March 21, 4 – 5:30PM, this month in Meeting Room A.

Meetings are held on the first Monday or on the fourth Wednesday of the month at 7:00PM in Meeting Room A. This group is for writers who have work in progress. Pre-registration required. Please call Maria Gianferrari at 781-891-0153 or Karen Day at 244-4830 for more information. Meeting Dates: Monday, March 5 or Wednesday, March 28.

Meetings are held the first Wednesday of the month, 7:30PM, in Meeting Room A. Group coordinator: Marilyn Miller. Meeting Dates: March 7: White Ghost Girls by Alice Greenway; April 4: Terrorist by John Updike.
Contemporary Books Booklist - September 2006 - June 2007

Meetings are held on the second Tuesday of the month at 7:15PM in Meeting Room A. Members read books from the Great Books Foundation (available at the Library). Meeting Date: March 13: A Short History of Nearly Everything (Parts I and III) by Bryson. For further information, call Ruth Greene at 527-4143.
Great Books Booklist - January 2007 - June 2007

This discussion group, led by former history teacher Reg McKeen, will cover current events. The group will meet in Meeting Room B on the first Wednesday of the month at 7:00PM. Please keep abreast of the month’s topic and come with reflections and opinions! Meeting Date: March 7. Topic: Iraq.

Meetings are held at 7:30PM on the second and fourth Mondays of the month at the Nonantum branch. Group coordinator: Amy Oppenheimer: amy.oppenh @verizon.net, www.newtoncameraclub.org. Meeting Dates: March 12: “Finland of My Dreams” – by member Ludwik Szymanski; March 26: “Large-Format Photography and Making Great Prints.”

In this women’s workshop, participants read, discuss and write about literature by women. The group meets the second Wednesday of each month from 10 - 11:30AM in Meeting Room A. Leader: Robin Mayer Stein. Meeting Date: March 14.

This workshop provides an atmosphere of expert support to polish short fiction. It is geared for published writers as well as those who are actively pursuing publication. Leader is Michael Kaufman. Pre-registration is required: call 617-332-3347. The group meets the first Tuesday of the month, 7:00PM in Meeting Room A. Meeting Date: March 6.

Meetings are held on the second Monday of the month at 7:30PM in Room A. Group co-leaders are Mary Lanigan and Barbara McGinley. For further information, call 527-1505. Meeting Date: March 12: “Gryphon” by Charles Baxter and “The Shame” by Yusuf Idris.

This group is for singers of all levels who enjoy singing classical and popular music. It meets monthly on Saturday afternoons, Noon – 1:30PM in Druker Auditorium. Meeting Date: March 17. Call coordinator Miriam Simen at 617-244-6705 for more info.

Led by career counselor Joyce Picard, this group is for women downsizing careers, entering (or re-entering) the workforce or thinking of opting out. It focuses on goals, allowing time to share concerns and gain support. For further information, call (617) 332-7600. It meets the third Tuesday of the month at 7:30PM in Room A. Meeting Date: March 20.

The Library will celebrate the Chinese New Year of the Boar (4705) with live music, plate spinning and Chinese and English word games on Saturday, March 3.

At 1:00PM, acrobatic dancer Chen Won-Ju will spin bright plates in a graceful yet energetic traditional Chinese juggling act. Master er hu player Zhao Zhi Min, with yang qin player Ji Hong and some of his talented er hu students, will perform traditional Chinese music.

At 2:15PM, a Deng-Mi Hui activity will be presented, back by popular demand. This challenging and fun program of Chinese and English word games is composed by Yuan Sunshine, a well-known practitioner of the craft.

 

Classical guitarist John Muratore will return to the Library to present “Para la Guitarra: A Showcase of Works Written for Classical Guitar.” The concert will include pieces by Moreno-Torroba, Leo Brouwer, Frederic Hand and Alexandre Tansman and will take place on Sunday, March 4, at 2:00PM as part of the annual All Newton Music School Faculty Series at the Library.

The Boston Globe has characterized Muratore’s playing as “...unleashing so many different varieties of tone and color in quick succession...a kind of aural iridescence.”

He has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe and Russia, performed with numerous ensembles, orchestras and as a featured soloist at the Academie Festival des Arcs, Aspen Music Festival, St. Petersburg (Russia) Chamber Concert Series and the Atelier International Concert Series in Paris. His critically acclaimed new CD is Shadow Box.

