Kate Axelrod and Khaholi Bailey
Come see Kate Axelrod and Khaholi Bailey in this Hudson Valley event. Readings, signings, convos.
Kate Axelrod
Kate Axelrod's writing can be found in Electric Literature, Lit Hub, Joyland and various other publications. She lives in Brooklyn with her family.
Khaholi Bailey
Khaholi Bailey is a writer of fiction and memoir. Her creative work has also been featured in FLAPPERHOUSE and Breadcrumbs. She holds a bachelor's degree in creative writing from Hunter College and lives in New York City.
Howland Public Library - Circulating Jim Crow, The Saturday Evening Post and the War Against Black Modernity
In the early twentieth century, the Saturday Evening Post was perhaps the most popular and influential magazine in the United States, establishing literary reputations and shaping American culture. In the popular imagination, it is best remembered for Norman Rockwell’s covers, which nostalgically depicted a wholesome and idyllic American way of life. But beneath those covers lurked a more troubling reality. Under the direction of its longtime editor, George Horace Lorimer, the magazine helped justify racism and white supremacy. It published works by white authors that made heavy use of paternalistic tropes and demeaning humor, portraying Jim Crow segregation and violence as simple common sense.
Stanza fiction workshop - May
STANZA Fiction Workshop
Since we opened, community members have asked for writing workshops. As part of our mission to serve the Beacon literary community, we’re offering our first one!
This workshop is for anyone working on a fiction novel, fiction short stories, of any genre. It will held in person at Stanza Books.
The workshop will feature two main sections:
The business of writing with literary agent Claire Harris
Claire Harris of PS Literary Agency will answer questions about working with agents, the state of publishing, or anything else related to the business of writing.
Claire Harris is a literary agent at PSLA representing a wide range of fiction and non-fiction for adults. After graduating from The University of Texas at Austin, she got her start in publishing through the NYU Summer Publishing Institute. Claire seeks projects that shine a spotlight on people, places, and events that are often overlooked or not given the attention they deserve. She loves complex and well-developed characters, unique voices, and twisty plots. She enjoys the creative process of working with creators and collaborating closely with them throughout all stages of their careers. Having grown up in Wisconsin, she has a soft spot for stories set in the Midwest.
The craft of writing with author Sam Rebelein
Bring in 5-10 pages to review and work on with Stoker-nominated author Sam Rebelein.
Sam Rebelein holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College, with a focus on Horror and Memoir. His work has appeared in PseudoPod, Gamut, Bourbon Penn, Press Pause Press, Coffin Bell Journal, Ellen Datlow’s Best Horror of the Year, and elsewhere. Sam’s debut horror novel Edenville is out now from William Morrow and was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award for First Novel. His follow-up collection of stories set in the same fictional universe, The Poorly Made and Other Things, is coming for you in early 2025. For more about Sam's work (and pictures of his dog), find him on Instagram @RebelSam94.
Workshops are non-refundable, and cannot be purchased with gift cards. This workshop is limited to 12 participants. Two spots are “scholarship spots” for anyone experiencing financial hardship. Just talk to Mark or Andi :)
Please come prepared with printed pages of your work, and tools to write with: laptops, tablets, notebooks and pens, etc.
Book Discussion, The Persuaders Chapters 4-7
A discussion around the book The Persuaders, by New York Times columnist Anand Giridharadas. Led by Mai Jacobs.
An insider account of activists, politicians, educators, and everyday citizens working to change minds, bridge divisions, and fight for democracy. As the book's subjects grapple with how to call out threats and injustices while calling in those who don't agree with them but just might one day, they point a way to healing, and changing, a fracturing country.
"Anand Giridharadas shows the way we get real progressive change in America--by refusing to write others off, building more welcoming movements, and rededicating ourselves to the work of changing minds." --Robert B. Reich, best-selling author of The System
Stanza Sci-Fi book club - May
Welcome to Stanza’s Sci-Fi book club!
Joining is simple.
Buy the book at Stanza
Come join the discussion :)
Stanza Horror Book Club - May
Welcome to Stanza’s Horror Book Club!
Joining is simple.
