Latest News
Acclaimed author Susan Choi opened the Hotchkiss Library’s fall series, reading from her new novel, “Flashlight.”
Leila Hawken
A rare opportunity to engage with the studied, meticulous process through which a recognized, award-winning author turns a core idea into a full-length work was the order of the day when the Hotchkiss Library of Sharon invited Susan Choi to speak on Saturday, Sept. 27. The program kicked off the Fall Author Series planned by the library, with two more authors scheduled for October and November.
A winner of the National Book Award, Choi based her talk on her recently published work, “Flashlight,” and the happy news that it has moved from the longlist to the shortlist for a Booker Prize.
“We’ll just be here together,” was the tone set by Choi in the informal talk. She spoke without notes and welcomed audience questions in conversation.
Choi began by reading an excerpt from the very beginning of her book —what had once been a short story published in The New Yorker. A father disappears. The story unfolds over time, memories, and the culture of nations, examining mysteries and catastrophe, all acting in concert to impact characters over decades.
“How memories shift over time” was something Choi said her book explores.
“It was challenging,” Choi said of the writing process and the research involved in depicting 1970s Japan, not yet westernized. “Mysterious things had happened in that era,” she said.
“I was interested in how long these things had gone unexplained and whether the characters who populate the narrative would come to understand those real mysteries,” Choi said.
“How lives are formed by circumstances we don’t understand” was an idea that invited exploration as Choi wove her narrative.
A background as a professional fact-checker informs and influences Choi’s meticulous research and writing process, with a strong emphasis on historical accuracy.
“If we are exploring our shared human history, I can’t get it wrong,” Choi said.
Next up in the Fall Series at the library is Peter Kuper, insect illustrator, who will describe his creative process that led to “Insectopolis: A Natural History.” The talk is scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 5, at 4 p.m.
The final program in the series will feature Aleksandra Crapanzano speaking about her cookbook, “Chocolat: Parisian Desserts and Other Delights,” and offering a cooking demonstration on Sunday, Nov. 16, at 4 p.m.
Advance registration is advised and can be made on the library’s website: www.hotchkisslibraryofsharon.org
Keep ReadingShow less
“New York Minute” by Matthew White contains over 150 images and illustrations by the author.
Provided
On Saturday, Oct. 4 at Hillsdale General Store, design devotees, urban romantics, and those who’ve ever glanced up at a clock tower in New York City will find their time well spent. Literally. Designer and author Matthew White will be on hand to celebrate the launch of his new book, “New York Minute: Public Clocks That Make the City Tick” (Abbeville Press), a lavish ode to the unsung sentinels of the city: its public timepieces.
If the title sounds nostalgic, that’s intentional. In “New York Minute,” White — one half of the storied design firm White Webb — turns his discerning eye to more than fifty clocks scattered throughout the five boroughs. Think sidewalk-level curiosities, soaring church towers and those quietly majestic lobbies. It’s architectural tourism with a personal twist.
The book, featuring a foreword by New York magazine’s design editor Wendy Goodman, is gorgeously produced, but it’s White’s storytelling that elevates it and makes it, shall we say, timeless. These clocks aren’t just decorative; they’re witnesses. “Every time I went out photographing, it was a perfect New York day,” said White. “It made me fall in love with New York again, in a different way.”
His chapters unfold not by neighborhood, but by where the clocks live architecturally — on façades, rooftops, or nestled within unexpected public spaces —offering a fresh look at a city already so mapped and mythologized. White’s favorite? The Grand Central Terminal clock. He describes it with reverence: “It’s not just a clock. It’s a public art piece. It’s the largest sculptural group in the city and home to the largest installation of Tiffany glass in the city,” White explained, his three years of research evident.
White weaves personal narratives throughout, transforming the text into an intimate exploration of time’s cultural and personal significance. Among the photographs, some historical and most taken by the author, White has added his illustrations of each clock, quiet interludes that invite the reader to pause.
Originally from Texas, White moved to New York City at eighteen to attend the School of American Ballet. After five years in New York, he moved to Los Angeles where he met his husband. The two moved back to New York City a few years later and found their second home in Hillsdale shortly thereafter.
After moving to Hillsdale, White got involved in several committees devoted to preserving the history of the hamlet. “I fell in love with the town and started redoing buildings and trying to create a resurgence,” he said. The General Store, now in its 14th year, and The Kitchen Store across the road in its 10th, keep White occupied. Asked about potentially opening a third location, White was clear about his current capacity. “I mean, I would love to if I could. I certainly have ideas, but these two are more than enough to keep me busy.”
Writing this book has not necessarily changed his relationship to time but, he said, “it’s made me more aware of it.”
There will be a second book launch at Johnnycake Books in Salisbury on Nov. 15. At both Johnnycake and the General Store on Oct. 4, you can expect warm, chatty signings — not just pens and inscriptions, but anecdotes, observations, and White’s particular knack for making urban history feel personal and alive. After all, this isn’t a book about clocks. It’s about time, and what we do with it.
The book will be available at the signings and is also available at abbeville.com
Keep ReadingShow less
Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde (foreground), Paul Elie, and Marilynne Robinson sign books for attendees.
L. Tomaino
On Sunday, Sept. 28, at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, a full audience eagerly gathered to hear authors Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde, Marilynne Robinson and moderator Paul Elie discuss what is happening in the United States.
The talk was part of the 2025 Words, Ideas, and Thinkers Literary Festival (WIT), presented by the Authors Guild.
Mary Rasenberger, CEO of the Authors Guild, introduced the panel, saying, “With the growing tyranny and attacks on democracy, what can we do? Budde and Robinson will give us reason to hope.”
