2010: A BANNER YEAR FOR PARIS PRESS’S 15TH ANNIVERSARY

As we move into the season of giving thanks and celebrating the year, we here at Paris Press are so grateful for your generosity, the support of our volunteers, Board and Advisory Board members, readers, writers, and public and private foundations. The following accomplishments are yours as well as ours. You helped bring Sisters to life!

MEDIA ATTENTION AND BACK TO PRESS

• Sisters: An Anthology received rave reviews in Ms., People Magazine, RealSimple.com, Library Journal, Curve, The Chicago Tribune Reader’s Blog, The Greenfield Recorder, The Daily Hampshire Gazette, and the Amherst Bulletin. It was highlighted on TheSisterProject.com, a blog by Margaret Roach, Marion Roach Smith, and Paige Orloff. 

• NPR-affiliate WFCR interviewed actress, playwright, and Sisters contributors Ana Maria Jomolca, Tsipi Keller, and co-editor Jan Freeman about Sisters on “Morning Edition.” Sisters authors Jeanne M. Leiby and Ana Maria Jomolca, Jan Freeman and her sister, anthropologist Carla Freeman, were interviewed about sisters on WAMC’s “Roundtable.” WGBH’s “The Callie CrossleyShow” featured Jan Freeman for International Women’s Day. Vail Public Television interviewed Jan Freeman about SISTERS Celebrations.
   
• Chilmark Library SISTERS Celebration participants Carol Gilligan, Rose Styron, and Jessica Harris were interviewed about sisters for Martha’s Vineyard PlumTV and MVTV. NBC Affiliate, Channel 22’s MassAppeal featured Jan Freeman speaking about SISTERS Celebrations, and previewed clips from the new SISTERS film project. (For links to interviews, visit www.parispress.org.)
   
• Open Me Carefully went back to press for its 3rd printing following Joshua Wolf Shenk’s essay in Slate about the creative partnership between Emily Dickinson and Susan Huntington Dickinson.

SISTERS EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH IN THE COMMUNITY

• Teacher and writer Helen Gallagher hosted two interactive Celebrations in Chicago and Winnetka, IL. Painter Elizabeth Stone hosted a SISTERS Celebration in Northampton, MA with poet and teacher Patricia Lee Lewis and actor and producer Jeannine Haas reading from the Anthology.
   
• Ana Maria Jomolca and Tsipi Keller read their work from Sisters to a packed house at Books and Books in Coral Gables, FL. McNally Jackson Books in NYC hosted a packed SISTERS Celebration, featuring contributors Catherine Chung, Ana Maria Jomolca, and Myra Shapiro. The Co-Op Bookstore at the University of Connecticut, Storrs, hosted a Celebration with contributor Catherine Chung, co-editor Emily Wojcik, poet and director of the Litchfield County Writers’ Project Davyne Verstandig, and Lisa Starr, poet laureate of Rhode Island.
   
• Women’s History Month SISTERS Celebrations: Media consultant and master gardener Margaret Roach and her sister, author Marion Roach Smith, joined Nancy Fitzpatrick, arts advocate and owner of the Red Lion Inn, for a Celebration at the Berkshire Botanical Garden. International Women’s Day Celebrations: Porter Square Books in Cambridge, with Sisters contributor and award-winning novelist Julia Glass, contributor and poet Barbara Greenberg, and Libana percussionist Marytha Paffrath; NYC’s Madame X, with Ana Maria Jomolca, organized by the I Can Still Do That! Foundation; and an Upper West Side psychoanalytic reading, hosted by Robi Akeret, with Nancy Carroll and analysts, and contributors playwright Clare Coss and poet Myra Shapiro.
   
• Sisters contributor and novelist Catherine Chung, Margaret Roach, and Marion Roach Smith took part in a SISTERS Celebration at the Arts Center of the Capital Region, in Troy, NY.The Vail, CO, Public Library hosted a Celebration with contributor and novelist Tsipi Keller, librarian Lori Ann Barnes, and Susan Cody. Advisory Board member Barbara Alfange organized an overflowing Celebration at the Leverett Library, with community members Chris Nelson, Janine Roberts, and Nicki Robb reading their favorite pieces from the Anthology. The Chilmark Library, on Martha’s Vineyard, hosted a SISTERS Celebration with cookbook author and culinary historian Jessica Harris, psychologist, novelist, and Advisory Board member Carol Gilligan, and poet and human rights activist Rose Styron.
   
