Forbes Library’s Local History/ Local Novelists Series

Coolidge Museum at Forbes Library

The Common is a new print journal based at Amherst College featuring literature and images with a strong sense of place. Join founding editor Jennifer Acker as she facilitates a discussion with three outstanding novelists.
Jennifer Acker’s translations, essays, and short stories have appeared or are forthcoming in publications such as Harper’s and Ploughshares. She is currently a Faculty Fellow at New York University Abu Dhabi.

Amity Gaige is the author of three novels, O My Darling (2005), The Folded World (2007), and Schroder, which is forthcoming from Twelve Books/Hachette in February 2013. She has received the Foreword Book of the Year Award, among many other honors.

Claire Messud is the author of four books. Her most recent novel, The Emperor's Children, was on the best books of the year list in the Los Angeles Times, the Economist, the Chicago Tribune, and People magazine. Her next novel, The Woman Upstairs, will be published in the spring of 2013.

Victoria Redel is the author of three books of poetry and three books of fiction. Woman without Umbrella, her recent collection of poetry, was published in 2012 and a new collection of stories is forthcoming in fall 2013. Her novel Loverboy was adapted for a feature film directed by Kevin Bacon.


Event is part of the Local History/Local Novelists Series curated by Forbes Writer in Residence Susan Stinson. All events are free and open to all.