Featured Events in South Hadley in July, 2025 (June Updated)

Join us on Tuesday, July 1 at 7 PM as Helen Whybrow presents her new memoir, The Salt Stones. About the book Helen Whybrow is a to-the-bone writer, and this is a to-the-bone book--beautiful, real, full of life. --Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature Sheep have helped me become a good shepherd, not just to them, but to a place that is my sustenance and joy as well as my unending labor and worry. In the heart of Vermont's Green Mountains, Helen Whybrow and her partner set out to restore an old two-hundred-acre farm. Knowing that belonging more than anything requires participation, they begin to intertwine their lives with the land. But soon after releasing a flock of Icelandic sheep onto the worn-out fields, Whybrow realizes that the art of shepherding extends far beyond the flock and fences of Knoll Farm. In prose both vivid and lean, The Salt Stones offers an intimate and profoundly moving story of what it means to care for a flock and truly inhabit a piece of land. The shepherd's life unfolds for Whybrow in the seasons and cycles of farming and family--birthing lambs, fending off coyotes, rescuing lost sheep in a storm, and raising children while witnessing her mother's decline. Exploring the interdependence of animals, as well as of the earth and ourselves, Whybrow reflects on the ways sheep connect her to place and to the ancient practice of shepherding. Evocative, affectionate, and illuminating, The Salt Stones sings of a way of life that is at once ancient and entirely contemporary, inspiring us all to seek greater intimacy and a sense of belonging wherever our home place may be. About the AuthorHelen Whybrow is the author of A Man Apart: Bill Coperthwaite's Radical Experiment in Living and Dead Reckoning: Great Adventure Writing from 1800-1900. She is also the editor of many anthologies, including Hearth: A Global Conversation on Community, Identity, and Place and Coming to Land in a Troubled World. Her writing has appeared in Cagibi, Hunger Mountain, EatingWell, and Orion. She is a visiting professor at Middlebury College and has taught at the Bread Loaf Environmental Writers' Conference. She lives in the Green Mountains of Vermont, where she shepherds a two-hundred-acre organic farm.Wren Fortunoff grew up farming and loves very long trail runs in the mountains. She has illustrated on paper bags, T-shirts, dead trees, feet, and walls. This is her first book. Information Source: Odyssey Bookshop | eventbrite

Join us on Thursday, July 10 at 7 PM as Stephen Hall talks about his new book, Slither: How Nature’s Most Maligned Creatures Illuminate Our World. He will be joined in conversation by Patricia Brennan. About the BookIn this wise and wondrous (David Quammen) exploration, a science writer reintroduces readers to The Snake, encouraging our initial reaction to the slithery creature to be one of awe rather than disgust. For millennia, depictions of snakes as alternatively beautiful and menacing creatures have appeared in religious texts, mythology, poetry, and beyond. From the foundational deities of ancient Egypt to the reactions of squeamish children today, it is a historically commonplace belief that snakes are devious, dangerous, and even evil. But where there is hatred and fear, there is also fascination and reverence. How is it that creatures so despised and sinister, so foreign of movement and ostensibly devoid of sociality and emotion, have fired the imaginations of poets, prophets, and painters across time and cultures? In Slither, Stephen S. Hall presents a naturalistic, cultural, ecological, and scientific meditation on these loathed yet magnetic creatures. In each chapter, he explores a biological aspect of The Snake, such as their cold blooded metabolism and venomous nature, alongside their mythology, artistic depictions, and cultural veneration. In doing so, he explores not only what neurologically triggers our wary fascination with these limbless creatures, but also how the current generation of snake scientists is using cutting-edge technologies to discover new truths about these evolutionarily ancient creatures—truths that may ultimately affect and enhance human health. About the AuthorStephen S. Hall has been reporting and writing about the intersection of science and society for more than 40 years. In addition to numerous cover stories in the New York Times Magazine, where he also served as a Story Editor and Contributing Writer, his work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, National Geographic, New York Magazine, Wired, Science, Nature, Scientific American, Discover, The Sciences, Hip-pocrates, Smithsonian, and more. He is also the author of six critically acclaimed non-fiction books about contemporary science. Among other honors, he has received the Walter Sullivan Award for Excellence in Science Journalism from the American Geophysical Union (2011); the Best Magazine Story of the Year from the American Association for the Advancement of Science-Kavli Foundation in 2017; and an honorary doctorate from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in 2023. He also received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2012. Since 2007 Hall has served as an adjunct professor of journalism at New York University, where he taught a core-curriculum graduate-school seminar in science writing at NYU’s Science, Health, and Environmental Reporting Program (SHERP) for ten years. He previously taught graduate seminars in science writing and explanatory journalism at Columbia University. Since 2009, he has also conducted hundreds of Science Communication Workshop sessions for scientists and doctors at NYU, Rockefeller University, Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. About Patricia Brennan Patty obtained her undergraduate degree in Marine Biology in her native Colombia. After she graduated she joined the R/V Odyssey, a 98 foot ketch doing research on marine mammal populations around the Galapagos Islands She came to the USA to pursue a PhD., and after being accepted at Cornell University in the Neurobiology and Behavior program, she decided to switch from working on marine mammals to working with birds. She worked on the elusive Great Tinamous (Tinamus major) for her PhD. She started studying bird genitalia and has now expanded to examine snakes in collaboration with Dr. Rachel Keeffe, bats- a project led by Dr Teri Orr when she was a post-doc in her lab, dolphins, a project led by her previous post-doc collaborator Dr. Dara Orbach, sharks and more recently snakes. She lives in Amherst, MA at the beautiful Amethyst Farm. She teaches at Mount Holyoke College. Information Source: Odyssey Bookshop | eventbrite

