Because the age of Covid-19 kind of wanes, Arts Fuse critics supply a guide to film, dance, visual art, theater, writer readings, and music. More offerings will probably be added as they are available in.
Film
My French Film Festival
January 13 – February 13
The festival, organized by Unifrance, will mark its thirteenth edition with an emphasis on debut features and dynamic recent voices. Registration is required however the all-access pass is kind of a bargain, as are the person movies: 12 features and 17 shorts. The shorts can be found freed from charge. The entries include Alice Diop’s documentary We, which explores connections within the lives of immigrants, lovesick teens, and retirees, all of whom are connected by a commuter rail line north of Paris, and the satirical sketch comedy Bloody Oranges, which shreds polite society with anarchic glee. There are also star vehicles for the likes of Isabelle Huppert (About Joan) and Adèle Exarchopoulos (Zero Fucks Given) and examples of bittersweet animation (The Crossing). Listing of Movies
Skinamarick
January 13 – 19
Coolidge Corner Theater in Brookline
Among the many Coolidge’s excellent collection of current movies comes this micro-budgeted horror oddity that was well received on the Fantasia-fest. It garnered good reviews and a number of love on social media as well.Two children get up in the midst of the night to seek out their father is missing and all of the windows and doors of their home have vanished. “Opening in 1995 and resembling a long-buried V.H.S. tape, Skinamarink, with its scratchy silences and piggy bank-budget aesthetic, is chillingly surreal and infuriatingly repetitive. There’s uncanny logic in his looping shots of pajama-clad legs and scattered Lego bricks, within the tinny jingle of cartoons on a flickering television screen. Like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle whose picture has long been lost, each scene guarantees an answer to the youngsters’s predicament if we are able to only find its place inside the whole” (NY Times)
Belmont World Film’s Family Festival 2023
January 16
Martin Luther King Day is the inspiration for a roster of movies for kids (and adults) starting at 10:30 a.m. with You’ve Got A Friend, one hour of stories about Dr. King and his ideals and contemporaries as interpreted by Weston Woods Studios. That is followed by the International Shorts Program at noon, then Little Nicholas: Glad as Can Be at 1:30 and Icarus & the Minotaur at 3:30. Program descriptions
(A few of) The Better of 2022
January 20 – Feb 2
Brattle Theater in Cambridge
Time to catch up: a take a look at the very best of the movies released in 2022. The Brattle selects twenty movies that you could have missed. Few saw Something within the Dirt (1/20), a example of maverick filmmaking that gives a twisted reflection on our paranoid times in an inventive mixture of buddy comedy and sci-fi thriller. There may be a double feature of Ti West’s horror set, Pearl and X (1/26). There may be also a rate likelihood to see Richard Linklater’s sensible rotoscope animated feature Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood on the large screen. It’s paired with the marvelous Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (1/28) (Arts Fuse review) Try the total schedule.
The Sundance Film Festival Online
January 24–29
Sundance screens a lot of the very best up and coming movies. Six days have been put aside to stream a collection of the yr’s offerings. Movies will be watched on-demand for a limited period. For passes and single tickets link here. Descriptions of movies here.
The Boston Festival of Movies from Iran
January 26–28
Museum of High quality Arts Boston
A welcome return of the MFA’s festival of movies from Iran. This yr features three recent releases and a restored gem of the Iranian Latest Wave.
The Apple Day is a sympathetic take a look at the hardships of a family who never gives up on one another. Holy Spider, the true story of a serial killer, offers a provocative perspective on systemic misogyny. That is Not Me follows two trans men as they navigate the Iranian legal system to receive approval for gender-affirming surgery. And there’s a restoration of The Runner from 1984: that is a beautiful, synth-laden, coming-of-age tale, with one among cinema’s biggest child performances. Dates and times
Pick of the Week
Ray & Liz
Prime ($3.99 to rent), Roku (free with commercials)
Much of the satisfaction in artist Richard Billingham’s autobiographical debut feature is its luscious cinematography. Director of Photography Daniel Landin (Under the Skin, Sexy Beast) has crafted a series of imaginative compositions that seamlessly reflect Billingham’s photographer’s eye. The director draws on bittersweet memories of his alcoholic father, Ray, and his violent mother, Liz, in the course of the years they lived in a Black Country council flat outside Birmingham, England. Three different stages in his parents’ marriage are depicted. Variety called this gritty but often amusing little bit of ‘hardknock cine-memoir’ “a patient, probing gaze that sits halfway between cruel exposure and bittersweet affection.”