 

	"An Inconvenient Truth"
	The Green Decade Coalition and the Library will present a third showing of the popular environmental movie by Al Gore, "An Inconvenient Truth," on Saturday, March 10, at 1:00PM, followed by a discussion. Come early! Former Vice President Al Gore presents a compelling look at the state of global warming in this inspirational documentary. Larry King called it, “One of the most important films ever” and Roger Friedman of FoxNews.com wrote, “It doesn’t matter whether you’re a Republican or Democrat, liberal or conservative...your mind will be changed in a nanosecond.”

	Soprano Carla Chrisfield Presents Concert of Haydn, Bartok, Tchaikovsky and More
	Soprano Carla Chrisfield and pianist William Merrill will return to the Library for a concert on Sunday, March 18, at 3:00PM. Works will include Poulenc’s Banalités, Bartok’s Village Scenes as well as songs by Tchaikovsky, Haydn and Wolf. Chrisfield has appeared as a soloist with the Nevada Symphony Orchestra, the Ohio Chamber Orchestra, the Colenso Consort of Amsterdam, Masterworks Chorale and the Mastersingers of Worcester. A dedicated recitalist, she has presented more than fifty song recitals in collaboration with pianist William Merrill, appearing at the Museum of Fine Arts, Goethe Institute, Gardner Museum, Baldwin-Wallace College, Stadthaus-Ulm (Germany) and under the auspices of the Aldeburgh Festival and the International Darius Milhaud Society. She is featured on a recording of French chamber music for Boston Records and maintains a private voice studio in Concord.
Merrill is known as one of Boston’s most distinguished collaborative pianists and vocal coaches. The Boston Globe has praised his collaborative accompaniments as “supportive, elegant, and apparently effortless,” adding that, “in color, imagination, and above all, pertinence to the text, he was outstanding.” He has accompanied many eminent singers in recitals at Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall in New York, and has appeared in many major concert venues throughout New England and the U.S. Abroad, he has given concerts in Italy, Austria, Holland, Germany, and in Beijing and Shanghai as a guest of the Chinese government. He has recorded for Newport Classics and Pearl Records.

The Boston Kleztet will return to the Library on Sunday, March 25, at 2:00PM with an all-new concert, “Parnoseh” (Making a Living). In “Parnoseh,” the six-member Boston Kleztet will explore the manner in which Jews in past centuries scratched out a living in Eastern Europe with colorful songs of peddlers, beggars, tradesmen and thieves. Please be advised that seating is limited.

Klezmer music has its roots in Eastern European Jewish celebrations as a joyous and sometimes poignant or humorous style of dance music.

The Kleztet includes Newton musicians Joanne Baker (piano), Sheldon Benjamin (percussion, vocals), David Gastfriend (violin, mandolin), and Dan Shaw (string bass), with Harvey Budner (banjo, mandolin) and Bruce Creditor (clarinet). The ensemble has performed at a variety of venues in the Greater Boston area for the past 15 years.

 

The next All Newton Music School Faculty concert at the Library will feature the ANMS Jazz Trio, composed of Matthew Small, trumpet, Kendall Eddy, bass, and Ross Petot, piano. On Sunday, April 1, at 2:00PM, the concert will feature standards by Gershwin, Porter, Monk and original pieces.

Eddy has performed around the world and is a member of the Quartet of Happiness, Newpoli (Italian folk music) and, with Small, of the Ayn Inserto Jazz Orchestra. Small performs regularly with Daddio's Swing Orchestra and the Oberlaendler Hofbrau Band and composes in both the classical and jazz idioms. Petot, known for his performances of early jazz, can be heard regularly with the Blue Horizon Jazz Band, John Clark's Wolverine Jazz Band and the Back Bay Ramblers.

 

Tracing the Path of the Newton Community Service Center

The Newton History Series continues with this year's theme "Service to Others" at the Library on Thursday, March 1, at 7:00PM.

Former Executive Director of the Newton Community Service Center for 43 years, Anthony Bibbo will speak on "Tracing the Path of the Newton Community Service Center." Bibbo will follow the center’s humble beginnings as the West Newton Day Nursery to a private, nonprofit organization, which has maintained the founder’s vision of providing services based on family and community needs to individuals of all social, ethnic and economic backgrounds.

This series is sponsored by the Library and the Newton History Museum at the Jackson Homestead.