Buy the book at Stanza(we should have them in by 4/30)
Come to the discussion
This Skin Was Once Mine and Other Disturbances
A brand-new collection of four intense, claustrophobic and terrifying horror tales from the Bram Stoker Award(R)-nominated and Splatterpunk Award-winning author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke.
THIS SKIN WAS ONCE MINE
When her father dies under mysterious circumstances, Jillian Finch finds herself grieving the man she idolized while struggling to feel comfortable in the childhood home she was sent away from nearly twenty years ago. Then Jillian discovers a dark secret that will threaten to undo everything she has ever known about her father.
SEEDLING
A young man's father calls him early in the morning to say that his mother has passed away. He arrives home to find his mother's body still in the house. Struggling to process what has happened he notices a small black wound appear on his wrist. Then he discovers his father is cursed with the same affliction.
ALL THE PARTS OF YOU THAT WON'T EASILY BURN
Enoch Leadbetter goes to buy a knife for his husband to use at a forthcoming dinner party. He encounters a strange shopkeeper who draws him into an intoxicating new obsession and sets him on a path towards mutilation and destruction...
PRICKLE
Two old men revive a cruel game with devastating consequences...
AMERIKALAND - book launch
PRE-ORDER your copy and pick it up at STANZA starting June 1, 3 days before the official release date.
June 1, we will launch this exciting and important new novel and host author Danny Goodman for readings, conversation, and signing.
Danny will be in conversation with Pushcart Prize winner and director of the creative writing program at SUNY New Paltz Kristopher Jansma.
About the novel
In a reimagined present day, two athletes find themselves in NYC for World Day—a sporting event meant to celebrate international peace. For years, Sabine was regarded as a tennis legend, until an act of violence threatened her life and career. Now, she is determined to stand before the crowds once again a winner. Sandy is the beloved star of his hometown baseball team, but a recent horrific antisemitic crime nearly unravels him. Their lives are forever changed when a massive terrorist attack strikes World Day. As Sabine and Sandy emerge from this destruction, their journeys take them across the Atlantic and back again, where they come to understand how they are each connected to the attack—connections veiled by shocking family secrets and geopolitical motivations.
After these revelations, they’ll have to decide if their love and friendship can bridge a path forward. In striking resonance with today’s rising antisemitism, Amerikaland tells the emotional story of people battling their histories and charting their own fates.
Danny Goodman
Danny Goodman's writing has appeared in various publications, and he was the recipient of a writer-in-residence fellowship from Rivendell. He earned his MFA in Fiction from the University of New Orleans, where he was a two-time winner of the Samuel Mockbee Award. He lives in Beacon with his wife, a book editor, and their editorial cats. AMERIKALAND is his debut novel.
Kristopher Jansma
Kristopher Jansma is the author of the forthcoming book Revisionaries: What We Can Learn from the Lost, Unfinished, and Just Plain Bad Work of Great Writers (Quirk Books, 10/15) as well as the novel Our Narrow Hiding Places (Ecco, 8/13). His previous novels are Why We Came to the City and The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards. He is the winner of the Sherwood Anderson Foundation Fiction Award and a Pushcart Prize, as well as the recipient of an honorable mention for the PEN/Hemingway Award. Kristopher is an associate professor of English and the director of the creative writing program at SUNY New Paltz.
Stanza fiction workshop - June
STANZA Fiction Workshop
Since we opened, community members have asked for writing workshops. As part of our mission to serve the Beacon literary community, we’re offering our first one!
This workshop is for anyone working on a fiction novel, fiction short stories, of any genre. It will held in person at Stanza Books.
The workshop will feature two main sections:
The business of writing with literary agent Claire Harris
Claire Harris of PS Literary Agency will answer questions about working with agents, the state of publishing, or anything else related to the business of writing.
Claire Harris is a literary agent at PSLA representing a wide range of fiction and non-fiction for adults. After graduating from The University of Texas at Austin, she got her start in publishing through the NYU Summer Publishing Institute. Claire seeks projects that shine a spotlight on people, places, and events that are often overlooked or not given the attention they deserve. She loves complex and well-developed characters, unique voices, and twisty plots. She enjoys the creative process of working with creators and collaborating closely with them throughout all stages of their careers. Having grown up in Wisconsin, she has a soft spot for stories set in the Midwest.