— Tim Jackson
Theater
COVID PROTOCOLS: Check with specific theaters; requirements often include proof of vaccination or a negative Covid-19 rapid test. Also, corporations are requiring masks at indoor performances.
‘Bov Water by Celeste Jenning. Directed by abigail jean-baptise. Staged by Northern Stage within the Byrne Theater on the Barrette Center for the Arts in White River Junction, Vermont, January 25 through February 12.
The world premiere production of a play that dramatizes how “4 generations of Black women breathe and bathe in a past that’s each intentionally and by accident forgotten. Difficult and discovering their very own narratives from the Civil War to the Nineteen Sixties to modern-day America, these strong and inquisitive souls wrestle to unearth a family’s past and construct resilience for the long run.” A part of Northern Stage’s twenty fifth Anniversary Season.
Sweet Goats and Blueberry Señoritas by Richard Blanco and Vanessa Garcia. Directed by Sally Wood. Staged by Portland Stage, 25 Forest Ave, Portland, ME, January 25 through February 12.
The world premiere production of a Maine Made Play commissioned by Portland Stage: “Beatriz, a Cuban American baker in Maine, tries to work out whether she should stick with the community she’s developed, or reunite together with her estranged mother in Miami. Along the way in which Beatriz explores what it means to belong as she cooks up the recipes of her childhood with the raw ingredients of Maine.”
Lifetime of Pi, based on the 2001 novel by Yann Martel. Adapted for the stage by Lolita Chakrabarti. Directed by Max Webster. Puppetry and movement direction by Finn Caldwell. Scenic and costume design by Tim Hatley. Presented by the American Repertory Theater on the Loeb drama Center, Cambridge, through January 29.
A North American premiere: “Sixteen-year-old Pi and his family set off to emigrate from India, but after their ship sinks in the midst of the Pacific Ocean, Pi is left stranded on a lifeboat with just 4 other survivors—a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan, and a Royal Bengal tiger. Time is against them, nature is harsh, who will survive?” Winner of 5 2022 Olivier Awards including Best Latest Play, the production, which guarantees to be spectacular, plays here before it makes its solution to Broadway in March. Arts Fuse review
Preludes, with music, lyrics, book, and orchestrations by Dave Malloy. Directed by Courtney O’Connor. Music direction by Dan Rodriguiez. Staged by the Lyric Stage, 140 Clarendon Street, Boston , through February 6.
“A musical fantasia, Preludes unfolds within the hypnotized mind of composer and virtuoso pianist Sergei Rachmaninoff as he attempts to beat his author’s
block following a disastrous premiere of his Symphony No. 1 in D minor. In an array of hypnotic reveries, he’s invigorated by among the most influential
artists of the time including Tolstoy, Chekhov, and Tchaikovsky. Creativity is unlocked and ignited through Dave Malloy’s (Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812) bewitching mashup of original compositions and Rachmaninoff’s own work.” The forged includes Aimee Doherty and Will McGarrahan. Arts Fuse review
The Art of Burning by Kate Snodgrass. Directed by Melia Bensussen. Staged by the Huntington Theatre Company at The Huntington/Calderwood Pavilion on the BCA, 527 Tremont Street, South End, Boston, through February 12. Following the run at The Huntington, the production will move to Hartford Stage, where Bensussen is artistic director. Performances will run there from March 2 through 26.
The world premiere production of this script at The Huntington marks the debut at the corporate of the work of Kate Snodrass, Boston playwright and leader of Boston Playwrights’ Theatre for 35 years. The plot “follows modernist painter Patricia as she alters the terms of her divorce with husband Jason mid-negotiation. Meanwhile, their daughter Beth didn’t show up for varsity. Does Patricia know where she is, or is there something more sinister afoot?” The drama … “explores the love, rage, and responsibility that include marriage and parenting in America.” The forged includes Adrianne Krstansky, Michael Kaye, and Laura Latreille.