• Gloriosa & Company hosted an Ashfield’s Fall Festival SISTERS Celebration with community members. Teens Amelia and Analise Cain and Clare Donohue-Meyer joined Renee Rastorfer, Susan Todd, and Patricia Donohue to read poetry and prose from the Anthology. The Hampshire County Smith College Book Club hosted a Celebration and discussion of Sisters with co-editors Jan Freeman and Emily Wojcik. Amherst Senior Center hosted a SISTERS Celebration with MA Representative Ellen Story, Young at Heart Chorus-member Shirley Stevens, and actress and PVPA theater teacher Irene Thornton.

EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH IN THE CLASSROOM

• Mercy High School (San Francisco, CA) selected Zdena Berger’s Tell Me Another Morning for their 2010-2011 All-School Read. Zdena will travel to the girls’ high school in March 2011 to discuss her autobiographical novel with students.
   
• Paris Press welcomed Smith College student Sarah Green for a six-week Praxis internship.
   
• The MassPOP Poetry Retreat for High School Teachers, dedicated to helping teachers incorporate poetry into their classrooms, gave copies of The Life of Poetry to participating teachers. Mass Humanities made this generous donation possible. A Paris Press dream come true!
   
• The Press offered SISTERS Celebrations throughout the Pioneer Valley. Contributor Ana Maria Jomolca traveled from NYC to read “Twin Bed” and discuss it with students at the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter School, Holyoke’s Girls’ Inc., and the CARE Center of Holyoke.

EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH IN CONFERENCES AND COMMUNITY FESTIVALS

• Paris Press attended the Associated Writers Program Conference in Denver, where Sisters contributors Catherine Chung, Martha Rhodes, and Robin Becker read from the Anthology. Jan Freeman participated in a panel discussion about Muriel Rukeyser in the 21st century. The Press reconnected with readers, writers, teachers, students, publishers, friends, and fans.
   
• Assistant editor Emily Wojcik and Advisory Board member Nikki Lloyd-Kimbrel represented the Press at the Juniper Literary Festival, at the University of Massachusetts.

• Advisory Board members Barbara Alfange, Laurie Slap-Shelton, and Nikki Lloyd-Kimbrel joined intern Sarah Green and Emily Wojcik at the Paris Press book table during Ashfield Fall Festival. Jan Freeman and Advisory Board member Lisa Newman launched the SISTERS film project, interviewing children, teens, and adults about sisters throughout the Ashfield Fall Festival.

How to Host a SISTERS Celebration!

Click here to watch Jan Freeman discuss SISTERS CELEBRATIONS on "MASS APPEAL" on WWLP 22!
 
How to Host a SISTERS CELEBRATION:
It’s easy to hold your own SISTERS CELEBRATION. Whether you choose to host friends in your home, or organize a community reading at a public space, these ideas have helped Paris Press create memorable, meaningful events.

WHAT: A SISTERS CELEBRATION is a gathering of five people or more who read from Sisters: An Anthology.

WHY: It’s a great way for friends, relatives, and strangers to discover extraordinary stories and poems by well-known and emerging women writers, while exploring the unique, complicated, humorous, difficult, loving, heartbreaking world of sisters.

WHO: Invite friends, your book group, neighbors, colleagues, and  relatives (including your sister, if you are speaking to each other). For large gatherings, ask each person you invite to bring two or more people. Paris Press is happy to send you a sample press release that you can use.

AGE: Anyone fourteen or older can join in.

WHERE: SISTERS CELEBRATIONS can take place in a living room, around a kitchen table, in a library, a community center, a bookstore, a synagogue or church, in a café, or in an auditorium or theater.

HOW: Read a copy of SISTERS: AN ANTHOLOGY (available through your local bookstore, library, and from Paris Press.www.parispress.org) Select the readers/participants and the poems and stories you would like them to read. For CELEBRATIONS that will include people outside your intimate circle of pals, invite one or two women to read who are high-profile individuals in your community (any field is fine; especially people with sisters and daughters).

Generally, keep readings to 5-7 minutes per person (3- 5 pages), and limit the number of readers to five. Unless you decide to have a SISTERS MARATHON, in which case you should have several 10-minute breaks with refreshments!

Before assigning stories and poems, ask readers if there are favorite pieces they would like to read from SISTERS.For best results, mix emotional tones, poetry and prose. And always include one funny story or poem.

