Friends of the UMass Amherst Libraries Hosts

“READY WHEN YOU ARE CHARLIE BROWN!

WAR STORIES FROM BEHIND THE LENS”

Emmy Award Winning Producer, Director, Actor

~ Michael Haley ’65 ~

On Saturday, October 1, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., the Friends of the UMass Amherst Libraries will host the 13th Annual Fall Reception on the Lower Level of the Du Bois Library at UMass Amherst.  The keynote speaker, Michael Haley ’65, will give a talk, “Ready When You Are Charlie Brown! War Stories from Behind the Lens.”  Emmy Award-winning producer, director, and actor, Michael Haley has had a 40-year career in the film industry, starting in the late ’60s after he graduated from UMass Amherst. The program starts at 2:30 p.m.; the event is free and open to the public.  Reservations are appreciated.  To RSVP, call (413) 545-0995 or email friends@library.umass.edu. 

Haley has been recognized many times over for his impressive body of work, receiving numerous awards.  His films include Charlie Wilson’s War (2007), Closer (2004), Angels in America (2003), Joe Somebody (2001), What Planet Are You From? (2000), Primary Colors (1998), Groundhog Day (1993), and A League of Their Own (1992).  He was nominated as Best Actor for his role in Wilde Irish Women at the Dundalk, Ireland Theater Festival in 2004.  The list of directors that Haley has worked with includes Sidney Lumet, Sidney Pollock, Barry Levinson, Penny Marshall, Harold Ramis, and Mike Nichols. He has also worked with some of Hollywood’s premier actors and actresses, such as Katherine Hepburn, Harrison Ford, Meryl Streep, and Tom Hanks.

Haley recently donated his papers to the UMass Amherst Libraries.  Reflecting a distinguished career in film, the collection consists of scripts, photographs, memorabilia, diaries, notes, and correspondence.  There are over 100 scripts, for films ranging from the Godfather II to Charlie Wilson’s War and Angels in America.

Haley is currently writing a book about his career in the film industry and lives in Conway, Massachusetts.

As part of the fall reception program, Robert Potash, member of the Friends of the Library Board of Trustees, will be honored with the 2011 Siegfried Feller Award for Outstanding Service.  This award, established in 1998, is given annually to an individual who has made outstanding volunteer contributions to create awareness and build support for the UMass Amherst Libraries.

UMass Catering will provide refreshments.  A selection of DVDs of Haley’s films will be available for sale by the University Store.

Big E Ticket Distribution

On the evening of July 20, 2011, volunteers and members of the Western MA Library Advocates Board of Directors gathered at Lynn Coakley's home to distribute prize admission tickets to The Big E. Thanks to Lynn for providing the location and the refreshments. Thanks to Lynn, Jim Craig, Tammy Ely, Bonnie Isman, Sue San Soucie, John Ramsay and Jan Resnick for providing the labor. Big E tickets have been a staple of Summer Reading Program prizes for several years. Eighty-four main libraries and branches each received a pair of tickets for the fair.

The Big E is the largest fair in the northeast and is a New England extravaganza with top name entertainment, The Big E Super Circus, the Avenue of States, Storrowton Village Museum, animals, competitive exhibits, rides, shopping, crafts, a daily parade and a Mardi Gras parade and foods from around the world. The fair runs for 17 days each September. In 2010, over 1,228,418 people attended The Big E.

This Big E ticket distribution was made possible by the Western MA Library Advocates working to support library services in Western Massachusetts and a generous donation by The BIG E.

Author Cailtin Horrocks in South Hadley - Monday, August 22 @6:30

Author Talk, Reading, & Book Signing at the South Hadley Public Library

Thirteen women confront dramas both every-day and outlandish in Caitlin Horrocks’ This Is Not Your City. In stories as darkly comic as they are unflinching, people isolated by geography, emotion, or circumstance cut imperfect paths to peace—they have no other choice. A Russian mail-order bride in Finland is rendered silent by her dislocation and loss of language; the mother of a severely disabled boy writes him postcards he'll never read on a cruise ship held hostage by pirates; and an Iowa actuary wanders among the reincarnations of those she's known in her 127 lives. Horrocks’ women find no simple escapes, and their acts of faith and acts of imagination in making do are as shrewd as they are surprising.

Masha Kabakow Rudman Issues in Children's Literature Collection

UMass Amherst Libraries will launch the Masha Kabakow Rudman Issues in Children’s Literature Collection on September 17, 2011, at the Du Bois Library at UMass Amherst.   

The event will include a self-guided tour of the collection from 2-3 p.m. on Floor 11 and a multimedia program from 3-5 p.m. on the Lower Level.  The program will include an introduction to the collection and comments by authors Jane Yolen and Jacqueline Woodson, and other special guests.  Refreshments will be served.  The event is open to all.

More information: http://bit.ly/masha_rudman.