The Faith Healer by Brian Friel. Directed by Donnia Hughes. Staged by the Gamm Theatre at 1245 Jefferson Boulevard, Warwick, Rhode Island, through January 29.
Friel’s 1979 play, which many critics consider to be a masterpiece, retains its power: “it weaves together the stories of an erratic, itinerant faith healer with those of his embittered but loving wife and his weary stage manager. In lyrical monologues, the characters deliver conflicting versions of “the improbable Francis Hardy’s” performances, while slowly revealing a terrible event on the story’s center.”
By The Queen, drawn from William Shakespeare by Whitney White. Directed by Brian McEleney. Staged by the Trinity Repertory Company on the Dowling Theatre, 201 Washington Street, Windfall, Rhode Island, through February 12.
A world premiere production: “From her roots as a provincial princess of France, to her ascension to the throne of England and her eventual downfall, Queen Margaret is some of the complicated, fascinating, and thrilling characters in Shakespeare’s works. She is a warrior, a wife, a politician, a mother… and this dynamic recent drama, lifted and remixed from the text of Henry VI and Richard III, finally gives her story the telling it deserves. ” This production includes seating on the stage AND regular audience seating. We invite you to decide on On-Stage or Off-Stage (traditional) seating.
We’re Gonna Die by Young Jean Lee. Directed by Marcel A. Mascaro. Music Direction / Vocals + SoundScape by Chazz Giovanni. Guitar by Jose Docen. Percussion + Bass by Teddy Lytle. Staged by the Wilbury Theatre Group at 475 Valley Street, Windfall, RI, January 19 through February 12.
This Obie Award-winning show by by writer of Straight White Men and Church blends storytelling, stand-up, music, and theater into “a funny, sweet, and darkly weird song cycle that engages audiences and lets us know we could also be miserable, but at the least we won’t be alone.” The production features Helena Tafuri, Chazz Bruce, Jose Docen and Teddy Lytle.
Letters from Home, written and performed by Kalean Ung. Directed by and Developed with Marina McClure Music by Chinary Ung. Staged by the Merrimack Repertory Theatre, 50 E. Merrimack Street in Lowell, MA, January 18 through February 5.
The East Coast premiere of Kalean Ung’s play, which “weaves together her Cambodian family’s refugee story together with her own as a bi-racial, second-generation American. Inspired by member of the family’s letters sent to her father from refugee camps after the Cambodian genocide, Letters from Home unearths the myths and mysteries of her family’s past as a ritual for intergenerational healing.”
Wolf Play by Hansol Jung. Directed by Carol Ann Tan. Staged by the Brown University/Trinity Repertory Company MFA Programs in Acting and Directing on the Pell Chafee Performance Center, 87 Empire St., Windfall, RI, January 27 through February 5.
The plot: “Wolves are social animals and Jeenu is not any exception. A Korean boy who may or is probably not a wolf, Jeenu is adopted by an American family before being suddenly “rehomed” to a different couple. But when his original adoptive father decides he wants the boy back upon learning his recent parents are queer, Jeenu finds himself caught in the midst of a custody battle, two strained marriages, and a professional boxer’s debut. Amidst the chaos, Jeenu is set to seek out his true pack.”
— Bill Marx
Visual Arts
At the side of its profession survey of Massachusetts artist Daniel Jocz (Daniel Jocz: Permission Granted, through May 14), Brockton’s Fuller Crafts Museum has organized Creative Alloys: The Boston Metals Scene, which opens on January 28. The show focuses on the “creative ecosystem” that has nurtured Jocz—the metalsmithing and jewellery community that has inspired, educated, and supporting Boston metal artists for half a century. Greater than a dozen artists are on view, including Jamie Bennett, Rena Koopman, and Joe Wood.