The craft of writing with author Sam Rebelein
Bring in 5-10 pages to review and work on with Stoker-nominated author Sam Rebelein.
Sam Rebelein holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College, with a focus on Horror and Memoir. His work has appeared in PseudoPod, Gamut, Bourbon Penn, Press Pause Press, Coffin Bell Journal, Ellen Datlow’s Best Horror of the Year, and elsewhere. Sam’s debut horror novel Edenville is out now from William Morrow and was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award for First Novel. His follow-up collection of stories set in the same fictional universe, The Poorly Made and Other Things, is coming for you in early 2025. For more about Sam's work (and pictures of his dog), find him on Instagram @RebelSam94.
Workshops are non-refundable, and cannot be purchased with gift cards. This workshop is limited to 12 participants. Two spots are “scholarship spots” for anyone experiencing financial hardship. Just talk to Mark or Andi :)
Please come prepared with printed pages of your work, and tools to write with: laptops, tablets, notebooks and pens, etc.
Jason Koo - NO REST
Winner, Diode Editions Book Contest
Finalist, AWP’s Donald Hall Prize for Poetry (selected by Claudia Rankine)
Praise for NO REST
No Rest is utterly compelling, heartbreaking, funny, tragic and brilliant. From beginning to end I was immersed. It's a book we are fortunate to have, and to which I will return again and again.
—Matthew Zapruder
I have been trying // and trying and trying and trying and trying / to make myself manifest to the American public,” Jason Koo writes in No Rest, a sidesplitting, entrancing tour de force of audaciously long poems alchemized from an inner chatter so authentic you’ll forget that this voice—with its expletives, its asides (“Um, no, but hold that thought”) and one completely justified use of “???”—is shaking you from a book. And what a sharp, unforgettable book this is. No Rest is a test of the “American cultural imaginary.” An upheaval of stereotypes about Asian American men. Jason Koo’s no-frills, give-no-fucks latest collection is a demand not only to be seen, but also to be remembered: “to make it impossible, I suppose, / to miss me.
—Eugenia Leigh
Whether it’s riding the heat of high-stakes reveries, dazzling exasperations, long-simmered quandaries or the shocks of loss, No Rest is full of humor and alive with the real, offering one of my favorite literary experiences: a series of surprising, all-consuming rides through the particular life and mind of an indelible protagonist. Details and drudgeries of living become startling and strange at Jason Koo’s touch, anchoring dire questions about human relation and what defines a self. In navigating this era's technologies and categories, apps and lists, the limits and failures of connection and representation, we are lucky Koo does not shy away from the uncomfortable; he renders prickly human dynamics, unflattering emotions, complex philosophical ideas and more with brilliant clarity, employing astounding feats of syntax that somehow carry the spark and allure of extemporaneous speech. Keeping a reader’s attention for the duration of any long poem requires a rare level of talent and skill, and in Jason Koo’s No Rest, this rarity is on full display again and again. Here is a thought-provoking, incisive, honest, risky, hilarious, impressive and deeply affecting opus by one of American poetry’s most distinctive voices.
—Gabrielle Bates
Jason Koo
Jason Koo is a second-generation Korean American poet, educator, editor and nonprofit director. Born in New York City and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Koo is the author of four full-length collections of poetry: No Rest, forthcoming from Diode Editions in 2024, a winner of the Diode Editions Book Contest and a finalist for AWP's Donald Hall Prize for Poetry; More Than Mere Light (Prelude Books, 2018), a finalist for the National Poetry Series; America's Favorite Poem (C&R Press, 2014; Brooklyn Arts Press, 2020), a finalist for the CSU Poetry Center Open Competition; and Man on Extremely Small Island (C&R Press, 2009; Brooklyn Arts Press, 2020), winner of the De Novo Poetry Prize and the Asian American Writers' Workshop Members' Choice Award for the best Asian American book of 2009. He is also the author of the limited-edition chapbook & cassette tape Sunset Park (Frontier Slumber, 2017) and coeditor of the Brooklyn Poets Anthology (Brooklyn Arts Press & Brooklyn Poets, 2017). His work has been published in Best American Poetry 2022, Missouri Review, Poetry Northwest, Village Voice and Yale Review, among other places, and won fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, Vermont Studio Center and New York State Writers Institute. He earned his BA in English with Distinction from Yale, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa and Cum Laude; his MFA in creative writing from the University of Houston, where he was a Stella L. Erhardt Memorial Scholar; and his PhD in English and creative writing from the University of Missouri–Columbia, where he was a D. R. Francis Fellow. He is an associate teaching professor of English and the director of creative writing at Quinnipiac University, where he has won an Innovation Incubator Grant and an Innovations in Course Delivery Grant and twice been recognized as a semifinalist for the Center for Excellence in Teaching Award. He is the founder and executive director of Brooklyn Poets and creator of the Bridge, the world’s premier poetry network connecting poets and mentors. For his work with Brooklyn Poets, Koo was named one of the "100 Most Influential People in Brooklyn Culture" by Brooklyn Magazine. He is represented by Ina Peterson of Inner Voice Artists.
