Sover Scene: The powerful presence of authors Rousing readings inform and inspire

My first brush with a celebrity was not typical. Though I was only 15, it did not involve swooning, squealing or gushing in any way and yet the experience left me in a giddy stupor that remains unmatched. It was better than shaking Sting’s hand after a concert, better than Mikhail Baryshnikov handing me a martini at a bar and better than sitting across the table from Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson at a dinner party.

It was a reading by an author at a bookstore. The writer was Midge Mackenzie, a militant feminist and human rights activist who had earned my devoted attention as the writer of “Shoulder To Shoulder,” a comprehensive, richly rendered history of the British suffragette movement, by which I’d been riveted since first learning that a relative in England had been a card-carrying member.

MacKenzie approached the podium, gazed out at the crowd from under a big, floppy brown hat and opened her oversized book with fingers heavily bejeweled by silver rings. I sat enrapt in the front row, my dog-eared volume at the ready for her to sign.

With a resonant, London-smoked voice, she brought the fearlessness and mettle of the Women’s Social and Political Union to life, as well as the sorrows with which their courage was duly colored.

She told the story of Emmeline Pankhurst, the indefatigable leader of the movement, reading passages written in potent first-person. “The hunger-strike I have described as a dreadful ordeal, but it is a mild experience compared with the thirst-strike, which is from beginning to end simple and unmitigated torture.”

She went on to describe Annie Kenney’s sensational public derision of Winston Churchill when he ignored questions about votes for women during a Liberal Party rally and Emily Wilding Davison’s ultimate sacrifice when she threw herself under King George V’s horse at the 1913 Derby. I never forgot MacKenzie’s stern recitation of Davison’s epitaph: “Deeds Not Words.”

After the reading, when I made my way to the table where she sat scribbling her flowery signature into book after book, I made myself squeak out that my Great Auntie Polly had been a suffragette and had given the money she earned at a silk factory to the movement. I don’t remember exactly what MacKenzie said in response as she signed my copy of “Shoulder To Shoulder,” but her words at the top of the title page remain inspiring now. “We expect great things from you in the tradition of … ”

I came away from that lecture on a sort of intellectual, wannabe-writer high, for not only had I heard Midge MacKenzie’s melodious, confidant voice, but I’d seen her face, talked to her briefly and shaken her hand, the hand that wrote and signed the book that I held tightly in my arm as I made my way home on my clunky old Raleigh.

I’ve been inspired by so many authors’ readings over the years — poets, novelists, art columnists, rock-climber journalists, etc. — and they’ve all inspired me immensely, in their own distinctive ways.

A couple of years ago I went to hear J.R. Moehringer read from his novel, “The Tender Bar,” at Northshire Books in Manchester. Having just finished the book, a memoir heavily populated with the kindly relatives and colorful barflies who shaped him during an atypical childhood on Long Island, I was eager to hear updates on how everyone was doing. Hearing and seeing the 30-something version of the boy over whom I’d come to feel completely maternally protective as I’d read the book, it was as if he had sprung from the pages, suddenly grown-up, not to mention the winner of a Pulitzer Prize for his feature writing at the Los Angeles Times. After listening to his first-hand tales of Cager, Uncle Charlie, Joey D. and Colt, I started reading the book all over again and it was even more satisfying the second time through because of his reading.

With a bevy of independent bookstores in southern Vermont, most of which hold regular readings, there is great inspiration, if not giddiness, on the offing throughout the year.

Just last week, an enthusiastic crowd of supportive literary fans filled an entire theater to hear Brattleboro’s Peter Gould read from his new novel, “Write Naked.” The book — which I reviewed in the Herald’s Sunday Magazine last weekend — is about a boy living in a small Vermont town, whose distinct perspective is shaped by unique emotional, cultural and environmental influences.

With so many writers in Vermont, it’s no surprise that local authors make regular appearances at bookstores and there are several compelling readings coming up celebrating new releases of some terrific tomes.

From 1 to 2 p.m. Saturday, Village Square Booksellers in Bellows Falls will host Vermont poet Linda Aldrich, whose poem “Woman-without-Arms” won the Emily Dickinson Award 2000 from Universities West Press. She will read from her new chapbook, “Foothold.”

At 7 p.m. Tuesday, at the Bennington Museum, Allen Shawn, the Bennington College faculty member, composer and pianist, reads from his recent memoir, “Wish I Could Be There,” and from his well-received biography of composer Arnold Schoenberg.

At 7 p.m. June 20, Jennifer McMahon appears at VSB, reading from “Island of Lost Girls,” her new novel about a young girl who is abducted from a Vermont gas station, an event which leads the girl’s mother to explore another abduction that took place during her own childhood that could be directly linked to the loss of her daughter.

The following night, June 21, brings author Tracey Medeiros to Northshire Books with her new cookbook, “Dishing Up Vermont,” which offers 145 recipes celebrating the state’s hearty culinary heritage. Favorites from farmers, brewers, beekeepers and B&B owners honor the diverse range of noble artisan cheeses, organic produce, locally raised livestock and rich maple syrups, with dozens of vibrant new innovations as well.

Pat Fowler, who, with her husband Alan, owns Village Square Booksellers, says they average 30 readings a year, with varying visual aids, audible elements, topics and turnouts. “Some of our author readings have attracted over a hundred attendees, others only two or three,” she said. “Some of our authors, like Archer Mayor, come to Bellows Falls annually and the same people attend; it’s part of their Fall ‘things to do.’ We’ve had authors, illustrators and photographers who’ve brought in pieces of their original art work that were used in creating the books. We’ve also had musical accompaniment for children’s books and poetry.”

Readings are informative, fulfilling events for the literary crowd and offer writers valuable support and feedback from their audience as well. They augment the experience of reading and, in this fertile literary ground, can ultimately serve to influence entire career paths. As Midge MacKenzie’s powerful presence and encouraging words taught me so long ago, author appearances are the best context for celebrity worship and, here in Vermont, we’ve got a lot of writer stars to make us swoon.

Online

www.mvbooks.com

www.northshire.com

www.villagesquarebooks.com

Annie: annieguyoncommunications.com

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