Join us on Wednesday, July 16 as Zach Adams presents Birds of New England: A Timber Press Field Guide. About the BookA comprehensive guide to the birds of New England, with stunning photos, maps, and nuanced information on how to locate and identify each unique bird. This easy to use, comprehensive field guide covers the sandy habitats bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to those nestled within vibrant fall foliage, resplendent lakes, and impressive mountain ranges. Birds of New England provides bird aficionados with detailed descriptions of avian voices, behaviors, and habitats, and points out the top birding sites throughout the region. Naturalist and educator Zach Adams provides guidance and helpful tips on all aspects of birding, from equipment to conservation-oriented birding practices, making this a great addition to any bird enthusiast’s bookshelf. ·Covers Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut ·Describes and illustrates over 350 bird species, including local favorites and rare curiosities ·Over 900 spectacular photographs of relevant plumages and birds in flight ·Individual range maps show each bird’s seasonal and migratory patterns ·Easy to use for beginners and experts alike About the AuthorBirds have lured Zach Adams on adventures in varied ecosystems throughout New England, across the United States, and even abroad. He has trudged through alder swamps, trotted through bogs, and canoed oxbows of the Housatonic River. Throughout his career in conservation— working with National Audubon, Mass Audubon, and Northwest Connecticut Land Conservancy— Zach’s knowledge and enthusiasm have helped hundreds of people connect with birds. He has also spotted county-first bird species two years in a row. It’s not unusual to find him hunched over a spotting scope in a tropical rainstorm, but he also enjoys quieter moments fly-fishing in New England’s mountain streams. Zach lives in Ashley Falls, Massachusetts, with his wife, Evelyn. Information Source: Odyssey Bookshop | eventbrite

Join us on Thursday, July 17 at 7 7PM as Kate Russo talks about her new novel, Until Alison. About the BookThe night Alison was murdered, Rachel could have stopped it. When Rachel Nardelli finds out Alison Petrucci—her childhood rival—is found dead in Pleasant Pond, the same place the two girls had first said goodbye to each other back in eighth grade, the town of Waterbury is outraged by the fear of losing one of their own—the heir to Maine’s largest construction company. But it’s a little more complicated for Rachel. She saw Alison the night she died. Callous, she said something she shouldn’t have. She stirred up the past. The next morning, Alison was gone. Plagued by the complicated memories around Alison, Rachel joins her journalism crew to investigate the murder. But as she revisits their fraught relationship, she falls into a web of cruelties that threaten to undo everything she understood about her past. An explosive literary thriller from the acclaimed Kate Russo, Until Alison is a brilliantly incisive and resonant novel that is at once about class, gender, and the arbitrary nature of violence. About the AuthorKate Russo is the author of Super Host and Until Alison. She grew up in Maine but now divides her time between there and the United Kingdom. Also an artist, she exhibits in both the US and UK. Information Source: Odyssey Bookshop | eventbrite

Join us on Tuesday, July 27 at 7 PM as Polly Ingraham talks about her new book, Unconverted: Memoir of a Marriage. About the BookAs soon as Polly and Rob meet, there is electricity between them, despite the fact that Rob is a devout Divinity student and Polly does not practice a religion. When they fall in love, she begins to wonder if their union can survive their theological differences. Over time, they build a multilayered life of family and community, and Polly manages to create a comfortable space as a clergy wife. In lyrical prose that is reflective, candid, and warm, this is the story of how an extroverted nonbeliever remained true to herself through three decades of marriage, three children, and four relocations. As Polly’s husband rose through the ranks to become an Episcopal bishop, she stayed steadfast in her love of literature, sports, nature, and her family, while deepening her understanding of herself, her husband, and marriage itself. About the AuthorPolly Ingraham has had a career working primarily in high schools, both as an English teacher and (currently) a school-to-work coordinator. She graduated from Dartmouth and then earned a Masters from the Bread Loaf School of English. In 2018, she completed the year-long Grub Street Memoir Incubator program in Boston, finishing with a first draft of her book. She and her husband, Bishop Rob Hirschfeld ’83 live in Hopkinton, NH. They enjoyed living in Shutesbury, raising their three children, between 2001 - 2013, when Rob served as the Rector of Grace Church in Amherst. Back in 2011, Polly launched her Wordpress blog, The Panorama of a Pastor's Wife, keeping it going until her recent move to Substack, where she now writes Side by Side. Information Source: Odyssey Bookshop | eventbrite