POETRY EVENT/NEWS - AMHERST, MA

August 7-9: Emily Dickinson International Society annual meeting Join us also on Thursday, August 6, for EDIS-inspired  Amherst Art Walk with poet and Paris Press founder Jan Freeman and Open Me Carefully co-editor Ellen Hart  D'Youville College English Professor Marta Werner (left), seen here during a critical institute at last year's annual meeting, will be presenting the talk "The Weather (of) Documents" on Friday, August 7. AMHERST, MASS. -- Emily Dickinson scholars and enthusiasts from around the world will be visiting Amherst August 7 to 9 for the annual meeting of the Emily Dickinson International Society.  Held in collaboration with the Emily Dickinson Museum, this year's meeting has a theme of "Dickinson in Her Elements." The programs, said EDIS President Martha Nell Smith, are inspired by the poet's engagements with air, earth, fire, and water, and the general public is encouraged to attend and participate. "There's a delightful variety of offerings, from critical institutes, lectures, and musical performances to poetry workshops and tours of Emily Dickinson's gardens and Amherst College's Wilder Observatory," said Smith, who noted that after the success of last year's annual meeting in Amherst, she's excited to be back in Dickinson's home town again. "People are excited to be returning to Amherst. They do love being in Dickinson's element." View the program and register at the EDIS website here. Among the many offerings are: A critical institute in which participants share and critique essays on Dickinson's life and work.   Lectures by D'Youville College English Professor Marta Werner on "The Weather (of) Documents," University of Georgia English Professor Cody Marrs on "Dickinson in the Winds of War," and Tulane University English Professor Michelle Kohler's "Prompter than a Star: Dickinson's Clockwork."   Performances by The Red Skies Music Ensemble of "Emily Dickinson in her Element: Accomplished Musician, Emerging Poet" and jazz pianist Tomoko Ozawa performing works inspired by Dickinson's poetry on Martha Dickinson Bianchi's Steinway in the Evergreens. The Red Skies Music Ensemble performance will be held Friday, August 7, at 8 pm at Amherst College's Keefe Campus Center. Tickets are $20 at the door. There is limited, first come, first served, seating. Combining the music Emily Dickinson played and loved with an illustrated narrative and theatrical presentation of her own wit and commentaries from correspondence and poetry, the Red Skies Music Ensemble delivers an entertaining and vivid portrayal of Dickinson in her elements of music, nature, Amherst and New England. The event is co-sponsored by the Emily Dickinson International Society, Jones Library Special Collections, and the Emily Dickinson Museum.   Presentations by authors Nuala O'Connor (Miss Emily) and Susan Snively (The Heart Has Many Doors).   Poetry workshops and discussions, a hike on the Emily Dickinson Trail, visits to the Amherst College Wilder Observatory, and a program on Dickinson's gardens. The Emily Dickinson International Society was founded in 1988 to promote, perpetuate, and enhance the study and appreciation of Emily Dickinson throughout the world. Learn more about becoming a member and their many programs here.     Thursday, August 6: Amherst Art Walk with poet and Paris Press executive director Jan Freeman and Open Me Carefully co-editor Ellen Hart Join us at the Emily Dickinson Museum on Thursday, August 6 from 5 to 8 pm for our monthly Amherst Art Walkpoetry night and open house. This month, Poet and Paris Press Executive Director Jan Freeman and Ellen Hart, co-editor (along with EDIS President Martha Nell Smith) of the Paris Press publication Open Me Carefully, will be the featured presenters starting at 7 pm in the Homestead parlor. Freeman will share the history of Paris Press and read from her own poetry, while she and Hart will discuss the publication of Open Me Carefully and read from and comment on the book.   Open Me Carefully features selections from Emily Dickinson's nearly 40-year correspondence to her sister-in-law and neighbor in The Evergreens next door, Susan Huntington Dickinson. Open Me Carefully invites a dramatic new understanding of Emily Dickinson's life and work, overcoming a century of censorship and misinterpretation. The correspondence brings to light Susan Huntington Dickinson as a central source of the poet's passion and inspiration, and as her primary reader and literary companion.  From 5 to 7 pm, tours of The Evergreens will be offered for $5. The focus of this special tour will be on the relationship between Emily and Susan, their correspondence, and the important literary history that centers around the historic house.     About the Emily Dickinson Museum The Emily Dickinson Museum: The Homestead and The Evergreens is dedicated to educating diverse audiences about the poet's life, family, creative work, times, and enduring relevance, and to preserving and interpreting the Homestead and The Evergreens as historical resources for public and academic enrichment.   The Emily Dickinson Museum is owned by the Trustees of Amherst College and overseen by a separate Board of Governors. The Museum is responsible for raising its own operating and capital funds. The Emily Dickinson Museum is a member of Museums10, a collaboration of ten museums linked to the Five Colleges in the Pioneer Valley--Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke, and Smith Colleges, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst.