Gifts that celebrate Rochester literary arts
If you’re looking for holidays gifts that celebrate both Rochester and the literary arts, you don’t have to go far. Here are two books and a calendar that feature the Flour City in all her gritty and beautiful glory.
Add these to your shopping lists because they are must-haves for the bibliophile in your life. Let's start with...
What to read
Author Hubert Haddad skillfully captures the mysterious and eerie story of 19th-century mediums, Leah, Margaret and Katie Fox, in his 2014 French novel, Theorie de la vilaine petite fille. University of Rochester professor Jennifer Grotz took on the task of translating the work, and the result was Rochester Knockings: A Novel of the Fox Sisters.
Open Letter Press, the University of Rochester press that publishes literature in translation, was approached by Haddad’s French publisher, Zulma. They, in turn, approached Grotz about the translation.
“The fact that there was a book about Rochester that might be translated and published by a press based in Rochester just seemed like a delicious kismet. So we all signed on for the project,” said Grotz.
Grotz and Haddad paint a picture of a socially and economically booming Rochester, and images of the Genesee River and landmarks such as Mt. Hope Avenue and Midtown Place pepper the book with local flavor. Spiritualism blossoms in this bustling environment and readers feel as if they are sitting around the sisters’ famous “Knocking Table” listening to the dead reach out to grieving family members.
The translation took Grotz a year to complete. In that time, she came to identify with the youngest Fox sister, Katie, in a way that was unexpected.
“She is mysterious, compelling, strange and, frankly, unforgettable to me,” Grotz said of the youngest, and most vulnerable of the three famous sisters. According to Haddad’s book, Katie was the only true medium among the women.
Rochester Knockings is available through the University of Rochester’s Open Letter Press.
Whom to watch
Julian Foster’s first book, Before I Wake, made it onto three top-seller lists on Amazon and became the No. 1 top-selling book in African-American literary fiction in 2014.
His book is the rough-edged coming of age story of Ketasha (KeKe) who lives on the west side of Rochester with her mother and sister.
Foster doesn’t hold back as he tells KeKe’s sad and complicated story, and his words plunge the reader into a world of gangs, drugs, and hard life lessons.
Nina Alvarez, local writer and editor of Foster’s book, notes that he, “doesn’t back away from the profane or the sublime. There is nothing pedestrian in his prose. The kinds of stories he tells require both economy and excess, death and survival, hilarity and despair. His work spares no expense.”
His next book, Beautiful Me, also takes place in Rochester, but this time the main character is a homicide detective working to solve a crime that takes him to places in his mind that prove to be dangerous and dark. Some of that darkness comes from Foster’s own inner conflicts.
“I had to go inside myself and be comfortable with what was there. It challenged me and made me uncomfortable at times,” Foster confided.
Readers can expect Beautiful Me to be available in the spring of 2016. Before I Wake can be purchased through Amazon.
What not to miss
In 2014, Cohber Press, a printing and marketing solutions company in Henrietta, began what CCO Judi Gavin, describes as, “an annual, collaborative project with some of Rochester's top creative talent.”
The result is collectible yearly calendar called FUEL.
Their 2015 calendar showcased photographers, illustrators and art directors.
The 2016 calendar features writers who each composed a letter based on the theme: Lost and Found. The challenge for participants was to interpret the theme however they chose without direction from the organizers.
Joe Moore and Stacey Rowe are among several writers who accepted the unique challenge. They and several others will read their letters starting at 7 p.m. on Dec. 2 at Writers and Books in Rochester’s Neighborhood of the Arts, 740 University Ave.
A wine and cheese reception will follow the reading. A sampling of the original letters will also be on display.
Calendars will be on sale during the event and all proceeds go directly to Writers and Books.
For more info, visit www.wab.org.
Christine Green is a freelance writer in Brockport. She organizes and hosts a monthly literary reading at A Different Path Art Gallery called Words on the Verge. Her column on literary events, local authors and books appears monthly in the Democrat and Chronicle. Contact her at christinejgreenwrites@gmail.com. Follow her on Twitter @christinejgreen.