Saturday Salon - Breaking the Curse, Alex DiFrancesco & Lisa Marie Basile
Breaking the Curse
A tour de force of narrative nonfiction, a reimagining of the self-help genre, and a brave memoir about mystical forces, trauma, trans life, and how we must heal ourselves to survive.For readers of memoirs by Elliot Page (Pageboy) and Elissa Washuta (White Magic), and fans of writers like Carmen Maria Machado, Samantha Hunt, and Chavisa Woods.
In Breaking the Curse, Alex DiFrancesco takes their own crushing experiences of assault, addiction, and transphobic violence as the starting point for a journey to self-reclamation. Reeling in the aftermath of a rape that played out as painfully in public as in private, DiFrancesco begins to pursue spirituality in earnest, searching for an ancestral connection to magic as a form of protection and pathway to transformation. Propelled by a knowledge of the spiritual role of the transgender person in society, Alex winds through Cleveland and Brooklyn and Philly--from rehab and pagan AA meetings and friends' spare mattresses to tarot readers and books about Italian witchcraft to daily ritual, prayer, altar-making, and folk tradition. In so doing, they begin to not only piece together a way to heal but also call into existence a life that finally feels worth living.
Alex DiFrancesco
Alex DiFrancesco is the author of Psychopomps, All City, Transmutation, and Breaking the Curse. Their work has appeared in New York Times, The Guardian, Washington Post, Tin House, Brevity, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, and more. They are the first transgender awards finalist in over 80 years of the Ohioana book awards. They live in Philadelphia with their dog, Roxy Music, Dog of Doom, and their cat, Janglin' Jack.
in conversation with
Lisa Marie Basile
Lisa Marie Basile is the author of a few books of nonfiction and poetry, including Light Magic for Dark Times, Andalucia, and Nympholepsy, among others. Her work can be found in The New York Times, Best American Experimental Writing, Best Small Fictions, Narratively, and more. Lisa Marie earned an MFA from The New School, and she's led workshops or spoken at Manhattanville College, Columbia University, Emerson College, and Pace University. She is the editor-in-chief of Luna Luna Magazine. Her work explores trauma, darkness, ritual, the body and chronic illness, Mediterranean ancestry, foster care, and place.
Book Discussion, The Persuaders Chapters 1-3
A discussion around the book The Persuaders, by New York Times columnist Anand Giridharadas. Led by Mai Jacobs.
An insider account of activists, politicians, educators, and everyday citizens working to change minds, bridge divisions, and fight for democracy. As the book's subjects grapple with how to call out threats and injustices while calling in those who don't agree with them but just might one day, they point a way to healing, and changing, a fracturing country.
"Anand Giridharadas shows the way we get real progressive change in America--by refusing to write others off, building more welcoming movements, and rededicating ourselves to the work of changing minds." --Robert B. Reich, best-selling author of The System
Colm O’Shea and David Hollander
Colm O’Shea and David Hollander
In O’Shea’s novel Claiming De Wayke, (written in an Irish slang vernacular that instantly roots in your head and stays there!) we see a dire vision of a near-future where Virtual Reality offers more fulfillment than real life. We follow the protagonist “Tayto,” a “saint,” or someone who stays hooked up their VR halo as much as possible, barely existing in the real world but conquering the universe in his VR. Tayto gets taken along on a wild journey through a dystopian underworld filled with shady characters, snake-oil salesmen, and false prophets as he seeks to find his long-lost genius brother.
