The Common Teams Up With Students For Reading

In what we hope was the first of many on-campus literary evenings, The Common joined Circus, Amherst’s student-run literary magazine, for special Family Weekend readings in the Mead Art Museum. Visiting Writer Amity Gaige, acclaimed author of The Folded World and O My Darling, read from a recently published short story. Amherst creative writing students then stepped up to the podium to share original poetry and fiction before an enthusiastic crowd of family, faculty, and friends. Afterwards, we convened over snacks and drinks in the museum’s history-rich Rotherwas Room, a wood-paneled space built in the seventeenth century for an English knight and previously host to literary lights such as Robert Frost.  View pictures of this inaugural event below and on our Facebook page. More joint ventures that engage student literary life are in the works.

The Common Reading

The Common Reading

Editor Jen Acker introduces The Common to parents and students.

The Common Reading

The Common Reading

Visiting Writer Amity Gaige.

The Common Reading

Visiting Writer Amity Gaige.

The Common Reading

The Common Reading

The Common Reading

The Common Reading

The Common Reading

The Common Reading

An attentive audience.

The Common Reading

The Common Reading

Guests and readers mingle after the event.

All photos by Jessica Mestre. 

The Common Teams Up With Students For Reading

Related Posts

Issue 25 cover: The Common's square dark logo over a scattering of smashed brown and white egg shells, on a pale blue background.

Issue 25 of The Common is Here!

Love Issue 25's portfolio of stories and art from Kuwait? Donate to support The Common's mission to feature new and underrepresented voices from around the world.

Students with issues of The Common

The Common Young Writers Program Opens Applications for Summer 2023

Applications are now open for The Common Young Writers Program, which offers two two-week, fully virtual summer classes for high school students (rising 9-12). Students will be introduced to the building blocks of fiction and learn to read with a writer’s gaze. Taught by the editors and editorial assistants of Amherst College’s literary magazine, the summer courses (Level I and Level II) run Monday-Friday and are open to all high school students (rising 9-12). The program runs July 17-28.

Yellow graphic with "The Common," "2023 Festival of Debut Authors," and the authors' headshots.

2023 Festival of Debut Authors

Join The Common's team on March 22nd at 7:00pm for our 2023 Festival of Debut Authors, an evening devoted to emerging talents! This virtual celebration will highlight poets and prose writers Carey Baraka, Farah Ali, Stella Wong, Jordan Honeyblue, Jennifer Shyue and Cheryl Collins Isaac.