Historical information on NCSC is available in the Newton Collection (Special Collections Room) at the Library and the Newton History Museum.

Drop by Meeting Room A any Saturday from 1:30 - 3:30PM for free tax help from February 17 and on. Volunteer AARP Tax Aides, trained by the IRS, are ready to answer questions and help fill out basic (non-business) tax returns. They will also provide information on the new federal refund of telephone excise tax.

For those who have applied or are planning to apply to become a U.S. citizen, the Library is offering a free 8 session course to prepare for the citizenship interview. The class will cover basic U.S. history and government. Students will also have an opportunity to practice their English skills through class activities as well as mock interviews. Students must have basic English speaking and reading skills and an understanding of spoken English. Beginning on March 6, the sessions will be held Tuesday evenings at 7:00PM in the Trustees Room. The class is limited to 15 students. Pre-registration is required. If interested in attending, please call Susan Bécam, ESL/Literacy Program Coordinator, at 617-796-1364 or email legacyforliteracy@minlib.net.

 

Fran Bourne Johnson and Roberta Taylor will present "Mind-Body Techniques: Tools for Living Positively in Every State of Health" at the Library on Thursday, March 8, at 7:30PM.

In this interactive presentation, participants will learn mind-body techniques applicable to every day health and wellness or when needing medical/surgical intervention. Using "Prepare for Surgery, Heal Faster," developed by Peggy Huddleston, they will teach ways to help reduce anxiety, manage stress and/or prepare for medical, surgical and dental procedures with a calm mind and positive attitude. Johnson is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker and Professional Life Coach. Taylor is a Psychiatric Nurse Clinical Specialist and Professional Life and Wellness Coach.

 

Have you ever seen paw prints in the snow or mud and wondered just what creatures formed these interesting patterns? Learn to recognize if you've been visited by a raccoon, deer, fox, coyote or even a fisher recently. On Monday, March 12, at 7:00PM, the Newton Conservators, along with the Library, will host a presentation by Nick and Valerie Wisniewski, cofounders and directors of the Walnut Hill Tracking and Nature Center in Orange. This slide show/lecture will introduce the viewer to tracking as one of the best routes for nature exploration. Copies of Tracking and the Art of Seeing by Paul Rezendes will be available.

The Library Poetry Reading Series, coordinated by Doug Holder, will feature Richard Wollman, Grey Held and Carol Hobbs Tuesday, March 13, at 7:00PM. An Open Mike will follow with a one-poem per person limit.

Wollman’s most recent poetry collection is Evidence of Things Seen. Other poems have appeared in Arion, American Literary Review and many other journals. He is associate professor of English at Simmons College and co-director of its Zora Neale Hurston Literary Center.

Held is a 2004 winner of the National Endowment for the Arts grant for poets, and was nominated for the Pushcart Prize XXVIII by Slipstream Magazine. He has published in the Antigonish Review, Comstock Review, Fox Cry Review, Potomac Review, Slipstream and the Brooklyn Review.

Hobbs teaches Composition at Pine Manor College and Creative Writing with the Education Cooperative. Her poetry, fiction, and essays have appeared in journals and anthologies in the United States, Canada and Ireland. She was awarded the New England PEN/Discovery Award in 2004 for her poetry manuscript New Found Lande.

 

When hearing the word "legacy," most people think it has something to do with leaving money or property to somebody in a will. Few have given much thought to the fact that ‘legacy’ can mean wealth and richness in ways that have little to do with financial assets. Discovering What’s Next: ReVitalizing Retirement™ hopes to expand people’s perceptions about legacy through its inaugural series of lectures and workshops on “The Many Dimensions of Legacy: From Inspiration to Action.”

This series will illustrate how to live a legacy that can make a difference today as well as in the future. Legacy can bring personal fulfillment as well as a commitment to the well-being of future generations. The forms of legacy are as diverse as philanthropy, creating a charitable foundation, drafting an ethical will, writing a memoir, or initiating social action.

At the first forum in this new DWN series, participants will hear the stories of individuals who have already made an impact that will extend beyond their lifetimes. Scheduled for Thursday evening, March 15, at 7:00PM, the forum will be moderated by Cyndi Jones, who founded Wildflower Camp Foundation as a family legacy. Among the panelists are Alan Greenfield who is a leader locally in the “Save Darfur”movement, and Doris Birmingham who has captured important family stories in print and video.