The Table of Contents offers one example of the order in which pieces can be read: The three sections progress from childhood to old age, and include many kinds of relationships between sisters (loving, competitive, supportive, cruel). 


THE READING: The host and the readers should introduce themselves before their piece, and establish their own sister-experience: (Do they have sisters? Are they the oldest? Youngest? Middle?) For this part, comments are often introductory; additional thoughts and discussion tend to work best in the second part of the event, the post-reading Q&A or discussion.

AFTER THE READING: Paris Press encourages audience members and readers to participate in a Q&A, and/or to discuss with the audience their reactions to the stories and poems, etc. Readers or the host might prepare an anecdote from their own lives to kick things off. This often leads to discussions with the audience: What did audience members relate to from the reading or the anthology overall? What is unfamiliar? How do people who don’t have sisters respond—does the reading make them wish they had them or grateful they don’t?

Remember, SISTERS CELEBRATIONS are not therapy session; they are opportunities to listen to and read great writing, and think about how the literature in the anthology connects to their own life and the lives of people they know.

EXTRAS: While the core part of the Celebration is reading a sampling of prose and poetry from the Anthology, other activities can be included to make this a memorable experience. Before and after the SISTERS reading, singing or listening to Sisters songs can be moving and fun (see list below). Ask one participant to sing or hand out song sheets (for a one-time use only!) and get your group bellowing. Piano or guitar can make this particularly lively.

To encourage some good sister-storytelling, ask everyone to tell their funniest sister memory. Describe one favorite sister outfit (silliest or most elegant). List movies about sisters, novels about sisters, infamous sisters who you’d like to know more about. Or less about! Describe the closest sisters you know. The most detached sisters you know. Which sisters swapped boyfriends, girlfriends, were most alike, most different, wore matching outfits, wanted to be twins, didn’t want to be twins., moved far away from each other, live in the same neighborhood, talk every day, never talk.

ENDING A CELEBRATION: Many SISTERS CELEBRATIONS last 1½ - 2 hours. If it feels time to wrap-up a gathering, suggest that a pre-appointed person in the group read Joan Baez’s excerpt from DAYBREAK on page xvii.
 
Paris Press LOVES to receive feedback about SISTERS CELEBRATIONS. Send your descriptions, high points, low points, and suggestions to info@parispress.org.

Enjoy Sisters: An Anthology – in solitude and with friends. Spread the word!   

A few sister songs…
“Sisters-Sisters” — Rosemary Clooney
“Two Sisters” (an Irish folk song)
“We Are Family” — Sister Sledge
“Sisters Are Doin' It For Themselves” — Eurythmics
“Side by Side” — McGuire Sisters
“Sister’s Coming Home” — Emmylou Harris
“Little Sister” — Elvis Presley
“Wind Beneath My Wings” — Bette Midler

 

October was SISTERS month!

It's a bit of a shock to realize that October is nearly over—we had so many amazing events, projects, and of course the Ashfield Fall Festival, that we barely had time to take a breath. We couldn't have done it without the support of Florence Savings Bank, The Art Angels, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, and our wonderful supporters, volunteers, and fans!

At Fall Festical, we had our usual spot next to Gray's Sugar House fried dough stand—books and sweets are such a fantastic combination. And we also had a booth on the village green, with the Ashfield History Project. We invited people to tell their own SISTERS stories on camera, and have their pictures taken as the cover of SISTERS: AN ANTHOLOGY! Such a wonderful array of stories, from young and old, men and women—we'll post them to the Paris Press channel on YouTube in the coming weeks and hope you'll check them out!

Writer and SISTERS contributor Ana Maria Jomolca ("Twin Bed") came to the Pioneer Valley for three SISTERS celebrations for young adults. The first was a reading and poetry workshop at Holyoke's Girls Inc, a nonprofit organization that empowers girls through academic achievement and community service. The next day, Ana Maria read "Twin Bed" at the Holyoke Care Center, an alternative education program for pregnant and parenting teens. The girls were part of a spirited discussion about the nature of family and secrets. The day ended with a reading at the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter School, in South Hadley, featuring songs by students as well as Ana Maria's story.