In Hollander’s novel Anthropica, we follow protagonist Laszlow Katasztrófa as he assembles a team of equally-fed up intelligent weirdos to help enact his plan for an apocalypse. In his company are disgruntled professors, exhausted scientists, ultimate frisbee players, and even “a trio of vengeful, superintelligent robots locked in a hangar in South Korea, patiently waiting for some gullible human(s) to release them.” As funny as it is dark, readers may find themselves surprised by the team they end up rooting for.
Both authors are writing instructors at major universities, and their personal relationship and rapport will make this a heady, humorous night to connect to and commiserate with your fellow human beings about the state of our planet.
Note: Copies for signing must be purchased at this event.
Claiming de Wayke
What would you do if someone offered you the keys to a limitless reality?
Tayto is a saint-someone addicted to their VR halo. He's uneducated, unmotivated, and loath to quit his habit and embrace the real world: the Wayke. When the mysterious Zeke Zohar contacts him, offering him a chance to be raptured into a VR paradise forever, it seems too good to be true. The catch: Zeke believes this chance hinges on them finding Tayto's genius brother, and his plan involves journeying to Tayto's childhood home, navigating the detested Wayke in the process.
For all the weirdness of the VR universe, it's the real world that Tayto finds truly strange. His journey forces him to confront a gang, a cult, and the two great questions that addicts often face: Is it possible to come home? Is it possible to escape from it?
Colm O’Shea
Colm O’Shea teaches essay writing at Tisch School of the Arts, NYU. His poetry has been anthologized in Voice Recognition: 21 Poets for the 21st Century (Bloodaxe), and Initiate: An Oxford Anthology of New Writing (Blackwell). His first novel, Claiming De Wayke, is available from Crossroad Press, and his book on sacred/morbid geometry in Finnegans Wake, James Joyce’s Mandala, is from Routledge. Visit him at colmoshea.com
ANTHROPICA
A Hungarian fatalist convinced that the human race is a blemish on God's otherwise perfect universe; a natural resource scientist who's discovered that we exhaust the earth's resources every eight days; an Ultimate Frisbee-playing man-child who's identified a fractal pattern embedded within all matter; a failing novelist desperate for the approval of those she despises; a paralyzed philosophy professor discovering that he can make things happen simply by wanting them badly enough; and a trio of vengeful, superintelligent robots locked in a hangar in South Korea, patiently waiting for some gullible human(s) to release them.
This is a partial cast of Anthropica, a novel that puts Laszlow Katasztrófa's beautiful vision of a universe without us to the test. Because even if Laszlow is merely, as he claims, an agent of fate, he's the one driving this crazy machine. And once he has his team assembled, he just might-against all odds and his own expectations-be able to see his apocalyptic plan to fruition.
David Hollander
David Hollander is the author of the novels Anthropica, a finalist for The Big Other Award for Fiction, and L.I.E., a finalist for the NYPL Young Lions Award. His short fiction and nonfiction have appeared in numerous print and online forums, including McSweeney’s, Fence, Conjunctions, The Rumpus, The New York Times Magazine, Poets & Writers, Lit Hub, and Unsaid. He has co-authored the book for a full-length musical, The Count, and his work has been adapted for film and frequently anthologized, notably in Best American Fantasy. He is currently at work on a screenplay, a musical, and a novel, none of which seem likely to come to fruition any time soon. He lives in Cold Spring with his wife and two children and is a member of the writing faculty at Sarah Lawrence College.
Saturday Salon : Ruth Danon and John Yau
Two notable poets who live right here in Beacon. Readings. Discussion.
March HORROR book club
"[A]n essential read for horror enthusiasts." --Booklist
An unsettling, immersive, and wildly entertaining debut novel from "a major new talent!" (R.L. Stine), for fans of Paul Tremblay and Stephen Graham Jones.
