Authorial Intent: Brokaw, Jin, Chast

Authorial Intent is Bostonist's wrap-up of local readings. All events are free unless otherwise noted.

Wednesday, November 28

Helen Vendler, Our Secret Discipline: Yeats and the Lyric Form, Sacker Museum (via Harvard Book Store), 6:00 pm. More info.
Vendler, the closest reader of all close readers, so says the New York Times, shines her spotlight on William Butler Yeats.

Thursday, November 29

David Hosp, Innocence, 7:30 pm, Charlestown Branch Library
Hosp will be reading from his Innocence-Project-inspired trial thriller, in which attorney Scott Finn must prove that a gang leader with everything going against him didn’t rape a police officer.

Monday, December 3

Tom Brokaw, Boom! Voices of the Sixties, First Parish Church Meetinghouse (via Harvard Book Store), 7:00 pm, $5. More info.
Tom Brokaw lends his gravitas to a discussion of that most navel-gazed of subjects--the Baby Boomers who made the political personal and the personal political.

Dave Isay, Listening Is an Act of Love: A Celebration of American Life From the Storycorps Project, Brookline Booksmith, 7:00 pm.
Isay reflects on the stories he's gathered as the founder of Storycorps, and it should inspire you to record tales big and small from your family and friends.

Tuesday, December 4
Ha Jin, A Free Life, Coolidge Corner Theatre (via Brookline Booksmith), 6:00 pm, $5.
Jin's latest follows a family that flees China after Tiananmen Square for Atlanta. While that's plenty of plot for any novel, Jin's protagonist, the father of the family, also has dreams of becoming a poet. Check out the first chapter at NPR (via Bookslut).

Roz Chast, The Alphabet From A to Y, With Bonus Letter Z!, Brattle Theatre (via Harvard Book Store), 6:00 pm, $20. More info.

Chast must be finding herself pulled toward Massachusetts, as she was up here with Maira Kalman recently. Only this time, the spotlight is all on her as she discusses her alphabetical collaboration with Steve Martin.