This piece is excerpted from On Call: A Doctor’s Journey in Public Service by Dr. Anthony Fauci, a guest at Amherst College’s LitFest 2025. Register for this exciting, 10th-anniversary celebration of Amherst’s literary legacy and life.
By ED YONG
This piece originally appeared in The Atlantic. Journalist Ed Yong will be a guest at Amherst College’s LitFest 2024. Register for this exciting celebration of Amherst’s literary legacy and life.
Alexis Misko’s health has improved enough that, once a month, she can leave her house for a few hours. First, she needs to build up her energy by lying in a dark room for the better part of two days, doing little more than listening to audiobooks. Then she needs a driver, a quiet destination where she can lie down, and days of rest to recover afterward. The brief outdoor joy “never quite feels like enough,” she told me, but it’s so much more than what she managed in her first year of long COVID, when she couldn’t sit upright for more than an hour or stand for more than 10 minutes. Now, at least, she can watch TV on the same day she takes a shower.
With guest talks from physician Dr. Anthony Fauci and actor Jeffrey Wright, student and alumni readings, and a birthday party for The Common, this year’s 10th-anniversary LitFest was a celebratory occasion. From February 28 to March 2, 2025, attendees flocked to sold-out events in Amherst College’s Johnson Chapel, went behind the scenes with award-winning writers like Percival Everett, read poetry in the shadow of Emily Dickinson’s house, and celebrated the life and legacy of Amherst’s literary community.
Read on for a gallery of selected images and videos from LitFest 2025, and view all the event recordings here.
Founder and Editor-in-Chief Jennifer Acker and Amherst College President Michael Elliott raise a toast to The Common.
One highlight of the busy weekend was a champagne toast honoring The Common’s 15th year in print. Complete with cakes decorated as some of our iconic issue covers, the gathering celebrated The Common’s growth over the past decade-and-a-half into the thriving hub for international and emerging literary voices that it is today.
Each of the magazine’s 28 (and counting!) issues features an object from one of its stories or essays on the cover.
The Common’s 15th anniversary tote bags, designed by one of our interns and featuring sketches of objects from our issue covers, were on full display.
 Later in the weekend, Everett led a masterclass for Amherst College students on the craft of fiction. |
 In a panel discussion about American Fiction, Jefferson gushed about the influence of Everett’s Erasure on the film. |
Percival Everett, author of James and other acclaimed novels, was a fan of The Common’s new merch, as was Cord Jefferson, writer and director of American Fiction!
Wright, who starred in American Fiction, fielded countless photo requests from fans over the course of the night.
The Common’s full-time staff and student interns are, from left to right: Literary Editorial Fellow Sam Spratford, Editorial Assistants Alma Clark, Kei Lim, and Aidan Cooper, and Managing Editor Emily Everett (back); Editor-in-Chief Jen Acker, and Editorial Assistants Sarah Wu, Sophie Durbin, and Siani Ammons (front).
On Saturday, March 1, Editorial Assistants at The Common read excerpts from their prose and poetry alongside Amherst College alumni who had recently published their first book. The reading was followed by a brief conversation with the alumni, who offered advice for current students.
Sam Spratford ’24 (Literary Editorial Fellow) gave introductory remarks, followed by readings from Kei Lim ’25 (David Applefield ’78 Fellow), Sarah Wu ’25, Alma Clark ’25, and Aidan Cooper ’26.
Tremor uses non-linear narration as it follows the life of Tunde, a West African man teaching photography in New England.
Acker likened Fauci’s efforts to unite the public via science to The Common‘s mission to build global literary community.
Perhaps the most anticipated event of LitFest 2025 was a talk by Dr. Anthony Fauci about his career in public service, as told in his new memoir, On Call. In her opening remarks, Jennifer Acker reflected on the significance of his visit to LitFest:
”One of my motives for developing LitFest at Amherst was a desire to bring people together, to build a bulwark against forces that push us apart. Since Covid, we have unfortunately become more broken as a society, but when I think back to those days of 2020, 2021, and 2022, while I remember the isolation, I also remember communal, uplifting moments that stand out like stars against an otherwise black night sky. And one of those moments was watching and listening to Dr. Tony Fauci […] When Dr. Fauci took the microphone, we uttered a collective sigh of relief. We thought ‘Here’s someone who’s going to tell it to us straight.’”
Fauci spoke about how his upbringing in an Italian Catholic family in Brooklyn profoundly shaped his worldview.
Dr. Fauci both took to and left the stage with prolonged standing ovations from the audience. You can view his full conversation with TC Board Member Cullen Murphy ’74 here.
Thank you to Amherst College and all who made this milestone LitFest such a memorable one! The Common is delighted to have now officially kicked off our 15th anniversary year. Stay tuned for more celebrations in the coming months.
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Celebrating 15 Years