Women and Abstraction: 1741-Now opening on the Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, on January 28, revises within the history of American art in several directions: it expands the definition and time-span of abstraction and focuses, not on the established female figures in post-war abstraction— women like Helen Frankenthaler, Lee Krasner, and Joan Mitchell (all of whom were white and Jewish), but on “marginalized and ignored women” who remain “neglected by scholars and museums alike.” Drawn mostly from works within the Addison collection, the show also rejects “chronology, hierarchies of medium, and the restrictive definitions of art movements” to explore work in a wide range of mediums that use the deep structures of non-representational aesthetics, amongst them color, line, and pattern.
Tufts University Art Galleries’ re: imagining collections, opening January 23, takes a start line one other revisionist project: re-examining art museums and their projects from the viewpoint of Twenty first-century concepts of post-colonialism, rights to cultural property, and the ethics of collecting. Following a now-common museum practice, the museum has invited a bunch of artists to explore at and interpret their under-studied collections of antiquities from the Americas and the Mediterranean, dating from the fifth century BCE to the seventh century CE. The five artists — Ali Cherri, Nicole Cherubini, Lily Cox-Richard, NIC Kay, and SANGREE — have each created installations and performance pieces that address these works and convey them into the context of those contemporary artists’ own histories and identities.
Boston-based Taylor Davis is the primary artist invited to arrange an exhibition from the Institute of Contemporary Art’s everlasting collection, itself a reasonably recent innovation on the ICA. It didn’t collect art for many of its greater than ninety yr history. Davis’ own work focuses on the article and its human observer. Taylor Davis Selects: Invisible Ground of Sympathy extends the sector and intends to place the viewer at the middle of a constellation of labor “to activate their different emotional and psychological intensities” while considering “themes of precarity, wonder, violence, and wonder.” The exhibition opens on January 31.
James Loeb (1867-1933) was a Latest York banker, collector, philanthropist and member of the Harvard College Class of 1888. His many passionate interests included classical art and literature, music, and the brand new field of psychiatry (within the early 1900s, Loeb stayed for a while with Sigmund Freud in Munich). Loeb’s philanthropy helped establish the American Institute of Musical Art (now the Juilliard School), Harvard’s music constructing and concert hall, the German Research Institute for Psychiatry in Munich, medical institutions in america and Germany, and the Loeb Classical Library, now published by the Harvard University Press.
After retiring from his family’s banking firm, citing poor health, Loeb moved to Munich and later stayed permanently at his country estate near Murnau. He donated his collections of classical bronzes and vases to the Staatliche Antikensammlungen in Munich. A loan from the Munich institution of greater than 60 Greek and Roman objects from Loeb’s collection forms the core of the exhibition A World Inside Reach: the Loeb Collection, which opens on the Harvard Art Museums on January 28. The choice includes unusual people of the classical world fashioned in clay and bronze, small-scale animal sculptures, and a few spectacular jewelry, all arranged under the themes of power, desire, and wonder.
— Peter Walsh
Jazz
Gregory Groover
January 19 at 7:30 p.m.
Peabody Hall, Parish of All Saints, Dorchester, Mass.
Mandorla Music begins its 2023 season with gospel-inspired tenor saxophonist Gregory Groover and a wonderful band that features trumpeter Jason Palmer, pianist Santiago Bosch, bassist Max Ridley, and drummer Tyson Jackson. It’s a part of the continuing Dot Jazz Series, co-presented by Mandorla and Greater Ashmont Most important Street.
Driff Records Winter Festivalette
Jan. 21 at 7:30 p.m.
Lilypad, Cambridge, Mass.
The venerable Boston-based Driff Records (b. 2012) convenes this “Festivalette,” a variation of its day-long Driff Fests, which generally occur in June (the last was in 2021). On this case, the label celebrates the discharge of last yr’s 3-CD Duals, which set pianist Pandelis Karayorgis with three different duo partners. For tonight’s show, Karayorgis will face off with one among those partners, the trombonist Jeb Bishop. The opposite half of this system will feature Jorrit Dijkstra’s PorchBone, an extension of his Porch Trio, with Nate McBride on bass and electric bass guitar; drummer and percussionist Eric Rosenthal; and trombonists Bishop, Michael Prentky, and Bill Lowe (the last on bass trombone and tuba). Dijkstra will deploy his usual mixture of saxophones, lyricon, and analog electronics. Each sets will feature original compositions and spontaneous improvisations.