On Wednesday, April 11, at 7:00PM, a panel of experts will explain how to take action to create your own personal legacy. Among the panelists for that evening will be Susan Turnbull, the founder of Personal Legacy Advisors and author of The Wealth of Your Life: A Step-by-Step Guide for Creating Your Ethical Will.

DWN will sponsor several hands-on workshops at a later date to get people started on their legacy projects. This first year series is being sponsored by Village Bank and Community Newspapers.

For more information, see www.discoveringwhatsnext.com, or call: 617-796-1419.

 

DWN is planning a unique set of workshops on volunteering. Baby Boomers and older adults are eligible to apply whether they know what kind of volunteer experience they are seeking or not - or even if they are not sure about volunteering at all.

Participants will attend two workshop sessions offered from 9:30 AM - 12:30PM on Tuesday, March 20 and on Tuesday, March 27 in Druker Auditorium at the Library.

To be considered, individuals will be asked to complete an application and have an interview. Up to 20 people will be accepted. As a result of attending the workshop, participants will feel energized and prepared to pursue their individually-designed volunteer opportunity.

To get started, please call: Shirley Selhub at 617-734-7924 or download the application form from the Discovering What’s Next website at www.discoveringwhatsnext.com. Applications must be completed no later than March 6.

This program is supported by a grant from the Massachusetts Service Alliance. MSA is a private nonprofit organization that serves as the state commission on community service.

 

Astrophysicist Howard Smith will give a talk on “Can Modern Science and Traditional Religion Co-exist?: A New Conversation Including the Origins of the Universe.” Author of the new book Let There be Light: Modern Cosmology and Kabbalah, Smith will speak and show slides on Tuesday, March 20, at 7:30PM, followed by a booksigning.

The universe began out of nothing 13.7 billion years ago and has expanded in an evolving process that remarkably resembles one that Jewish mystics envisioned centuries ago. In Let There Be Light, Smith clearly explains the modern scientific understanding of the cosmos and explores how it complements Judaism’s ancient mystical theology, Kabbalah. He argues that an underlying harmony exists between science and religion, and uses detailed examples to show that a dialogue between the two sheds light on ethics, free will and the sanctity of life. At the same time he rejects the pseudoscience of creationism.

The book has been praised as: "More than a literate and frequently mind-blowing synthesis of Jewish mysticism and the science of astrophysics..." - Author and Rabbi Lawrence Kushner Smith is a senior astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and is the former chair of the astronomy department at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. He is a traditional, observant Jew, and has lectured on cosmology and Kabbalah for over twenty years. His website is www.lettherebelightbook.com.

 

Are you planning to meet with your attorney soon? Are you disappointed with your attorney’s results? Are you an attorney with a newly established practice? Would you like to avoid having a complaint filed against you?

Whether you are an attorney or client, Newton lawyer James S. Bolan will offer suggestions on handling legal matters skillfully when he speaks at the Library on Wednesday, March 21, at 3:30PM. A partner with Brecher, Wyner, Simons, Fox & Bolan, LLP, he serves as outside counsel to local and national law firms on risk management, malpractice prevention, professional responsibility and ethics matters. He represents lawyers and law firms in disciplinary and malpractice matters, partnership breakups and law firm litigation.

Bolan has recently been recog-nized as one of the top 100 lawyers in Massachusetts and a Massachusetts Super Lawyer® by Boston Magazine/Law and Politics Magazine. He is a founder and past director of the national Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers.

Northeastern University law professor Michael Meltsner will speak on his new book The Making of a Civil Rights Lawyer and the inside story of law reform at the Library on Wednesday, March 21, at 7:30PM. The program is sponsored by the Newton Democratic City Committee and the Library. A booksigning will follow the talk.

Using case files that have previously been off-limits to historians, this book provides a critical analysis of early civil rights efforts to achieve social change through litigation while also providing the wider context of the personalities, policies, and tactics that continue to shape reform efforts today.

Meltsner was a young Yale Law grad when he began work for Thurgood Marshall as the second white lawyer on the staff of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. He came of age in the ‘60s filing hundreds of lawsuits to integrate major southern institutions and arguing dozens of them before the Supreme Court and lower federal courts. He represented Muhammad Ali in the case that removed legal barriers barring his return to the boxing ring after refusing induction in the Army, tried the case that led to the integration of southern hospitals and was one of the initiators of the campaign that resulted in a nine-year moratorium on the use of capital punishment.

