Vermont Humanities

Robert Frost’s Life and Writing

Dailey Memorial Library 101 Junior High Drive, Derby, VT

This series invites readers to learn more about Robert Frost's life and the diversity of his writings. Robert Frost is commonly regarded as America's greatest poet. Among his many honors are four Pulitzer Prizes and an appointment as Consultant in Poetry at the Library of Congress.

Must Free Speech Endure Hate Speech?

Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Bennington 108 School St, Bennington, VT

The First Amendment prevents Congress from passing any laws that abridge the freedom of speech. But what does that actually mean? Professor Meg Mott considers the history of speech laws in the United States, how states and municipalities have tried to curb offensive speech, and how the Supreme Court has ruled on those efforts.

An Evening with Walt Whitman

Manchester Community Library 138 Cemetery Ave, Manchester Center

Through Whitman’s poetry and letters, actor Stephen Collins helps us experience the poet’s growth into a mature artist who is at peace about “himself, God and death.”

Revolution in Our Time

Brooks Memorial Library 224 Main St, Brattleboro, VT

National Book Award finalist Kekla Magoon discusses her award-winning nonfiction book, Revolution in Our Time: The Black Panther Party’s Promise to the People. The Vermont author also considers the importance of reading as a tool for social change, and our individual and collective power to transform our communities.  

In Goldleana’s Hands: Black Women and Labor Choices in North Louisiana in 1950s

Ilsley Public Library 75 Main St, Middlebury, VT

Jolivette Anderson-Douoning shares the lived experience of Mrs. Goldleana, whose story illuminates the role Black women played as laborers in the Louisiana cotton and timber industries—and in their own families—in the 1940s and 50s. She also highlights geographical differences in Black migration: some left the South while others remained. 

The Art of the Haiku

Kellogg-Hubbard Library 135 Main St, Montpelier, VT

Poet Keiselim (Keysi) Montás discusses how to read the traditional Japanese poetic form of haiku, illustrated with works from his haiku collection, Like Water.

From Red State to Blue State: Vermont’s Political Transformation

Goodrich Memorial Library 202 Main St, Newport, VT

For 100 years—from the 1850s to the 1950s—Vermont was the most Republican state in the nation. But today it is the most Democratic. Journalist Chris Graff considers some factors behind the switch from “red to blue,” including interstate highways, the arrival of IBM in Vermont, and the reapportionment of the Vermont House. 

Arribada- A Novel

Rutland Free Library 10 Court St, Rutland, VT

Author and Middlebury professor Gloria Estela Gonzalez Zenteno discusses her new novel Arribada, about a woman pushed to confront her role in environmental and social injustice, and a well-to-do family’s realization that their comfortable position rests on crimes against the natural world, their town, and their loved ones. 

The Secret to Superhuman Strength 

St. Johnsbury Athenaeum 1171 Main St, St Johnsbury, VT

Celebrated cartoonist Alison Bechdel discusses her work as an illustrator and memoirist, including her most recent book, The Secret to Superhuman Strength, a graphic memoir about her lifelong love affair with exercise that won the 2021 Vermont Book Award.