The day after the inauguration on Jan. 21, Budde ascended to the pulpit at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., to ask the new president “to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now.” She is bishop of the Diocese of Washington, D.C., and author of three books.
Marilynne Robinson, well known for her four-book Gilead series, is the recipient of many awards for her fiction and nonfiction, including a Pulitzer Prize.
Moderator Paul Elie, a regular contributor to The New Yorker and author of several books, has twice been a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.
Elie began the talk by asking Budde what considerations she had when speaking to the current president.
Budde said she “worried about the consequences of speaking to a country that had been barreling toward division.” She wanted to “speak for those being dehumanized” and to offer “a gentle exhortation” on their behalf.
Elie asked Budde to define bravery and Robinson to define courage. Robinson said, “Courage celebrates all the other virtues.” Courage answers the question: “How generous can you be at your own cost?”
Budde answered, “At times in life, you may be called upon to do something you haven’t done before which involves a risk. At those times, we are invited to be brave.” She continued, “Courage is of the heart, when we become aware of that summons that beckons us.”
Elie commented, “Courage is a learned trait, but courage is not encouraged.”
Robinson said, “People need a meaningful measurement of courage and honesty on which to judge themselves.”
“People that should be traditional guardians of democracy continuously backpedaled. We need courage,” she continued. “We should be screaming in the streets about people starving who counted on us. We’ve made concessions until we feel there is nothing left to defend.”
Budde said, “Movement-building is critical.” She spoke of a “quiet network working to protect people” in Washington, D.C., including lawyers, people helping with food and those walking children to school when their parents are afraid to — fearful of being detained.
She advised, “I try to never violate the dignity of people who see the world differently. This is part of the solution. We have to overcome the reflex to see people in the worst possible way who oppose us.”
Elie asked, “How can we make more pointed recommendations for action? What can we do now?”
Budde said to ask ourselves, “What is being summoned from me now? What should I be doing? The next right thing will be revealed to us.”
Robinson said, “No one has power now except the people. There is no salvation now except democracy, and that is what I hope for.”
For more information, go to authorsguild.org
Keep ReadingShow less
Is restoration possible?
Oct 01, 2025
Stiltgrass
Dee Salomon
I’ve had my head down, picking stiltgrass strand by strand, bunch by bunch. It is too dry to use the burn torch, so the work needs to proceed by hand.And I may have already failed; the offending party has started to go to seed. and there is rain in the forecast (hooray, truly).
Without assembling a team in the next day or two, there will be enough of this invasive plant remaining that its seeds will spread back to areas it reached this year. My own private Sisyphus.
The three acres of marshy area that are host to this year’s stiltgrass invasion had largely been cleared of the “big five’” woody offenders: bittersweet, barberry, multiflora rose, privet and buckthorn.With help, I had reduced the area of phragmites by about a third and, although the coltsfoot has not yet been thwarted, plenty of native plants have grown into the area vacated by the woody invasives. It has given me hope of being able to “restore” the wetlands. I use quotes around the word, as true restoration is impossible to achieve: The ash trees that kept the tulip poplar, black willow and maples company will most likely never return. And who knows what else was here before the mayhem arrived, except for the swath of spring-blooming swamp cabbage, which could easily be many hundreds of years old.
So here I am, by myself, sifting through aster and goldenrod and native grasses, searching for the hairlike shoots of stiltgrass, bending down and using my fingers to find their source at the ground so that I can pluck them out with the root intact. I am aware that the activity is a bit obsessive, but overall this obsession with ridding invasives has created large, productive habitats for plants and animals — and has informed my writing and speaking.
The solitary work also begets obsessive thinking about the conundrum we face concerning the state of nature around us, and what we can do about it. I have mostly kept these thoughts to myself, fearing they may be counterproductive to my effort to inform and persuade people to get involved in saving native habitats on their land.
Here are my thoughts around stiltgrass.Even if I am able to get all the stiltgrass off our property, it still surrounds the three acres on our property where it has currently become an issue.It is on the roadside and in my neighbors’ yards and will easily reseed — by wind and on the feet of animals — the areas where hours were spent picking it, obviating this year’s work.That means, from now on, every year a large part of the summer season will be consumed by picking stiltgrass before it goes to seed.Not just by me, but also by the weekly gardening assistance I am so grateful to have.Which means that the normal cadence of maintenance — picking garlic mustard, narrowleaf bittercress and pulling young woody invasives — will be put aside.And that, of course, means that I will start to get a resurgence of invasives in those areas.
If I leave the stiltgrass alone, within a few years it will dominate the swamp and quickly spread into the woods.Which means that the work I’ve accomplished over the past 15 years will be for nothing.Over time, the stiltgrass infestation will smother seedlings and turn the naturally acidic soil alkaline — slowly, then quickly — killing off the trees and other native vegetation along with their ecosystem services: food, shelter, reproduction requirements for the native animals that rely on them.
Unlike humans, native animals do not have the adaptive capability to switch from eating, say, acorns to eating stiltgrass.Animals die.Biodiversity comes to a halt.Monocultures of invasive plants prevail.
Native habitats are comprised of ecosystems which, in their original state, were self-sustaining. The arrival of European settlers — and then Western-style development —disrupted these systems by introducing different species of plants and animals. So too did the European mindset that nature’s richness is at our disposal. Attempts to protect and “restore’”native habitats will be viable only as long as humans can maintain them. As with any man-made garden, it exists because it is both created and maintained.
There has been solace for me in knowing I have given years of effort and funds in service of plants and animals —a sort of reparations for the human destruction of the gift that nature provided.
And today, as I put the finishing touches on this essay, there are three people in the wetland picking stiltgrass.
I just can’t let it win. Yet.
Keep ReadingShow less
loading
