A conversation with author Firoozeh Dumas
When Concord Reads selected Iranian-born Firoozeh Dumas’s memoirs about life in America (“Funny in Farsi” and “Laughing Without an Accent”), the committee kept their fingers crossed that they would be able to persuade the best-selling author to come to Concord during the New Hampshire Writers’ Project’s literary festival. It didn’t take much convincing. Not only is Dumas a huge supporter of local literary projects like Concord Reads,...
Downtown businesses get poetic
Who knew that Starbellies and Things are Cooking could be so gosh-darn poetic? Sarah Chaffee did, apparently. Chaffee, gallery director and partner of McGowan Fine Art, has been pushing to get poetry in downtown merchants’ windows for years. It all started with a visit to the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston. Chaffee found herself drawn to these large plexiglass plates hanging with brackets off of the museum’s railings. On them...
Five lit fest events you shouldn’t miss
Get spooked New Hampshire horror stories will be read 5 to 7 p.m. Friday at the Barley House on Main Street. Authors in the newly published, “Live Free or Undead,” will read from this collection of horror stories that take place in New Hampshire. Scheduled writers are Becky Rule, “The Haze,” James Patrick Kelly, “The Waiting Room,” Brendan DuBois, “Uneasy Lies the Head,” Ernesto Burden, “Live Free or Undead,” David O’Keefe, “Wonders...
This week in Concord history
– Oct. 20, 1814: The first boat of the Merrimack Boating Co., later the Boston & Concord Boating Co., arrives in Concord. Northbound commercial cargo will include sugar, molasses, rum and finished goods. The boats will carry lumber, firewood, potash (for soap) and granite south to Quincy Market. – Oct. 20, 1957: A thousand people attend the ceremony dedicating Concord’s new Rundlett Junior High School in the South...
Your guide to the Concord Literary Festival
Wednesday, Oct. 20 – The Concord Literary Festival gets under way on the evening of Wednesday, Oct. 20, with a “pen to play” workshop. “Petite Plays: Pen to Performance,” conducted by Dana Biscotti Myskowski, is a writing, directing and enhanced stage-reading series of workshops, culminating in two performances. In this three-part workshop, participants write three-page plays, direct a plays-in-hand, enhanced stage-reading, and...
Where the Insider goes, nobody knows!
David Sky (with his trusty copy of the Insider, of course) at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, Israel. That’s the Dome of the Rock in the background. Where do you bring the Insider? E-mail your pictures to news@theconcordinsider.com.
Don't miss 'Honk! Jr.”
Quack like a duck or honk like a swan? “Honk! Jr.,” an award-winning retelling of “The Ugly Duckling,” takes the stage at the Concord City Auditorium, 2 Prince St., on Oct. 22 and 23 to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Childrens Theatre Project. “Honk!”– which beat out the “Lion King” as best musical for an Olivier Award (the English equivalent of the Tony) in 2000 – is delightful for children while wickedly winking at adults....
The Bulletin Board
Meet the Friends Program’s newbie The Friends Program hired Angela Sepela as its director of development. In her role, Sepela will carry out the program’s mission of strengthening communities by building relationships that empower people, encourage community service and restore faith in the human spirit by coordinating the fundraising and marketing efforts for the agency. Sepela has been a resident of Concord for more than 13 years....
Police Log
Criminal threatening On Sept. 29 about 11 p.m., officers James Fallon and Joseph Pitta were dispatched to Margaritas for a report of two females fighting. At the scene, a witness told Fallon one of the females involved in the fight had fled, so he went to find her and found the woman on the corner of Pleasant and Main streets. The woman told Fallon that she and her mother, 52-year-old Teri Townsend of Pittsfield, had gotten into an...
City briefly
The Dame School Community Center? To celebrate the Concord Literary Festival, we’d like to provide you with this fine piece of reading material: the highlights from City Manager Tom Aspell’s weekly memo. “Save the date!” Tom wrote with excitement (hence the exclamation point), “The Concord School District together with the City of Concord will be hosting a community forum on Oct. 25 at 7 p.m. at the Dame School, 14 Canterbury Road, in...
