November 2001

Hello again!

It seems we often start out our newsletter by saying that it was a very busy and exciting month here in Inkberry-land. I promise you, it’s always true, and November was certainly no exception.

We began the month by kicking off our annual fund drive. These letters, which you have probably received, take a lot of effort to simply get out the door, and we’d like to thank our volunteers for all their patient stamping and folding. If you can donate a little something to Inkberry this year, please do; another way you can help is to join our stable of volunteers. Inkberry can only survive with your support — so thank you, in advance, for anything you can give.

Those of you who attended our reading by local writers Patty Crane and Abbot Cutler already know that both Patty and Abbot are the kind of reader every reading series dreams of hosting — intimate, interesting, and really, really good. Our next don’t-miss reading is a celebration of local history: Elizabeth Winthrop, novelist and children’s writer, and Joe Manning, oral historian and poet, will read on Dec. 9 at Papyri Books. They’ll also talk about what oral history is, and their writing process, in a discussion moderated by fellow oral historian Peter Rogers. You can find out more about this event at our website.

We’ve got digs! We signed the lease on our new office, at 63 Main Street in North Adams. This — and the next month of painting and cleaning — puts our organization literally on the map. We’ll have our own office space (I never thought a centralized filing cabinet could be so exciting) as well as our own space for performances and classes, so you won’t need to go hunting up and down Main Street for Inkberry’s latest event. Best of all, we’ll be starting a new facet of our organization — a walk-in library and writers’ resource center, with comfy couches and all the resources you’ll need as you write and publish your work. You can find out more here.

In press news, Inkberry was featured recently on WAMC’s morning show “The Round Table,” — many thanks to Susan Arbetter and Joe Donahue, the show’s hosts. Emily represented Inkberry at the Neighborhood Expo in North Adams; we were featured in the Advocate as part of the area’s cultural renaissance. In December, we’ll be reading for a public-access television event for the holiday season — we’ll have more on that after the fact.

Registration for our winter classes is now open, so I’ll direct you to our website one more time. We’ve got three new workshops, and a very tasty book group, so sign up now!

I actually got to spend a day last week reading a book cover-to-cover, something I haven’t been able to do much since Inkberry was born. I’m really fortunate that the book was Galileo’s Daughter, by Dava Sobel. This is a fascinating look at Galileo through letters from his daughter, Sister Maria Celeste. While Galileo’s own letters were burned after his trial for heresy, we can see the kind of love and loyalty that kept Galileo sane and committed through the very difficult years leading up to his trial. I would have read it even if it had been dry as dust — I’m a Renaissance history buff, and Galileo is a hero of mine — but Sobel’s style is witty and engaging, making a gripping page-turner out of a very solid work of history. She makes you want to be an historian in the way that Indiana Jones made you want to be an archeologist.

That’s the news from Inkberry. Come by and see our new space while we renovate — we’ll leave the light on.

— Sandy