Meltsner has been a Guggenheim Fellow and served as a consultant to the U. S. Department of Justice, the Ford Foundation and the Carnegie Foundation, which sent him to South Africa in 1978 to help set up a law defense fund to advocate against Apartheid. He was a co-founder of Columbia Law School’s first poverty law clinic and in 1979, became the dean of Northeastern Law School, where he is the Matthews Distinguished University Professor of Law. He has written five previous books including Cruel and Unusual: The Supreme Court and Capital Punishment.

 

The Newton Wellesley Weston Committee for Community Living will bring a program on legal planning for families of individuals with disabilities to the Library on Thursday, March 22, at 7:30PM. Attorney Barbara Jackins, NWW Board Member and author of a recent book, Legal Planning for Special Needs in Massachusetts and Patricia Freedman, Executive Director of Planned Lifetime Assistance Network of Massachusetts (PLAN) will speak.

Jackins is the parent of an adult son with developmental disabilities, and her law practice centers on areas of law that affect people with disabilities and their families. Freedman is an attor-ney with more than 25 years experience in disability law issues. Previously she was the Deputy Director of the Disability Law Center in Boston.

Both Newton nonprofits, the NWW Committee is a leader in the development of affordable housing and provides comprehensive services for adults with developmental disabilities and their families. PLAN provides advice and trust administration services to people with disabilities and to families. For more information, visit: www. planofma.org. and www.nwwcommittee.org.

Our health is intimately connected to the quality of our environment, and the quality of our environment is fundamentally dependent on the quality of our democracy. Health and environmental advocate Jill Stein, MD, will speak at the Library about how to reduce environmental threats to healthy development and aging. She’ll also explain how together we can create the best safeguard - a revitalized democracy. This Green Decade Coalition talk will take place on Monday, March 26, at 7:00PM.

Stein was the 2006 Green Party Candidate for Secretary of State and 2002 candidate for Governor. She is also the founder of the Massachusetts Coalition for Healthy Communities.

 

The Library now has a colorful online collection of historic trade cards on its website which will be presented on Thursday, March 29, at 7:00PM, when Chaim Rosenberg, speaks on his book Goods For Sale: Products and Advertising in the Massachusetts Industrial Age.

With the rise of manufacturing in the 1800s, Massachusetts was transformed from a fishing and farming economy into a highly urbanized industrial state. Fierce commercial competition ensued and new methods were needed to sell the product both here and abroad. Goods for Sale presents a portrait of the diverse manufacturing enterprises that flourished from 1865 through the 1920’s and the whimsical trade cards they used to market their goods.

In the late 1800’s advanced industrial technology led to major reductions in the cost of printing and producing advertising. Trade cards were given away by shopkeepers with the purchase of a product and widely distributed to attract customers. Consumers collected trade cards, and the Library has been the grateful recipient of one of those collections – now scanned and presented online.

Rosenberg is associate professor emeritus of psychiatry at Boston University. He spoke previously at the Library on The Great Workshop: Boston’s Victorian Age.

 

William Novak

The Library’s annual fundraising gala - Spring Fling - is coming up on Saturday, March 31, at 7:00PM. This special literary event is an evening for library lovers, held in the festively decorated Main Library. Enjoy fine food, live music by the Jane Potter Jazz Trio, a large silent literary auction, entertainment by Newton North's cast of West Side Story, book signings by honored authors and much more.

Best-selling author William Novak will host the evening once again, with honorary chair Tom Ashbrook, host of NPR’s “On Point,” offering opening remarks. Novak will honor authors Vicki Croke (NPR reporter and Globe “Animal Beat” columnist), Dorie McCullough Lawson (Posterity: Letters of Great Americans to Their Children), Gregory Maguire (Wicked), Emily Franklin (The Principles of Love), and world-renowned inventor Ray Kurzweil. Novak and Moshe Waldoks (co-editors of The Big Book of Jewish Humor) will also be honored.

A special tribute to independent bookstores will take place, honoring Tim Huggins, founder of Newtonville Books and the Strymish family, founders of New England Mobile Book Fair.

Novak is co-author of the best-selling autobiographies of Lee Iacocca, Nancy Reagan, Tip O’Neill, Magic Johnson and others and worked closely with Tim Russert on Big Russ & Me.

