Writer Joan Baum will be at the Amagansett Free Library on Wednesday, October 23, at 6 p.m. to speak on Herman Melville. Baum, who describes herself as a recovering academic from the City University of New York, spent 25 years teaching literature and writing.
With an eye on reviewing fiction and nonfiction that has regional resonance for Connecticut and Long Island — books written by local authors or books set in the area — Baum considers the timeliness and significance of recently published work and what these books have to say to a broad group of readers today and how they say it in a distinctive or unique manner, taking into account style and structure as well as subject matter.
She has had a long career as a critic and reviewer for, among others, WNYC, Newsday, The Christian Science Monitor, MIT’s Technology Review, Hadassah Magazine and writing on subjects in her dissertation field, the major English Romantic poets. She covers all areas of cultural history but particularly enjoys books at the nexus of the humanities and the sciences.
Amagansett Free Library is located at 215 Main Street, Amagansett. For more information call 631-267-3810.