2020 NEA BIG READ: Attleboro – Mythology & Keynote with Author Madeline Miller!
MADELINE MILLER
ATTLEBORO – The parallels between the Greek hero Odysseus and Circe, the heroine of the novel by the same name that is the NEA Big Read selection this year, will be discussed in a lively virtual lecture by Bristol Community College professor Michael S. Geary at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 6 via Zoom.
Geary is an associate professor of English and the coordinator of the Writing Center at Bristol. The presentation will focus on how Homer, Sophocles, Virgil, Dante – and Madeline Miller – depicted the classical character. Also explored will be the relevance of Odysseus in today’s society. Visit the program website at attleboros1abc.org for Zoom connection details.
Madeline Miller, the award-winning author of this year’s NEA Big Read novel, “Circe,” will discuss the themes of her book and talk about what inspired her to write it in a virtual conversation at 7:30 Thursday, Oct. 8. The event is being hosted online by Plainville’s An Unlikely Story Bookstore & Café.
KEVINE KALISH
The virtual discussion will include questions and comments by Dr. Kevin Kalish, associate professor of English at Bridgewater State University, who teaches classes on Classical Tradition.
Miller’s appearance is the latest in a series of “visits” to Attleboro by authors of NEA Big Read book selections. “They have always proved interesting, informative and fun,” says Big Read co-chair Christine Johnson, director of the Attleboro Public Library. Register for this free event at https://www.anunlikelystory.com/event/madeline-miller-dr-kevin-kalish
Other NEA Big Read events this week include The Heroine’s Journey, a women’s journaling workshop with Pavlina Gatikova, a Czech Republic native who has been in the United States for 20 years. She teaches English as a Second Language in the Attleboro schools and heads the women’s journaling group at the Attleboro Public Library.
The session, which will include guided imagery and a discussion of personal mythology, starts at 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 10. The theme of the 90-minute session is the book “A Heroine’s Journey” by Maureen Murdoch. All attendees will be entered into a free drawing for the Murdoch book.
HIDDEN GODS AND GODDESSES
On Oct. 9-18, during operating hours, the Attleboro Land Trust invites you to visit the Phil and Ginny Leach Wildlife Sanctuary to search for 15 hidden gods and goddesses of “Circe” in an outdoor scavenger hunt using the free Goose Chase EDU app. Visit
http://attleborolandtrust.org/leach/
for directions to the sanctuary.