Following is a preliminary list of donors who helped defray the cost of the evening. Patrons: C&R Management Corp. Sponsors: Sandra & John Butzel, Cambridge Savings Bank, Audrey Cooper, Nancy & Modestino Criscitiello, Gold & Goldberg, CPA’s, Eleanor Leventhal, Beth & Hugh Wilkinson. Benefactors: Barr & Cole Attorneys-at-Law, Albert Costa, Dunkin’ Donuts, Grossman Marketing Group, Louise & George Hauser, Susan & Ken Heyman, Anne & Robert Larner, Anne & Jim Sersich, West Suburban YMCA, Whole Foods Market. Supporters: Margie & Buzz Birnbaum, Ronnie Bretholtz, Pat & Larry Burdick, Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, Senator Cynthia & Harvey Creem, Nancy & William Crowley, Carolyn Fine-Friedman & Jeremiah Friedman, Moira & Barry Gault, Kathy Glick-Weil & Gordon Weil, Marcia & Jeff Herrmann, Meryl Kessler & Scott Oran, Rep. Kay & Nasir Khan, Linette Liebling & Peter Demuth, Barbara & Keith Lietzke, Bill & Mary Margaret Pappas, Dorothy & John Reichard, Cindy Shulak-Rome & Dan Rome, Abby & Guy Rordorf, Charlotte Schlesinger, Carol Ann Shea, Beverly & David Spencer, Jeanne & Leo Stolbach, the Swett Family, Virginia & John Taplin, Joan & Irwin Tepper, Paula & Sam Thier, Beth & Gerry Tishler, Nancy Watson & Stefan Krug, Sissy & Rick Weinberg. Friends: Bakers' Best, Rep. Ruth B. Balser, Lillian Freedman, Paul & Joanne Guzzi, Karp, Liberman, & Kern Sotheby’s International Realty, Lynne & Patrick Sullivan, Wainwright Bank.

 

The Library’s Legacy for Literacy program provides free tutoring services for adults of limited English proficiency. Tutors are very much needed. Teaching Basic Reading and English as a Second Language is very rewarding work. No prior experience is necessary as tutoring workshops are offered at the Library. An Introductory Meeting will be held Wednesday, April 4, at 7PM in the Trustees Room. For more information, contact Susan Bécam, ESL/Literacy Program Coordinator, at 617-796-1364 or by email at: legacyforliteracy@ minlib.net. Visit: www.newtonfreelibrary.net/Services/Literacy/literacy.htm.

Matthew Pearl

The Friends of the Newton Free Library are proud to present Megan Marshall, author of The Peabody Sisters: Three Women Who Ignited American Romanticism and Matthew Pearl, author of the bestseller The Dante Club and his latest novel, The Poe Shadow, at the 23rd annual Book and Author Luncheon. The luncheon will take place on Friday, April 13, at noon at the Newton Marriott.

Pearl is the author of two thrilling works of historical fiction. The Dante Club is set in 1865 Boston and revolves around the “Dante Club,” an elite group of scholars - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes, James Russell Lowell, and J. T. Fields - and their efforts to solve a series of murders inspired by scenes from Dante’s Inferno. Pearl’s new book, The Poe Shadow, takes place in Baltimore in 1849 after the death of Edgar Allen Poe at age 40. The Poe Shadow follows the efforts of a young lawyer to examine the mysterious circumstances of Poe’s death.

Pearl is also the editor of the new Modern Library edition of Dante’s Inferno, translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Marshall spent twenty years researching and writing The Peabody Sisters with grants from the Guggenheim Foundation and NEH. Often described as “America’s Brontes,” Elizabeth, Mary, and Sophia Peabody played an integral role in the 19th century cultural phenomenon, American Romanticism, and had a profound influence on the literary elite of their time, including many of the protagonists of Pearl’s The Dante Club.

She has won many awards including the 2006 Massachusetts Book Award for Nonfiction, and was a finalist for the 2006 Pulitzer Prize in biography.

To join these authors on April 13, please send your check for $32.50 per person (payable to the Friends of the Newton Free Library) to Book and Author Luncheon, PO Box 600533, Newtonville, MA 02460. Please specify the names of those who will attend the event and include a stamped, self-addressed envelope. Indicate your preference for chicken, fish, or vegetarian entree for lunch. Reservations received after March 31 will be held at the door. For more information, please call 617-997-7942 or email bookandauthor@gmail.com.

Megan Marshall