An acclaimed poet, four bestselling fiction authors and an award-winning investigative journalist bring their writers’ voices off the pages and into New Haven on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, respectively, and the weekend provides so many opportunities to explore the city that you might have to bring a pen and notebook to keep track of it all.
Write some things down this week in New Haven.
Monday, October 7
There’s no reason Monday can’t be a gallery day, except that most galleries tend to be closed for it. Not Seton Gallery at the University of New Haven, though. From noon to 6 p.m. today (and every Monday, plus a bunch of other days of the week until the show ends on Saturday, October 26), you can view Seton’s latest exhibition, Constructed Ecology. Spearheaded by recent artists-in-residence Michael Galvin and Kyle Skar, and also featuring work by Lisa Amadeo, Nicki Chavoya and Gary Velush, Constructed Ecology uses “light, sound, video and texture” to “blur the lines of the natural and engineered.” Dodds Hall, 300 Boston Post Road, West Haven. (203) 931-6065.
Tuesday, October 8
In his poem Ninety-Fifth Street, John Koethe, a philosopher of language and mind and professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, describes poetry, not philosophy, as “all I’ve really done.” He really does it some more today with a free 4 p.m. reading on the mezzanine of the stunning Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library (121 Wall St, New Haven; 203-432-2977).
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Wednesday, October 9
Tonight at 8 p.m., the stage at the Shubert Theater (247 College St, New Haven) is like an airport bookstore—it only stocks perennial bestsellers. Mark My Words, an event to benefit The Mark Twain House & Museum in Hartford, features a conversation on stage between popular fictioneers Sue Grafton, Alice Hoffman and Scott Turow, with a fourth member of their elite club, David Baldacci, on hand to moderate. $28-125.
Thursday, October 10
Yale ’06 grad Sarah Stillman now writes investigative journalism pieces for The New Yorker and wins awards like it’s her job, such as the National Magazine Award, the Hillman Prize and the George Polk Award. Stillman returns to New Haven today to read and discuss some of her work, which focuses on social justice issues both domestic and international, including reporting she’s done about “police informants; civil forfeiture; and civilian workers duped into working (and sometimes dying) on American military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan.” The free public talk lasts from 8 to 9 p.m. in the Branford College Common Room at 74 High St, New Haven.
Friday, October 11
Apparently even the musical events this week carry literary references. Poor Yorick’s Fall Festival and Fundraiser (for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention) has its opening party tonight at The Space complex (295 Treadwell St, Hamden; 203-288-6400), featuring acts Jimkata, Big Something and Relative Soul. Doors open at 7 p.m., with the music starting at 8:30 or so. The party is preamble to tomorrow, when the festival inhabits all three Space venues with a too-long-to-list lineup of bands. A ticket to just the opening party is $15 and a ticket to just the Saturday festival is $20, but a combined ticket to both is $25.
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Saturday, October 12
Speaking of lineups that are too long to list, Yale is holding a extensive (and rare) Campus-wide Open House today to help mark the inauguration of Yale’s 23rd President, Peter Salovey. Spaces typically closed off to the public will be open to all. Take a walk through the historic private club Mory’s (306 York St, New Haven) today at 10 a.m. or 3 p.m., or get close to a nuclear accelerator in Yale’s Wright Laboratory (266 Whitney Ave, New Haven) during tours at 11 a.m., noon and 1 p.m. Between 2 and 4 p.m., check out the digs at many of Yale’s residential colleges for undergraduates, including some surprising facilities. Davenport College (248 York St, New Haven), for one, will put on demonstrations of its printing press and pottery studio. If you get hungry or thirsty while out and about this weekend, Yale has arranged specially priced prix fixe meals and menu samplings at many of New Haven’s finest restaurants, available for a flat rate of $23 per person.
The New Haven Urban Scavenger Race, lasting from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., will also have people running around downtown today, though they’ll be in search of glory and prizes, and might be wearing crazy getups. Teams of 2-4 people, which must register by Wednesday, October 9, must meet beforehand at Geronimo Southwest Grill and Tequila Bar (271 Crown St, New Haven) to receive the clues they’re supposed to solve, and to scope out the competition. Both the solving and the scoping should be made even more interesting by the (G-rated) costume contest attending the main event. The price tag is $50 per person, which includes a T-shirt, plus food and drink specials at the after-party.
As Yale opens wide, this month’s City-Wide Open Studios enters its second phase with a huge free-to-attend showcase of local art at Erector Square (315 Peck St, New Haven). “Explore the personal studios of hundreds of local artists on your own or through a guided tour,” the CWOS website says, today and tomorrow from noon to 5 p.m.
Sunday, October 13
The New Haven Museum and the Hopkins School are teaming up on a Family Game Day today from 1 to 4 p.m. The plan is to fill the museum with “New Haven twists on classic lawn and board games.” For once, the museum is playing around when it comes to history. 114 Whitney Ave, New Haven. (203) 562-4183.
Written by Dan Mims.
Readers are encouraged to verify times, locations and prices before attending events.
