Thanks to poet Joseph Donahue (Lowell/Duke University) and Tony Sampas, archivist at the UMass Lowell Libraries, we have another writer to introduce to our blog readers: William Reed Huntington (1838-1909). Born into a prominent Lowell family, William was the son of Hannah Hinckley and Elisha Huntington, a doctor who served…
Malcolm Sharps in Hungary I have a connection to Lowell via your local writer Steve O’Connor. It was my first time in France, my first time grape picking, but another Englishman was doing his third year and he knew how to find the work. That was Steve’s problem. He didn’t know…
We asked poet and writer Marie Louise St. Onge to share her story and thoughts about where she’s going with her writing. She sent us a summary of her experience to date and added her view of the challenge in front of every artist in the nation, even the world.—PM…
Linda Hoffman is an artist and orchardist who operates Old Frog Pond Farm in Harvard, Mass. This is her second appearance on our blog. She has written a memoir about her experiences on the farm. She made the photographs accompanying this essay. Click on the photos to see the image…
David Daniel’s latest book is Inflections and Innuendos: Flash Fiction Riffs (2017), which is available to order here. He is a frequent contributor to our blog. The Sommelier of Faces By David Daniel You know someone like this. Someone with a thing for pairing faces. Like . . . check…
We’re re-introducing Marie Louise St. Onge to our readers. She grew up in Lowell’s Franco-American community and lives in Maine now. Marie Louise is a co-author of French Class: French Canadian-American Writings on Identity, Culture, and Place (Loom Press, 1999) and lead editor of Ad Hoc Monadnock: A Literary Anthology…
IN ST. PATRICK’S by Stephen O’Connor . “Do you believe in ghosts?” his wife had once asked. “Oh yes,” he answered, “ghosts are everywhere.” The empty church is full of ghosts. They huddle in the pews, immigrants whispering fervent prayers and American-born families who had inherited the faith of their…
We are introducing a writer who has not appeared on this blog. Joe Blair lives in Iowa with his wife, Deb, and family. He grew up in Westford, Mass., and studied literature and writing at UMass Lowell, later earning an MFA in nonfiction at the University of Iowa. This essay…
Uth and Them By David Daniel Fourteen-year olds are geniuses, right? Why else would I be grinding on the city hall steps on a Sunday and olly and bust up my face on the iron handrail? I couldn’t even have a fantasy of the imprint of my teeth in some…
One of our regular contributors, David Daniel, sent us this story called “The Day Before Christmas,” which we are happy to run on the day-before-the-day before Christmas to give our readers extra time to enjoy the story. To learn more about Dave and his books, see this author’s note from…