To support Vermont Reads 2022 we’ll host a series of monthly public events starting in July, featuring in-person and online discussions and presentations around the book’s themes, including up to a dozen Fall Festival events in October and regular First Wednesdays lectures on these topics through May 2023.
April 1
Bring a friend or family member to share a short story about finding yourself in new places or situation. Your story will be edited by teens and shared with the wider community as part of our 2023 Vermont Reads Programming about “The Most Costly Journey.” Prompts and easy-to-follow instructions will be available, along with help from a youth librarian.
April 1
A round table discussion facilitated by Dr. Alan Berolzheimer, Project Historian and Assistant Director at The Flow of History, will lead conversation centered on the human experience explored in The Most Costly Journey.
April 5
Poet Keiselim (Keysi) Montás discusses how to read the traditional Japanese poetic form of haiku, illustrated with works from his haiku collection, Like Water.
April 5
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.
April 5
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.
April 6
Selected by President Obama as the fifth inaugural poet in US history, Richard Blanco is the first Latino, immigrant, and gay person to serve in such a role. Born in Madrid to Cuban exile parents and raised in Miami, the negotiation of cultural identity characterizes his four collections of poetry.
April 7
Join us for “The Line Becomes a River” by Francisco Cantu book discussion at the Bugbee Senior Center. We will also be looking at ‘The Most Costly Journey.”
April 13
Come join in an interesting and informative community book discussion of The Most Costly Journey, a Vermont Reads book drawn by New England cartoonists.
April 15
In this interactive speaking event Vermont’s leading non-profit group fighting for farmworkers rights, Migrant Justice, will discuss the Milk With Dignity campaign. Migrant Justice will be giving an informational talk about the campaign while providing attendees functional tools and call to actions for supporting the rights of Vermont’s migrant farmworker population.
April 17
Voices of Inclusion in Essex and Westford (VIEW), Migrant Justice, Phoenix Books, and Essex Free Library present this opportunity to gather in community and discuss The Most Costly Journey. We will discuss the book and receive a presentation from members of Migrant Justice as part of their Milk with Dignity Campaign to learn more about the rampant abuses that workers face on dairy farms and the powerful organizing they are doing to improve conditions and protect their rights.
May 3
The graphic novel Berlin by Jason Lutes depicts life during the rise of fascism in post-WWI Germany. Lutes discusses his development as a cartoonist—with inspiration from William Faulkner to Dungeons & Dragons, Wim Wenders to Star Wars—that culminated in the creation of a book The Guardian called “a modern classic.”
May 3
Consumers are increasingly concerned with what goes into their food and demand a healthier and more ecologically sustainable food system. However, labor is rarely part of the so-called sustainable food discussion. Dr. Mares shares her ongoing research on food and farmworkers, focusing both on local labor concerns in the dairy industry and national conversations about essential work.
Poet Sarah Audsley joined us at the Taconic Mountains Ramble State Park for Words in the Woods.
Humanities Camps are filled with reading and writing projects, field trips, and outdoor activities.
We won a 2020 Schwartz Prize for best public humanities programming in the U.S. for Vermont Reads 2019: “March: Book One.”
We supported Historic New England’s “More than a Market” project that explored the experiences of new Americans through food markets.
Our free public events help bring the power of the humanities to communities across Vermont.
