October 23, 2025: 6:00 at Philip Read Memorial Library:
Jeff Friedman & Brinda Charry
Jeff Friedman is a poet, micro story writer, and translator based in New Hampshire. He is the author of eleven collections of poetry and prose, including Ashes in Paradise and The Marksman. His work has appeared in leading journals such as American Poetry Review, Poetry, and The New Republic, and has been widely anthologized. Known for his wit, emotional depth, and surreal imagery, Friedman’s writing often blurs the line between dream and reality. He has received numerous awards and fellowships, and his translations from Hebrew and Polish have expanded his reach as an international literary voice.
Brinda Charry is a novelist, short story writer, and scholar of Elizabethan literature. Her acclaimed debut novel, The East Indian, is inspired by the true story of the first documented Indian in colonial Virginia. Richly imagined and historically grounded, the novel explores identity, displacement, and belonging in early America. Charry brings deep literary insight and lyrical storytelling to her fiction, shaped by her background in both creative writing and early modern studies.
WINNER OF THE 2025 SOCIETY OF AMERICAN HISTORIANS PRIZE (JAMES FENIMORE COOPER PRIZE) FOR HISTORICAL FICTION
SHORTLISTED FOR THE BARNES AND NOBLE DISCOVER PRIZE, THE CROSSWORD FICTION PRIZE.
LONGLISTED FOR THE MARK TWAIN VOICE IN AMERICAN LITERATURE PRIZE, THE JCB PRIZE.