The following Wednesday, Jan and Emily were invited to the Hampshire County Smith Club's book group, which was reading SISTERS. It was a packed house (17 members!) and a great opportunity to talk about the book with readers. Getting to hear other people's opinions, and to share our own experience with choosing the stories and poems, and publishing the book, was such a treat! Many many thanks to Georgia for hosting and Lissa for inviting us to join them. (For more information about using SISTERS or any Paris Press book for your book group, email us at info@parispress.org)

October ended with a reading at the Amherst Senior Center last Friday, featuring state representative Ellen Story, Young-At-Heart Chorus member Shirley Stevens, and PVPA drama teacher Irene Thornton reading stories, poems, and essays from SISTERS. It was an extraordinary afternoon—made even brighter by the sisters-dresses cookies donated by Henion Bakery!

As the month came to a close, we began expanding our SISTERS Story project, and getting to work on a book for 2011! Stay tuned for videos, pics, and more details to come!

SISTERS at the UConn Co-op!

It's fall, and that means the beginning of some fabulous SISTERS CELEBRATIONS! First up, Tuesday, September 28 at The UConn Co-op, featuring readings by Catherine Chung, Lisa Starr, Davyne Verstandig, and Emily Wojcik. Reading begins at 6:30pm.

Catherine Chung, a contributor to SISTERS: AN ANTHOLOGY, recently completed her first novel, Forgotten Country, forthcoming from Riverhead Books. Named a “New Voice” by Granta in April 2010, she lives in New York City.

Lisa Starr is Poet Laureate of Rhode Island, as well as an... inn-keeper and teacher. The author of three books, Starr is the founder and director of the Block Island Poetry Project. She is owner and operator of the Hygeia House, a 10-room inn on Block Island.

Davyne Verstandig is a lecturer in English and Creative Writing at the UConn Torrington Campus, and director of the Litchfield County Writers Project. She has published two books of poetry, and has performed at libraries, galleries and performances spaces throughout New England and in New York City. She is currently working on a memoir and a novel.

Emily Wojcik is completing a PhD at the University of Connecticut, where she teaches in the English department. She is the assistant editor of Paris Press and co-editor of SISTERS.

SISTERS: AN ANTHOLOGY includes fiction, nonfiction, and poetry that capture the unique and profound relationship between sisters. Writers include Margaret Atwood, Barbara Kingsolver, Edwidge Danticat, Alice Walker, Joan Baez, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Mary Karr, Grace Paley, Wendy Wasserstein, Maxine Kumin, Rita Dove, Dorothy Parker, M.F.K. Fisher, and many other contemporary and modern acclaimed and emerging writers. Visit www.parispress.org and sistersananthology.blogspot.com for more information about the Anthology.

Chilmark Library: A Perfect Summer Evening!

Here in Ashfield, it may still be August, but the trees are turning orange, and the nights are beginning to dip down to 50 degrees. While we might normally be sad, we've had such a wonderful summer—and are planning a fantastic fall—that we can't help looking forward to the changing of the seasons. 

Our SISTERS celebration at Chilmark Library, on Martha’s Vineyard, was an incredible experience. We had fantastic readers, which was, of course, what made the evening so magical. Many many thanks to cookbook author Jessica Harris, who’s new book High on the Hog hits stores in January; psychologist and novelist Carol Gilligan; and the inimitable Rose Styron, poet and human rights activist, for an incredible evening. Thanks, too, to the Chilmark Library staff, especially Ebba Hierta, who put in a 12-hour day and still somehow managed to be amazingly cheerful and helpful throughout! 

Yet again, the reading was full to overflowing. Ebba actually had to turn people away at the door! Luckily, PlumTV and MVTV caught the whole reading on tape, and interviewed the readers and Jan, for those who missed it. We’ll post the link as soon as we get it. Jan started the reading, which was dedicated to the memory of Marcy Slater, with two poems from SISTERS: “sisters,” by the late great Lucille Clifton, and “Two Years” by Muriel Rukeyser. Jessica Harris followed with a deeply moving, funny reading of Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use”—a meditation on roots, separation, and family history. Carol read several poems, including Maxine Kumin’s “The Last Good War,” “Sweet Dreams” by Joyce Armor, “A Family Resemblance” by Audre Lorde, and “I Needed to Talk to My Sister” by Grace Paley, before finishing with Joan Baez’s charming excerpt from Daybreak. Rose brought the reading to a happy close with Dorothy Parker’s arch and heartbreaking “Letter to Helen Rothschild Droste.” 