Jeremy Pelt
January 21 at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.
Scullers Jazz Club, Boston
The very tremendous post-bop trumpeter and composer Jeremy Pelt is available in with a quintet for 2 shows at Scullers. His 2021 album Griot: This Is Necessary, alternated compelling original compositions with spoken-word interludes from the likes Paul West, Larry Willis, René Marie, Harold Mabern, Ambrose Akinmusire, and others regarding the role of jazz in their very own lives and as a storytelling tradition of African American life. Presumably you’ll be hearing the music without the stories tonight, but you’ll probably hear those stories in the music.
Laszlo Gardony
January 26 at 7:30 p.m.
Friend Recital Hall, Berklee College of Music, Boston
FREE
The press-release shorthand for Laszlo Gardony is “Bartók meets Monk meets King Crimson,” however the Budapest-born pianist and composer way back melded all these influences right into a singular personal style — so the thumping rock of the primary chords of “Irrepressible” (the opener from his recent Close Connection) soon breaks off into multiple strands that include funk and Central European folk. Elsewhere there’s proggy rock, Latest Orleans dance rhythms, African polyrhythms, and classic bebop piano, with dazzling lines of running eighth notes over swing-jazz rhythm. After two solo-piano albums, Gardony reunited with longtime trio mates John Lockwood (bass) and Yoron Israel (drums) for Close Connection. They rejoice its release with this free concert at Berklee (where Gardony has taught since 1987).
Tyson Jackson Quartet
January 26 at 7:30 p.m.
Lilypad, Cambridge, Mass.
Buzzed-about young drummer Tyson Jackson (b. 1997) fronts a wonderful quartet with saxophonist Gregory Groover (see January 19), pianist Kevin Harris, and bassist Max Ridley.
Eddie Palmieri
January 28 at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.
Scullers Jazz Club, Boston
NEA Jazz Master Eddie Palmieri is as responsible as anyone for the creation of the fashionable, Latest York strain of Afro-Latin jazz and dance music. The South Bronx-born pianist and composer, now 86, melded traditional Cuban and other Afro-Latin forms and rhythms to create his own sound, all informed by his dynamic piano playing, which drew on montuno vamps with McCoy Tyner-esque virtuosity. He brings his Latin Jazz Band to Scullers for 2 show.
Jazz Composer Alliance Orchestra
January 29 at 3 p.m.
Lilypad, Cambridge, Mass.
Since its founding in 1985, the Jazz Composers Alliance Orchestra has compiled a track record that features greater than 120 recent compositions, including commissions for Muhal Richard Abrams, Marty Ehrlich, and Wayne Horvitz, collaborations with Julius Hemphill, Hendry Threadgill, Sam Rivers, and Dave Holland, and a gentle stream of fresh work from its resident composers. After a COVID-imposed hiatus, the JCAO returns for this show on the Lilypad. The 21-piece band will play recent music by David Harris, Darrell Katz, Bob Pilkington, and Mimi Rabson, in addition to pieces from their 2020 album Live on the BPC. The band will repeat this system on February 1 (7 p.m.) on the Arlington High School Auditorium, with the addition of the AHS Jazz Band, who will open the show and join the JCAO for Rabson’s “In Bb,” composed in honor of minimalist composer Terry Riley’s “In C.” Further details can be found on the band’s website.
— Jon Garelick
Classical Music
Nicola Benedetti plays Szymanowski
Presented by Boston Symphony Orchestra
January 19 at 7:30 p.m., 20 at 1:30 p.m., and 21 at 8 p.m.
Symphony Hall, Boston
The sensible Italian-British violinist makes her BSO debut with Karol Szymanowski’s Violin Concerto No. 2. Karina Canellakis, who’s made quite the impression in recent summers at Tanglewood, makes her own Symphony Hall debut, conducting Dvorak’s The Wood Dove and Witold Lutoslawski’s Concerto for Orchestra.
