In preparation for the celebration of the publication of “Harry Crosby’s Selected Poems” by Madhat Press, edited by Ben Mazer, this discussion took place June 19, 2020. on Fanny’s porch; safely distanced and masked ...

"The term athenaeum conjures up centuries past, but our founders were forward-thinking leaders of their time who gathered a community of curious thinkers to share ideas, culture, and literature. Well over two hundred years later, our mission hasn’t changed, it’s expanded."

From Bass Rocks to
the slippery cliffs of Rafe’s chasm
I hear the resounding
ringing of your Afro Cuban rhythm
It’s the beat …

Astrid, their Icelandic tour guide, was so white her head seemed disembodied from her black Gore-Texed torso. Nary a suggestion of yellow in her hair, no pink to her skin, but it could have been the lighting, or more accurately, its lack. The entire busload of tourists knew one another only by flashlight. …

Nostalgia, Peter Anastas’s final completed novel, is a work of the ‘speculative real,’ a prophetic history of Gloucester that shows what happens in America’s oldest fishing port when the forces of economic development set off a building spree, with high-priced condos going up across the harbor …

On any scale, Schulz’s job at Amnesty was one of the hardest imaginable. Exactly how hard—and interesting, exasperating, gratifying, and sometimes absurd and humorous—he reveals in a beautifully written volume that speaks clearly and poignantly to the reader. While by no means an easy read, …

Mooney’s Manifesto is Greg Gibson’s new book, a roman à clef, fictionalized version of Greg’s haunting life experiences. And yes, the best damned novel I’ve read in a long time. Like few characters of fiction ever could, Mooney got to me. Now I cannot get him out of my head. …

In September, the Dry Salvages Festival celebrated T. S. Eliot's early years summering in Gloucester, and their influence on his body of poetry. Included in the program was a collection of artifacts, many borrowed from Harvard's Houghton Library and displayed in the Cape Ann Museum Library. …