News and Events

Jennifer Acker Writes About Issue 11 in Amherst Magazine

Amherst Magazine recently published a piece by Editor in Chief Jennifer Acker about the difficulties and delights of bringing Issue 11, Tajdeed, into the world. The first of its kind in the US, this issue contained all Arabic fiction in translation – the work of 26 authors, five artists, 18 translators from 17 countries. It was a “labor of love” from start to finish.

Jennifer Acker photo

“Tell me the story of your romance with the Arabic written word.” The journalist asking was from The National, Abu Dhabi’s English-language newspaper. She wanted to know why we’d devoted an issue of The Common, Amherst’s literary magazine, to Arabic fiction. Editing Tajdeed: Contemporary Arabic Stories had been a labor of love, but it had not been romantic. Just as setting off naively for “the West” or “the Far East”—destinations that are grand notions rather than findable locations—is romantic in inspiration, but in reality involves a lot of getting lost and stuck in the mud.

Jennifer Acker Writes About Issue 11 in Amherst Magazine
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Photos: Launch Party & Spring Benefit

Bethany BallThanks to everyone who came out to support us at our recent Spring Benefit & Issue Launch! We love coming to NYC to celebrate, and the evening was the perfect opportunity to meet, talk, laugh, and share the work of our authors and artists. Photos from the event are up on our Facebook page. Please check them out and feel free to tag yourself and your friends!

Thanks again for your support of The Common, and for celebrating with us.

Photos: Launch Party & Spring Benefit
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Spring Benefit & Issue Launch

Spring Benefit & Issue Launch 

Tuesday, May 2nd

Nuyorican Poets Cafe
236 E. 3rd St., New York City
6:30–8:30pm 

issue 13

Celebrate spring, fresh new literature, and The Common at our Issue 13 launch party and benefit! Join us for a night at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, featuring Honor Moore, Cortney Lamar Charleston, Bethany Ball, and Mensah Demary.

Spring Benefit & Issue Launch
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Amherst College Literary Festival 2017

Event Date: 
Thursday, March 2, 2017 (All day)Saturday, March 4, 2017 (All day)
Location: 
Amherst College

Amherst’s annual literary festival celebrates the College’s extraordinary literary life by bringing to campus distinguished authors and editors to share and discuss the pleasures and challenges of verbal expression—from fiction and nonfiction, to poetry and spoken-word performance.

This year’s festival features award-winning novelist Zadie Smith, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, and 2016 National Book Award Fiction Finalists Chris Bachelder and Jacqueline Woodson, among others.

Amherst College Literary Festival 2017
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Author Postcard Auction 2016

Event Date: 
Monday, November 7, 2016 – 8:00amFriday, December 9, 2016 – 11:00pm

Bid for a chance to win a postcard from your favorite author, handwritten for you or a person of your choice. A wonderful keepsake, just in time for the holidays.

All proceeds will go toward The Common‘s programs. These include publishing emerging writers, mentoring students in our Literary Publishing Internship Program, and connecting with students around the world through The Common in the Classroom.

Explore the auction here: http://bit.ly/TheCommonPostcardAuction2016. Bidding opens on Monday, November 7th.

Author Postcard Auction 2016
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