Salem Literature Festival

The Salem Literature Festival

From March 27th through March 29, Salem, Massachusetts will take the weekend to celebrate the literary arts with author readings, writing workshops, open mics, word-game tournaments, parties, and more.

Events are being held all over town including: Hamilton Hall, the Salem Athenaeum, Cornerstone Books, Front Street Cafe, The Old Town Hall and an handful of other places. You can meet authors, learn how to hone your skills, see plays, read, write or listen to poetry, attend a tribute, play Scrabble, even make your own paper.

One of the best parts of this lit-fest is that most of the events are free.  Hopefully my writing will improve a bit so you will keep reading this site faithfully

For more great info on the Salem Literature Festival check out their site at SalemLitFest.com.

Then & Now: Salem
Author:  Jerome M. Curley, Nelson L. Dionne
Publisher:  Arcadia Publishing (February 16, 2009)
Amazon link: Then & Now: Salem

Then & Now: Salem

As you might expect Then & Now: Salem compares life in the Witch City through the photographers lens.  Luckily for us, Salem has been a wealthy city which lead to it being photographed extensively through out the years.   Then & Now: Salem focuses on  the structural, architectural and subsequently the environmental changes which have occurred mostly over the last century.

The photographer replicated images of Salem using the same vantage point as a previous photographer had and displays them side by side allowing the reader to delve into the changes, sometimes an improvement and other times to the detriment of our fair city.  As a photographer myself I would have preferred if the shots were reproduced using the same kind of cameras.  Many of the updated shots were taken with what appears to be a small or medium format camera not allowing the photographer to correct for perspective (which is why in some of the old photos the buildings look straight up and down where as the new shots appear to be leaning).   This discontinuity of perspective in no way effects the impact of how time has treated Salem, it is pure photographer snobbery.

As you know, we at TheSalemInsider.com occasionally do “then & now” posts, it’s a great way to track how our city changes its face from year to year.  Then & Now: Salem allows you to track those changes on a grand scale and gives you and insight to live in a bygone era.

If you are anything like me you will lament the loss of some of these buildings and regret that in the name of progress we demolished true craftsmanship in favor of  a bit more living or working space.  The flip side of that coin is an enlightenment to the downfalls of our forefathers and the ability and responsibility we now have with the current and future projects in town.

Then & Now: Salem is a must have for any true Salemite.  Wether you are a history buff or just want to see the Witch City in a new light as you walk about town, this book gives you a look at our past and a glimpse into our future.

Salem is home to a few great bookstores, bunches of library’s both public and private and a gem known as the Salem Athenaeum.  The Salem Athenaeum was formed in 1810 by the union of the Social and Philosophical libraries. By 1837, it boasted a collection of around 9,000 volumes.  It’s located in a beautiful brick Palladian and Federal building (modeled after Homewood) at 337 Essex Street just down the road a piece from the Salem Library.

Now with over 50,000 volumes the Salem Athenaeum has current and historical information, offers regular salons, readings and gatherings.

If you’re going to have books you need writers.

For all you aspiring writers out there a new group has formed, The Parlor is a new nonprofit creative writing center in Salem, Massachusetts.

Our mission is to foster the creative development of individual writers, to cultivate a local writing community, and to build an audience for literature on the North Shore of Massachusetts. We’ll do this by providing affordable creative writing workshops to writers of all experience levels, by hosting events of interest to the writing community, and by continuing to publish the
national literary journal Quick Fiction.

The Parlor Hosts Novelist Hannah Tinti at The Salem Athenaeum

Now that you know about the Anthenaeum and the Palor it’s time to meet Novelist Hannah Tinti. Hannah Tinti, a Salem native now living in New York will be coming home before embarking on a national book tour to promote her new novel The Good Theif. Her work has appeared in various magazines and anthologies, including Best American Mystery Stories 2003. Her short story collection, Animal Crackers, has been sold in sixteen countries and was recently a runner-up for the PEN/Hemingway award.

While in Salem you can meet Ms. Tinti on Saturday, July 19th at 2:30 pm, when The Parlor will host their first annual Creative Connection held at The Salem Athenaeum.