Readings from Amherst College LitFest 2021

Amherst’s annual literary festival celebrates the College’s extraordinary literary life by inviting distinguished authors and editors to share and discuss the pleasures and challenges of verbal expression—from fiction and nonfiction to poetry and spoken-word performance. This year’s LitFest was held virtually, with authors, poets, and literature lovers joining from all around the world.

The Common’s Editor in Chief Jennifer Acker hosted two readings at LitFest: one with The Common’s student interns, and one with Amherst College alumni authors. Both events were recorded and can be watched below. Watch video recordings of all the events, readings, and discussions at LitFest ’21 here.
 

LitFest ’21 Readings by The Common’s Literary Publishing Interns

Student interns at The Common read short excerpts from their writing. Readers are:
Isabel Meyers ’20 (former intern, current Literary Editorial Fellow)
Elly Hong ’21 (Thomas E. Wood ’61 Fellow)
Whitney Bruno ’21
Sofia Belimova ’22
Eliza Brewer ’22
Olive Amdur ’23
 

LitFest ’21 Amherst College Alumni Authors Reading

Amherst College alumni read short excerpts from their recent work, and answer questions. Readers are:
Calvin Baker ’94
Chris Bohjalian ’82
Dan Chiasson ’93
Edward A. Farmer ’05
Michael Gorra ’79
Kirun Kapur ’97
Elizabeth Chiles Shelburne ’01
Ismée Williams ’95

From the beginning, The Common has brought you transportive writing and exciting new voices. We are committed to supporting writers and maintaining free, unrestricted access to our website, but we can’t do it without you. Become an integral part of our global community of readers and writers by donating today. No amount is too small. Thank you!

Readings from Amherst College LitFest 2021

Related Posts

Excerpt from The Unbroken Coast

NALINI JONES
The morning’s freshness had passed; the day taking shape beneath a thick rind of heat, birdcalls, road fumes, car horns, and street chatter from which occasionally a single voice rose. The banana man made his way down St. Hilary Road, stopping at one gate, then the next, his back bent beneath the bunches of fruit...

Excerpt from We Were Pretending

HANNAH GERSEN
I had been researching Jennifer Hex for nearly an hour before I realized she was someone I used to know. Her Instagram feed sparked my memory, a photo of her dressed in green and relaxing in the shade of a sycamore tree. The dappled light made her appear slightly younger, reminding me of the teenager I’d known. Jenny, I realized. I was looking at Jenny Heck. This long-haired, casually glamorous guru had once been the tall new girl who’d slouched down the halls of Lost Falls Senior High.

Excerpt from Wanting

CLAIRE JIA
She opened the sliding door and stepped, precariously, onto the stone base jutting out forty meters above the ground. She surveyed the landscape of the subdivision before her: seven perfect obelisks rose in a cluster of glass and concrete, imperious in a sea of slightly shorter, slightly lesser buildings in the city beyond them. In the middle of the subdivision was a playground, a prerequisite for paradise, its clementine exercise bikes and shamrock swings providing whimsy and respite for child and adult alike.