Books

Arts

Interview with John Kelly, author of The Graves Are Walking, on the Irish Famine

After the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Daniel Patrick Moynihan famously remarked, “What’s the point of being Irish if the world doesn’t break your heart?” Central to that tragic view of life was the Irish potato famine of the 1840s that left more than a million people

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Arts

A Talk with Peter Wheelwright, Architect and Author of As It Is On Earth

Peter Wheelwright, a former dean (now associate professor) in the School of Architecture at Parsons The New School for Design, has just published his first novel, As It Is On Earth. Wheelwright grew up in Lenox, MA., and he and his wife, the photographer Eliza Hicks, have a house in

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Arts

Books: Sandisfield Then and Now

Anyone who lives in Sandisfield, the bucolic village at the southern tip of Berkshire County that lays claim to the distinction of being the county’s largest and most sparsely populated town, has likely heard from Ron Bernard. For the past two-and-a-half years, Bernard has been interviewing residents (of which

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Arts

Berkshires as Backdrop: Why Joshua Henkin Set "The World Without You" in Lenox

Whether or not you think of the Berkshires as New York City's sixth borough as some wags do, you have no doubt sat next to a family like the fictional Frankels on the lawn at Tanglewood or stood on line with them at Guido's. In Joshua

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Arts

Thirty Year Plan: Share Your Thoughts on Saving the World and Win Orion's New Book

As a way of marking its 30th anniversary, Orion magazine asked 30 writers and environmental leaders to consider what we need to build a better future on our planet. Their answers comprise a new book, Thirty Year Plan, which Orion launched on Sunday, July 8, at Bascom Lodge, atop Mt.

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Arts

Word Up! Taylor Mali on Word X Word Festival 2011 and the Lives of the Poets

What’s the word? Find out this week in Pittsfield at the third annual Word X Word Festival from August 13 – 20. This celebration of words written, spoken and sung—created in 2009 by Jim Benson, proprietor of Mission Bar + Tapas—kicks off with its now-legendary rooftop party, one of

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Arts

A Happening Reading Relaunches the Basilica

A reading of renowned novelist and screenwriter, Rudolph Wurlitzer’s 1984 novel Slow Fade by singer-songwriter, folk-music legend Will Oldham (below), who has played with the band Palace Brothers as Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy.  The evening celebrates the release of Slow Fade, the first in a new line of alternative audio

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Arts

Video Intelligence: The RI Interview with "Hero" Author Michael Korda

Michael Korda at home on his farm in Dutchess County. Apple-cheeked and clutching a steaming cup of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee, the best-selling author Michael Korda doesn’t look tired when he strides from the stables at his Stone Gate Farm in Pleasant Valley, NY, on a recent Sunday morning to

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Arts

Michael Korda on His T.E. Lawrence Bio

December 3, @ 5 p.m.; December 4 @ 5 p.m. According to Michael Korda's new biography of the British soldier and adventurer T.E. Lawrence (aka Lawrence of Arabia; 1888 – 1935), George Bernard Shaw once scolded his friend, who had just published a biography, Seven Pillars of Wisdom,

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Arts

Molly O'Neill of "One Big Table" at Oblong

December 4 @ 4 - 6 p.m. To celebrate the spirit of the season, Oblong Books is hosting a community cookie swap with Molly O'Neill, author of the delectable new cookbook, One Big Table.  Oblong has invited local home cooks and professional bakers to rustle up a batch

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Arts

Mann and Davis' "Sacred Landscapes"

Saturday, November 27 @ 6 - 8 p.m. Generally, the bigger the book, the slighter its content, but this rule of thumb is turned on its head by A.T. Mann and Lynn Davis's Sacred Landscapes: The Threshold Between Worlds (Sterling Publishers, $35).  Yes, it is a big,

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Arts

Paul DeAngelis' Dear Mrs. Kennedy

By Kathryn Matthews Saying “I’m sorry for your loss...” is never easy.  Especially to the grieving widow of President John F. Kennedy. On a recent Saturday evening at Oblong Books and Music in Rhinebeck, author Paul De Angelis swallowed hard after reading a letter sent by a Navy chaplain

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