"[A] delightfully gooey blend of gothic, cosmic, folk and body horror churned by a sharp-bladed critique of academia."-- Lucy A. Snyder, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Sister, Maiden, Monster
After publishing his debut novel, The Shattered Man, to disappointing sales and reviews, Campbell P. Marion is struggling to find inspiration for a follow-up. When Edenville College invites him to join as a writer-in-residence, he's convinced that his bad luck has finally taken a turn. His girlfriend Quinn isn't so sure--she grew up near Edenville and has good reasons for not wanting to move back. Cam disregards her skepticism and accepts the job, with Quinn reluctantly following along.
But there's something wrong in Edenville. Despite the charming old ladies milling about Main Street and picturesque sunflowers dotting the sidewalks, poison lurks beneath the surface. As a series of strange and ominous events escalate among Edenville and its residents, Cam and Quinn find themselves entangled in a dark and disturbing history.
Told with equal parts horror and humor, Edenville explores the urban legends that fuel our nightmares and the ways in which ambition can overshadow our best instincts. Sam Rebelein is an exciting, sharp new voice, sure to terrify readers for years to come.
"The mundane horrors of rural and academic living collide with pure cosmic weirdness in Sam Rebelein's Edenville. Not since Jason Pargin's John Dies at the End have I been so horrified and grossed out by a book...I could say more, but honestly, the less you know about this book, the better. A fantastic debut."-- Todd Keisling, Bram Stoker Award-nominated author of Devil's Creek and Cold, Black & Infinite
The World is Ours to Cherish
March 23, 9AM
Author Mary Annaïse Heglar visits Stanza and reads from her book The World is Ours to Cherish.
Come out, bring the little ones, and check out this new children’s book.
Stanza
508 Main St, Beacon, NY 12508
FREE
SCI-FI book club
From science fiction visionary Annalee Newitz comes The Terraformers, a sweeping, uplifting, and illuminating exploration of the future.
Destry's life is dedicated to terraforming Sask-E. As part of the Environmental Rescue Team, she cares for the planet and its burgeoning eco-systems as her parents and their parents did before her.
But the bright, clean future they're building comes under threat when Destry discovers a city full of people that shouldn't exist, hidden inside a massive volcano.
As she uncovers more about their past, Destry begins to question the mission she's devoted her life to, and must make a choice that will reverberate through Sask-E's future for generations to come.
A science fiction epic for our times and a love letter to our future, The Terraformers will take you on a journey spanning thousands of years and exploring the triumphs, strife, and hope that find us wherever we make our home.
"Brilliantly thoughtful, prescient, and gripping."--Martha Wells, author of The Murderbot Diaries
Also by Annalee Newitz
Autonomous
The Future of Another Timeline
Blessed Water: A Sister Holiday Mystery
Sister Holiday is back with a newly minted PI apprentice certificate, a twisty mystery to solve, and something to prove in this fast-paced, blistering follow-up to Scorched Grace.
Salon Saturday - A Night of Horror
RSVPS ARE CLOSED FOR THIS EVENT. WE ARE ALL FULL UP. PLEASE CHECK THE EVENTS PAGE AND SIGN UP FOR THE NEWSLETTER FOR OTHER AMAZING EVENTS AT STANZA
In this salon, we’re excited to host two notable horror writers, in conversation with Hudson Valley horror maven, Christine Harrold.
Sam Rebelein
Sam Rebelein holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College, with a focus on Horror and Memoir. His work has appeared in Bourbon Penn, PseudoPod, Gamut, Press Pause Press, Ellen Datlow’s Best Horror of the Year, and elsewhere. Sam’s debut horror novel Edenville is out now from William Morrow. His follow-up collection of stories set in the same fictional universe, The Poorly Made and Other Things, is coming for you in early 2025. For more about Sam's work (and pictures of his dog), find him on Instagram @RebelSam94.
Clay McCleod Chapman
Clay McLeod Chapman writes books, comic books, children's books, as well as for film and television. His most recent novels include What Kind of Mother and Ghost Eaters. You can find him at www.claymcleodchapman.com.
Moderated by Christine Harrold
Christine Harrold has been a booklover since birth and a fan of horror books since the 80s. She has been a busy horror bookstagrammer since she wrote a two sentence review in December 2020. Her love of reading and her appreciation of indie authors and the entire horror community has led to her new venture, organizing reader retreats called Horror Reader Weekends, the first retreat scheduled for November 1-3, 2024.
Raven Howell - Stanza Storytime
No RSVP, just show up for the usual storytime!