Beethoven’s Eroica
Presented by Handel & Haydn Society
January 20 at 7:30 p.m. and 22 at 3 p.m.
Symphony Hall, Boston
Václav Luks leads H&H in a pair of turn-of-the-19th-century selections: Beethoven’s celebrated Eroica Symphony and Paul Wrantizky’s Symphony in D minor, “La tempesta.”
Opera Bites
Presented by Boston Opera Collaborative
January 20-22, 7:30 p.m. (3 p.m. on Sunday)
Pickman Hall, Cambridge
BOC’s popular series of short operas presented in cabaret setting returns, this yr featuring eight 10-minute-long works (plus drinks and refreshments).
Emerson Quartet Farewell Concert
Presented by Celebrity Series
January 22, 3 p.m.
Jordan Hall, Boston
The Emerson String Quartet’s farewell season involves Boston – and with a program that means anything but a complacent departure from this most celebrated of chamber groups: works by Bartók, Shostakovich, and Beethoven share the bill with George Walker’s touching Lyric for Strings.
Baiba Skride plays Shostakovich
Presented by Boston Symphony Orchestra
January 26 at 7:30 p.m., 27 and 28 (at 8 p.m.)
Symphony Hall, Boston
The BSO’s ongoing Shostakovich recording cycle continues on its home stretch with Skride playing the Violin Concerto No. 2. Music director Andris Nelsons conducts further pieces by Steven Mackey (the world premiere of his Concerto for Curved Space) and Brahms (Symphony No. 4).
Danish String Quartet
Presented by Celebrity Series
January 27, 8 p.m.
Jordan Hall, Boston
The Danish String Quartet returns to Boston with assorted Nordic folk tunes in tow, in addition to music by Haydn, Shostakovich, and Benjamin Britten.
— Jonathan Blumhofer
Roots and World Music
Joe K. Walsh
January 20
Club Passim
Bands with progressive bluegrass superpickers often go for broke — playing one rapid-fire tune after one other — with a purpose to meet expectations. And there’s little doubt that mandolinist Joe K. Walsh can (and has) played jaw-dropping licks at high speeds. But he long yearned to release what he describes as an “understated, conversational instrumental record” Now he has done it with the gorgeous and stylish If Not Now, Who? Walsh celebrates the album’s arrival with a tremendous ensemble that features legendary fiddler Darol Anger and master guitarist Grand Gordy, each of whom also play with Walsh within the band Mr. Sun. Versatile Boston bassist Brittany Karlson and percussionist John Suntken round out the touring ensemble.
The Lads from Liverpool: Songs and Stories
January 29, 3 p.m.
City Winery
It’s still astonishing what number of great pop artists emerged from Liverpool, England within the ’60s. Three of them were Billy J. Kramer of the Dakotas, Joey Molland of Badfinger, and Terry Sylvester, who was an Escort and a Swinging Blue Jean before he replaced Graham Nash within the Hollies. On this matinee performance these Merseybeat survivors will swap songs and, perhaps better of all, stories in regards to the local music scene that modified the world.
— Noah Schaffer
Creator Events
Richard Hoffman with Sven Birkerts — Porter Square Books
Remembering the Alchemists & other Essays
January 17 at 7 p.m.
Free
“Remembering the Alchemists is an intense, passionate, and moving collection of private essays that never loses sight of the moral issues it raises. At times thoughtful and smart and at other times a cri de cœur, it’s held together by the experienced voice of an essayist at the highest of his game. Richard Hoffman speaks softly, even reverently, within the presence of art and the natural world, but addressing militarism, war, and violence against children, he speaks with urgency and earnest questioning. Several of those essays ask the way it is that we appear to have given up on ourselves, and what it would take to show the cascading traumas of history into compassion for each other and lessons for the long run.”
Virtual Event: Dr. Suzie Sheehy – Harvard Book Store
The Matter of All the things: How Curiosity, Physics, and Improbable Experiments Modified the World
January 18 at 6 p.m.
