Review Essay
In the company of writers
Tulip Chowdhury with Irena Mata
Amherst, a college town in Massachusetts, USA, has started experiencing the fall season with a buzz of literary events. This place is also called Happy Valley for blends of art and literature that seem to come so naturally with the conglomeration of five well known educational institutions, including the University of Massachusetts and Mt. Holyoke College. Book launches and reading sessions brought me in touch with some contemporary writers who have been contributing to different fields of literature.
Aaron Becker has authored and illustrated his children's book, Journey, (Candlewick Press). This children's book comes with a difference, for it is a wordless picture book. At Jones' Library, in Amherst he presented his book to an enthusiastic audience of adults and children. A very tall man, he began by sitting down to join the children who sat on the floor and opened up the colorful pages of his hard cover book. He showed them the picture of the lonely little girl, who had found a red marker and had drawn a magic door on the wall of her bedroom. Entering through that door the girl began her journey into an unknown world. Excited, a little boy from the audience spoke up, "I have lots of markers!"
Aaron Becker paused and told the wonderstruck children that even if they had markers he would not advise them to be drawing on their walls though. That brought giggles from the audience of the tiny-tots. Gradually opening the pages, he went further into telling the story of his wordless book. He showed them how a girl created a boat, a flying carpet and a balloon and ventured into a wondrous world of fantasy. But adventures can hold trouble and she was captured by a sinister emperor. The girl was brave and she used her wit to be free. On her journey she also found an unexpected friendship that was truly a milestone in her life.
Mira Bartok
The rich imagination and fantasy of the author in painting out the little girl's story in Journey is commendable. Though wordless, it is brilliant enough to evoke interest in children's minds, coming as it does with visions of their own possible ventures. Sitting with rapt attention they listened and watched, asking questions, wondering what would happen to the girl. Knowing a story through just a turning of the pages containing pictures, without the hassles of spelling, was a welcome to the world of books for the little ones. For the parents the book is a refreshing way to introduce their children to the world of books at an age when video games and cartoons on TV seem to keep them glued. Aaron Becker certainly captured the children's minds when he linked his fantasy to reality and showed them a real red marker like the one the little girl was drawing with! The book has found its place in the bestsellers list in The New York Times. During my brief encounter with the author, I found him warm and friendly enough to give me his e-mail address so that I could be in touch with him for any question regarding his book.
Jedediah Berry
Food For Thought Books in Amherst is a bookshop that speaks for itself through its name. It is a non-profit workers' collective that has been in the field since 1976. At a book launch hosted by the shop, Mothers in Academia, (Columbia University Press) were heard the voices of experience of women who have been mothers in their academic life as undergrad or graduate students and as professors, administrative or staff members. They were mostly from the University of Massachusetts, State University of New York and also from Wellesley College. At the book launching event the authors spoke on their writing, portraying pictures of their experiences and challenges of balancing their job and family. Kirsten Isgro is one of the editors came from SUNY, New York. She related the details of struggle she has gone through as an academic with twin daughters, one of them terminally ill. Irena Mata from Wellesley College, coming from a Mexican background, narrated her troubles and trepidations raising her children in a white society as she settled in as an immigrant.
There was Vanessa Adel, a graduate student who has four adopted children. Raising four children from different backgrounds is a challenge she has been battling every day along with her graduate program. As she talked to me she told me of how her eldest daughter, aged around twenty, wants to adopt a Syrian child or opening their home to a Syrian family. I could well imagine how these children were trying to give back the love and home they had been blessed by their generous parents.
Aaron Becker
Among other authors was Brenda Bushouse, from the political science and public policy departments of the University of Massachusetts, who spoke on her subject. There was Wendy Wilde, also from the University of Massachusetts, with her account of a tough fight with the challenges of raising her child while paying for quality daycare. Mari Castaneda, one of the editors, was there as a speaker at the event.
In the modern education system, with moves towards more corporate-based models of teaching in the higher learning institutions, structural and cultural changes have added new responsibilities as well more challenges to women in academia. These women are also pivots of their families. In Mothers in Academia, through their experiences these women in academia spoke of reforms and recognition that could help them come in touch with women scholars and so add more substance into academic life.
On a literary evening at Food for Thought Books, there was Mira Bartok, an American visual artist and author reading from her first award winning memoir, The Memory Palace (Free Press). It is a hard cover book coming with beautiful original art by the author and the story of her growing up with a schizophrenic mother who had been a vibrant personality prior to her mental disorder. Mira Bartok has also authored some children's books, among which are The Stencil Book Series and The Big World. Talking to Bartok about her books was like connecting to a dynamic mind holding countless lights to the creative world with her writing and her art!
At the same reading session with Mira Bartok was Jedediah Berry, a pleasant young American writer was there to read from his prodigious debut novel, The Manual of Detection (Penguin) with short dream-like spy stories like The Night Watchers from his collections of other published works in various literary magazines. Jedediah has also revealed a highly imaginative mind that finds inklings in mysterious happenings and spies. Listening to his readings other creative minds could find ladders that were not known before.
Reading the books along with meeting the authors and getting the authors' signatures on the personal copies of their works were like lighting a hundred lights for me. I could hardly wait for the next group of writers who may be on their way to this college town that is always bubbling with creative works of all sorts!
Tulip Chowdhury, writer and critic, writes from Amherst, Massachusetts, USA.
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