Raven Howell
Raven Howell writes stories and poetry for children. Having published several award-winning picture books, she enjoys sharing her joy of reading and literature by visiting classrooms and libraries. Raven serves as Creative & Publishing Advisor for Red Clover Reader, writes The Book Bug column for Story Monsters Ink magazine, and is a Collaborating Author for Reading is Fundamental and I am a Promise Books.
She writes for children’s magazines including Ladybug, The School Magazine, Highlights for Children and Humpty Dumpty. As a storybook writer for educational publisher, Reading Gate, she aims for every child's opportunity to blossom. Raven resides in Cold Spring with her family and their sweet, but mischievous cat, Lilac.
March Lit Book Club
WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE
"A brilliant literary murder mystery." --Chicago Tribune
"Extraordinary. Tokarczuk's novel is funny, vivid, dangerous, and disturbing, and it raises some fierce questions about human behavior. My sincere admiration for her brilliant work." --Annie Proulx
In a remote Polish village, Janina devotes the dark winter days to studying astrology, translating the poetry of William Blake, and taking care of the summer homes of wealthy Warsaw residents. Her reputation as a crank and a recluse is amplified by her not-so-secret preference for the company of animals over humans. Then a neighbor, Big Foot, turns up dead. Soon other bodies are discovered, in increasingly strange circumstances. As suspicions mount, Janina inserts herself into the investigation, certain that she knows whodunit. If only anyone would pay her mind . . .
A deeply satisfying thriller cum fairy tale, Drive Your Plow over the Bones of the Dead is a provocative exploration of the murky borderland between sanity and madness, justice and tradition, autonomy and fate. Whom do we deem sane? it asks. Who is worthy of a voice?
Salon Saturday - High and low magic in HEKATE’S RETURN
Stanza’s first published novel, HEKATE’S RETURN features two competing societies, a patriarchal city led by a King employing ritualized “high” magic, and an ancient matriarchal society of witches using “low” folk-inspired magic.
The novel will serve as a jumping off point for exploring the two systems throughout literature and history.
Some examples of “high” magic include hierarchical organizations like the Golden Dawn and practitioners like Aleister Crowley. “Low” magic is more democratic and personal, and may include your grandmother setting intention over a boiling pot of soup.
As always, everyone is free to participate. Bring your own knowledge, stories, or books to share. No pressure, all fun. A great event for lovers of fantasy and esoterica.
Salon Saturday - Love Party
It’s a Love Party at Stanza!
Similar to our popular Solstice Party, Stanza invites the community to come celebrate the holiday of love, St. Valentine’s Day.
We’ll discuss Valentine history, associated rituals, and the astrology of the season. Through curated readings, reflection, and ritual, we’ll explore four different forms of love: Romance, Friendship, Familial, and Self.
Merriment and light refreshments included. As always, no pressure, all fun.
FREE
Salon Saturday - SECRET SOUNDS OF PONDS
In Secret Sounds of Ponds, environmental musician and ecopoet David Rothenberg tosses a microphone into a pond and we read (and hear) about an entirely new realm: the unexpected and stirring rhythms of some of the smallest and loudest creatures on Earth. Recording the songs of the animals and plants inhabiting each pond reveals a different perspective than what we meet in our human society. Rothenberg makes this music real though his engaging prose and conversations with environmentalists ranging from Werner Herzog to Peter Gabriel to ecologists specializing in these unique waterscapes. Each pond episode brings the reader closer to a new understanding of the non-human world that we share.
Salon Saturday - CLASH BOOKS’ Christoph Paul + horror legend John Langan
Join us for a night with CLASH BOOKS Editor in Chief, Christoph Paul and horror legend John Langan for night of reading and conversation.
SCI-FI book club meet
Literature book club
Meets first Tues of the month, starting 1/2/2024 7PM
First choice is on Andrea, then we’ll open it to the group for Feb’s book.
Stanza Books, 508 Main St. Beacon, NY
Beacon Silent Book Club
The Beacon Silent Book Club is about community. Everyone is welcome. It's a place to gather, chat for a bit, and then spend about an hour silently reading your book of choice in the company of others who love to read. It's a great way to be in company of others when your social battery is low.