Reading at the Jefferson Market Public Library in New York City

Last night’s reading at the Jefferson Market Library in New York City marks the official end of my fall promotion tour for Their Houses.  I have another couple of events planned and potential, and I have some further ideas, but I’m closing it down for now.  It has been a wonderful three months of readings, workshops, interviews and visiting with old friends and making new ones.  Honestly, I’m going to glow for a long time.
Last night Diane Simmons and I presented “Beyond the Hudson: New York Writers Who Still

Go Home” to more than thirty people.  Many of them were old friends (some of mine from forty and more years ago and continuing), but others came because they had a connection to West Virginia or were simply interested in the topic.  One older woman said she was a native New Yorker and always admired the courage of those of us who came from elsewhere!  We had audience members from Brooklyn and New York, and at least one New Jersey friend.  My writers group, to whom I dedicated Their Houses, was there, and a couple of present and former students, and our nephew and his wife!  But others came because the topic interested them, and Diane and I included a good period of discussion after I read the Mountain Militia Chapter from Their Houses and she read her essay about explaining the results of the 2016 election in her home region of Eastern Oregon, the high desert, to northeastern intellectuals  This essay was published earlier this year in Czech in a major Czech Republic magazine.  She read it in its English version, and talked about how there is a gap in many countries, including the Czech Republic, between urban and rural people.
We had a lovely warm discussion after the readings, and I sold a few books and feel all warm and fuzzy this morning.

Next Year's Words in New Paltz, New York

   

   Last night, November 14, 2018, I was part of a reading series in New Paltz, New York, called Next Year's Words.  It is curated by poet Susan Chute, who prepares excellent, entertaining introductions for her writers.  Three people read, and people who sign up for the open mic are interspersed with the scheduled readers.  It's an excellent format, and it was a lovely, warm atmosphere--including an intermission with homemade snacks! I was honored to share the stage with poets David Appelbaum and Anne Richey. Earlier this year, my friend West Virginia poet laureate Marc Harshman read on the same stage.
   Also part of the fun was visiting my old friend Ingrid Hughes, author of Losing Aaron: A Memoir.

See my webpage at MeredithSueWillis.com.

Reading Wednesday November 14 in New Paltz!

Wednesday, November 14, 2018

 Reading at  Next Year's Words: A New Paltz Reading Forum, Jewish Congregation of New Paltz Community Center, 30 North Chestnut St. (on Route 32) from 7:30 pm to 9:30 pm. New Paltz, New York. See flyer here.

New Issue of Books for Readers #199

Take a look at 

Books for Readers #199

Reviews by Ed Davis & Phyllis Moore; reviews of books by Richard Powers, Rachel Kushner, Craig Johnson, Elizabeth Strout, Thomas Mann, Eliot Parker and many more!