Free with $5 suggested contribution
“In The Matter of All the things, accelerator physicist Suzie Sheehy introduces us to the individuals who, through a mixture of genius, persistence and luck, staged the experiments that modified the course of history. From the serendipitous discovery of X-rays in a German laboratory, to the scientists attempting to prove Einstein improper (and inadvertently proving him right), to the race to separate open the atom, these experiments not only shaped our understanding of the cosmos, but additionally shaped how we live inside it. These breakthroughs have helped us construct detectors that map the insides of volcanoes, develop life-saving medical equipment and create electronic devices utilized in every thing from fiber-optic cables to solar panels—amongst countless other advancements.”
Cozy Winter Yoga and Tea at Brookline Booksmith
January 22 at 10 a.m.
Free
“Enjoy 60 minutes of nourishing yoga, followed by a cup of tea and book browsing. On a chilly winter’s day, what’s higher than snuggling up with a comfortable blanket and a book? Adding in some rejuvenating movement on your body and soul!
Roll off the bed and head to Brookline Booksmith for a dose of gentle and nourishing yoga, followed by a cup of warm tea when you browse the bookstore on your recent winter read. In reality, to encourage a wellness mindset for 2023, Coolidge Yoga staff chosen a group of their favorite books on yoga, meditation, and mindfulness (available in-store and online here) only for you. Our cozy experience will lift your spirits, warm you up from the within out, and help soothe your nervous system for a soothing Sunday ahead.”
Ilyon Woo at Harvard Book Store
Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom
January 23 at 7 p.m.
Free
“With three epic journeys compressed into one monumental bid for freedom, Master Slave Husband Wife is an American love story — one that may challenge the nation’s core precepts of life, liberty, and justice for all — one which challenges us even now.”
Reconnecting to Matrilineal Homes: Chelsea T. Hicks with Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi at brookline booksmith
January 27 at noon
Free
“Join Literatures of Annihilation, Exile, and Resistance for a virtual event on reconnecting to matrilineal homes with Chelsea T. Hicks and Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi. Chelsea T. Hicks is a graduate of the Institute of American Indian Arts’ MFA in creative writing, and holds an MA from the University of California at Davis. She is a Tulsa Artist Fellow and a Native Arts & Cultures Foundation LIFT Awardee. Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi is the writer of the novels Savage Tongues and Call Me Zebra which won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, the John Gardner Award, and was long listed for the PEN Open Book Award.”
Catherine Newman with Joanna Rakoff at Porter Square Books
We All Want Unimaginable Things
January 30 at 7 p.m.
Free
“For lovers of Meg Wolitzer, Maria Semple, and Jenny Offill comes Catherine Newman’s raucous, poignant celebration of life, love, and friendship at its imperfect and radiant best.
Edith and Ashley have been best friends for over forty-two years. They’ve shared the mundane and the momentous together: trick or treating and binge drinking; Gilligan’s Island reruns and REM live shows; hickeys and heartbreak; surprise Scottish wakes; marriages, infertility, and youngsters. As Ash says, “Edi’s memory is just like the back-up harddrive for mine.” But now the unthinkable has happened. Edi is dying of ovarian cancer and spending her last days at a hospice near Ash, who stumbles into heartbreak surrounded by her daughters, ex(ish) husband, dear friends, a poorly chosen lover (or two), and a rotating forged of beautifully, fleetingly human hospice characters.
As The Fiddler on the Roof soundtrack blasts all day long from the room round the corner, Edi and Ash reminisce, hold on, and check out to let go. Meanwhile, Ash struggles with being an imperfect friend, wife, and parent—with life, in other words, distilled to its heartbreaking, joyful, and comedic essence. For anyone who’s ever lost a friend or had one. Get able to laugh through your tears.”
Patricia Engel at brookline booksmith
The Faraway World
January 30 at 7 p.m.
Free
“From Patricia Engel, whose novel Infinite Country was a Latest York Times bestseller and a Reese’s Book Club pick, comes an exquisite collection of ten haunting, award-winning short stories set across the Americas
— Matt Hanson