The books featured at the upcoming Massachusetts Center for the Book 25th anniversary celebration set for Wednesday, Nov. 5, at the Northampton Center for the Arts.
Reminder Publishing photo by Trent Levakis
NORTHAMPTON — The Massachusetts Center for the Book will be celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Massachusetts Book Awards with a public reading at the Northampton Cetner for the Arts on Wednesday, Nov. 5, from 6-8 p.m.
For a quarter century, the Massachusetts Book Awards have recognized significant works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, translated literature, graphic novel, memoir and children’s and young adult literature written, illustrated or translated by current commonwealth residents.
Award winners and honor recipients are celebrated each fall at the Massachusetts State House in Boston.
This year, Mass. Center for the Book is pleased to bring authors together in Western Mass., to celebrate the longevity and continued success of the awards. The event is free and tickets can be secured at tinyurl.com/4ewjckhr.
The reading will feature fiction, nonfiction and poetry authors including Christian G. Appy, George Howe Colt, Amy Dryansky, Uzma Aslam Khan, Jim Shepard, Karen Skolfield and Heather Treseler. The event serves as a unique opportunity to celebrate local authors, including past Northampton poet laureates Dryansky and Skolfield.
“I so appreciate the work the Mass. Center for the Book does on behalf of writing and writers in our commonwealth. The book awards elevate the status and visibility of creative writing in our state, and I love that the awards are selected by all kinds of readers, especially librarians, who are the guardian angels of free access to literature and information of all kinds,” said Dryansky, author of 2014 poetry winner Grass Whistle. “My award is important to me in terms of my career as a writer, but also because it’s good to know that my work resonates with readers, because what is writing without readers? Thank you MCB, and cheers! Here’s to 25 more years.”
Center for the Book Program Manager Karolina Zapal told Reminder Publishing the center typically doesn’t celebrate in the Western Mass. region, and so to honor winners past and present, an event in Northampton was planned.
“We thought what better way to honor the Mass Center for the Book 25 years. We’ll have some winners across the three adult categories, doing poetry, fiction and nonfiction, do a reading from their award-winning work with us, and some new work. It’s a little glimpse into kind of what’s to come. It’s a nice previewing on top of celebration,” said Zapal. “It’s a really good representation of the last 25 years.”
Zapal added the authors chosen for the event are Western Mass. based. With the selection of author’s set to read at the event, Zapal said attendees are in store for a great lineup.
“I hope people can walk away with some inspiration, but also some knowledge, like from the nonfiction people. And maybe a few good phrases from the poets. I think it’s unique in that way,” Zapal said.
Books will be available for purchase from Broadside Bookshop, and a reception will follow.
“I’m deeply honored to join the Massachusetts Center for the Book to celebrate 25 years of their invaluable work championing books by Massachusetts authors, across genres, and the ecosystem of reading here in the Bay State,” said Heather Treseler, author of Auguries & Divinations, a 2025 poetry winner. “Their support of contemporary writers bolsters the mission of our public schools, universities and libraries, which are a backbone of our society, and our culture, more broadly, in welcoming the vital exchange of stories and ideas.”
The Massachusetts Center for the Book is a nonprofit dedicated to inspiring a love of reading, honoring the rich literary culture of the commonwealth, promoting unrestricted access to books and libraries, and fostering literacy and learning. Founded in 2000, the Mass. Center for the Book has been charged with developing, supporting and promoting cultural programming to advance the cause of books, libraries and reading in Massachusetts and serves as the designated commonwealth affiliate of the Library of Congress.
“I think writing and reading can be such a solo kind of introverted practice, and so, being able to find community events to bring people together to hear the words that are on a page instead of just read them, and to be able to speak with the authors afterwards to get a book signed,” said Zapal. “To be able to ask a question or to have that face-to-face interaction I think is so important in the world where we do everything online and no one really meets in person or talks in person anymore. I think having community book events and just seeing that other people are still reading and still engaging with the arts is important.”
