June 2002

We’re getting the jump on June this year, since we have a reading uncommonly early in the month. And an exciting reading it is: Martín Espada, Northampton’s Poet Laureate and the man known as “the Latino poet of his generation,” will read at Inkberry on Sunday, June 2, at 2:00 in the afternoon. Espada’s poetry ranges from the personal to the political, and is always compelling, so please join us for an afternoon with one of America’s foremost poets.

June is actually a chock-full month for us. On Saturday, June 8, Inkberry is proud to be taking part in the first-ever North Adams Cultural Salon, at the site of the former Tunnel City Gallery in Heritage State Park. Along with the Contemporary Artists Center (CAC), the Main Street Stage, and the Railway Café, we’ll be presenting a full day of cultural programming for the whole family, with free food and drink, plus a day-long silent auction to benefit the small arts nonprofits of North Adams. Entertainment will include children’s programming from noon to 3pm, and evening performances by the Royal Berkshire Improv Theatre, readings by Inkberry students Patricia Crane and Gail Burns, live music, and the comedy stylings of MC Molly Kerns. The silent auction, which will be open for bidding all day long, will feature a host of fabulous prizes, including free meals at local restaurants, tickets and passes to major Berkshire cultural institutions (including MASS MoCA, Tanglewood, and Shakespeare & Company), an array of free classes and services, and several overnight and weekend getaways. So come on down, join the party, and support the arts!

And as if that weren’t enough — June, believe it or not, marks the first anniversary of Inkberry’s reading series. Yes, it’s been a whole year since Donald Hall got us started, as the walls of our performance space attest, with flyers signed by such literary luminaries as Pam Houston, David Lehman, Claire Messud, and Alicia Ostriker. So we’re throwing ourselves a birthday party on Saturday, June 22, at 7:30pm, complete with festive foods and readings of new work by Inkberry’s three founders. If you’ve been wondering all this time just who is behind Inkberry, now’s your chance to find out — and to have some cake while you do.

May saw one of our best readings yet, by two of our local geniuses: Alix Ohlin and Frank Tempone. Thanks to both of them for loaning us their talent, and thanks to the many of you who came to hear them! The night of their reading we also hosted our first art opening, Books By Artists — a selection of artists’ books in a wide variety of materials. That exhibit, coordinated by Gabrielle Senza of IS183, and curated by the CAC, will stay at Inkberry throughout the month of June, so if you haven’t seen it yet, I encourage you to stop in and take a look. You can come by during our regular hours (Wednesday through Saturday, 1-5pm) or view the art during a reading.

Meanwhile, behind the scenes — now that we’re one year old (and toddling around, as it were), we decided it was time we expanded our Board of Directors (previously just Rachel, Sandy, and myself). There is only so much that three volunteers can do, after all, and Inkberry is now a big enough organization (we’re very mature, for a one-year-old) that we needed a wider range of expertise. So our new and improved Board will take the helm in June. Rachel, Sandy, and I will stay on and continue to handle the day-to-day operations of Inkberry, with Rachel acting as our Executive Director, me as Artistic Director, and Sandy as our Community Outreach Director, while broader issues of Inkberry’s growth and development will be overseen by our entire Board, which now includes: Blair Benjamin, Caroline Peabody, Susan Sauve, Erica Schmitz, and Dan Weissbrodt. Between them they have a wealth of experience in fundraising, business development, marketing, and youth programming, so please join me in welcoming them. We’re very lucky to have them all.

Before I go, I’ll leave you with a thought from some of my recent reading. I’m in the middle of six books at the moment, besides being chest-deep in my own novel, and while that makes me a little too scattered to recommend any one book unequivocally, I did come across a line in Proust the other day that seems worth passing along: “…it is not the desire to become famous but rather the habit of being laborious that enables us to produce a finished work.” So with that in mind, best of luck to you all, and I’ll go back to work.

— Emily