Afterward, the readers mingled with audience members and PlumTV’s intrepid reporter conducted interviews. Then a private post-reading dinner at the home of a Press supporter, and the day was over! It went by in a flash. We are so grateful to Ebba Hierta and everyone at Chilmark Library; to Jessica Harris, Carol Gilligan, and Rose Styron; to Bruce and Anne Slater; and to everyone who came out to support Paris Press! 

As summer turns to fall, we’re gearing up for great events around the Pioneer Valley, thanks to a generous grant from the western Massachusetts-based foundation, the Art Angels, as well as a late-September reading at the UConn Co-op, with Catherine Chung (”Hannah”), co-editor Emily Wojcik, poet and director of the Litchfield Writer’s Project Davyne Verstandig, and Lisa Starr, Poet Laureate of Rhode Island! More details to follow soon!

McNally Jackson—Great Store, Great SISTERS Celebration!

There are some events that involve a lot of stress and hustle, and then there are some that just go beautifully from beginning to end. Our SISTERS Celebration at the wonderful independent bookstore, McNally Jackson Books in NYC, was a dream from beginning to end. We are so grateful to Dustin Kurtz, who took great care of us while the reading was happening and let us store everything afterward—we couldn't have done it without him!

The reading was packed! We actually ran out of chairs, and people were standing in the aisles of the store. Audience members came from all over the city came to hear Catherine Chung, Ana Maria Jomolca, and Myra Shapiro read their work from SISTERS. Editor Jan Freeman kicked off the reading, which was dedicated to the memory of Rhonda Copelon, a lifelong fighter for women and women's rights, with Joan Baez's excerpt from Daybreak and Muriel Rukeyser's poem "Two Years."

Cathy followed with her heartbreaking and beautiful story, "Hannah," leaving people visibly moved, and Myra's reading of her own poem and those of Lucille Clifton, Joyce Armor, and Grace Paley was powerful and restorative. Ana Maria's amazing comic performance of "Twin Bed" was the perfect end to the night: funny, energetic, and emotionally charged.

Afterward, the three editors—Jan, Deborah Bull, and Emily Wojcik—mingled with the writers and audience members, answering questions about the anthology and the Press. It was such a thrill to meet our readers, to be able to talk about this oft-neglected subject, and to sign books for fans! Perhaps best of all, the NYC audience got the chance to sample the famous SISTERS macaroons, made by Lisa Newman.

All in all, the McNally Jackson celebration was a great success. We were thrilled to be able to have an event at such a wonderful store, and hope to return soon!

Our next SISTERS Celebration will be at the Chilmark Library on Martha's Vineyard, on July 14, at 5:30pm. We hope to see you there!

Celebrate SISTERS at McNally Jackson Books in NYC!

Paris Press is hosting a SISTERS Celebration at McNally Jackson Books, featuring SISTERS: AN ANTHOLOGY contributors Catherine Chung, Ana Maria Jomolca, and Myra Shapiro, and Jan Freeman, director of Paris Press and co-editor of SISTERS. Participants will read their work and more from SISTERS! Bring your sister, your friends, your sister-in-law, your daughters, nieces, cousins, neighbors! “The stories, poems, and memoirs in the new anthology Sisters call forth sweetness and light, fury and a fierce devotion.” —THE BOSTON GLOBE “Writers including Margaret Atwood and Alice Walker explore sisterhood in this intelligent collection.... The book makes clear that sisters don’t outgrow their bond… Once a sister, always one.” —PEOPLE MAGAZINE WHEN: Thursday, June 17, at 7 p.m. Free of charge!

WHERE: McNally Jackson Books 52 Prince Street (Between Mulberry and Lafayette), NYC WHO: Catherine Chung recently completed her first novel, Forgotten Country. Recently named a “New Voice” by Granta, she lives in New York City Ana Maria Jomolca is a Cuban-American writer, producer, and director. Her plays have appeared Off-Broadway and her film everygirl was screened at film festivals in New York City and Chicago. Her most recent play, Chiquitina, debuted in New York in 2009. Myra Shapiro is the author of I’ll See You Thursday, and a memoir, Four Sublets: Becoming a Writer in New York. Her poems have appeared in The Best American Poetry 1999 and 2003. She teaches at the International Women’s Writing Guild in New York City. Jan Freeman is director and founder of Paris Press, based in Ashfield, MA. She is one of the editors of SISTERS: AN ANTHOLOGY, and the author of three books of poetry: Simon Says, Hyena, Autumn Sequence, and a new manuscript, Blue Structure