Jane Brox will read from her new book “Brilliant: The Evolution of Artificial Light” on Thursday, March 10, at 7 pm, at the Spalding House on 383 Pawtucket Street. This is a Lowell Parks & Conservation Trust event. If you plan to attend, please respond by calling 978-934-0030. “Brilliant” was named by TIME as one of the best books of 2010. An added attraction of the program is the extraordinary collection of lamps and lighting systems in the Spalding House, which dates from the 18th century, a rare example of housing of that era in Lowell, formerly East Chelmsford. Admission is free, but space is limited. Jane will sign books also.
February 15th, 2011
Merrimack Valley Literary Renaissance: Bos. Globe, 2001
It’s been ten years since writer Neil Miller in the Boston Globe Magazine shone a spotlight on the Merrimack Valley literary renaissance that was getting noticed at home and far away. The region of Bradstreet, Thoreau, Whittier, Frost, Kerouac, and others has emerged in our time as a literary hotspot. Read the archived article that features Jane Brox, Andre Dubus III, Mary McGarry Morris, Jay Atkinson, Dave Daniel, Chath pierSath, and others. Unfortunately, the archived piece doesn’t include the original photographs of the authors.
All these writers are very different, of course, and it’s hard to find one unifying theme, a single valley sensibility. Brox’s elegiac memoirs and her feeling for place have led her to be dubbed “a latter-day Thoreau.” Until recently, Dubus has been reluctant to write about the Merrimack Valley at all. Still, all are drawn to working-class, sometimes hardscrabble characters, those “practical” types who populate the region. “In the Merrimack Valley, we celebrate the ordinary moment,” says Atkinson. “That is what you write about. There is no uranium mine here.”
The intellectual history of the area reaches back almost to the beginnings of New England’s industrial revolution. In the 1840s, on a trip to America, Charles Dickens paid a visit to Lowell, where he made some unexpected discoveries: Many of the young New England farm women who came to the city to work in the textile mills subscribed to circulating libraries. And some of them were publishing a regular magazine called The Lowell Offering, which he wrote in his book American Notes “will compare advantageously with a great many English Annuals.”
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January 15th, 2011
Jane Brox @ Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference
Award-winning author Jane Brox, who grew up and lived in Dracut until recently, will be among the featured faculty at the prestigious annual Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference at Middlebury College in Vermont, August 10 to 20, 2011. For details, visit www.middlebury.edu/blwc Her faculty colleagues will include Chang-rae Lee, Philip Levine, and Ellen Bryant Voight.
Culture, Education, Greater Lowell, History, Lowell | 2 Comments »
December 11th, 2010
Jane Brox’s Book Is a Top TIME Pick
I have to brag on this one. My friend Jane Brox, native of Dracut and the Merrimack Valley and now living on the Maine coast, made the TIME magazine list of the top ten best non-fiction books of 2010 (#5) with her wonderful book “Brilliant: The Evolution of Artificial Light.” Writes the reviewer, “Brox turns this curious slice of history into a dazzling epic. In her hands the construction of the first offshore lighthouse, in 1698, plays like a battle….”
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September 5th, 2010
Jane Brox @ Andover Bookstore, Sept. 9
Author Jane Brox will be reading from her new book, “Brilliant: The Evolution of Artificial Light,” this Thursday, Sept. 9, at 7 p.m., at the Andover Bookstore, 89 Main Street. She is a marvelous writer, and in this book she takes on a subject that so surrounds us that most of us don’t think about it. It wasn’t every day that a person could flip a switch and see more. It still isn’t every day for many people. She tells a good story and asks provocative questions about how we organize our lives now and what “light” might look like in the future. Click here for event details.
August 1st, 2010
Jane Brox’s Obit for Old-Fashioned Light Bulbs
In the Globe today, author Jane Brox writes about the waning days of the incandescent light bulb, that staple of modern life. Read her essay here, and consider subscribing to the Globe if you appreciate the writing.
August 1st, 2010
Jane Brox’s ‘Brilliant” Reviewed in NYT Bk Rev
The Merrimack Valley’s own Jane Brox earned a full page review of her new book “Brilliant: The Evolution of Artificial Light” in the NYT Book Review. A full page review in the Sunday Times is major-league attention. Reviewer Elizabeth Royte spends most of her sentences describing what’s in the book and is sparing in the kind of praise that authors, editors, and publishers, especially the marketing people, crave. I didn’t see the proverbial “killer quote” (in a good way), but Royte gives Jane her due for this in-depth exploration of one of the basics of life these days. We just expect to have light at night now. Wasn’t always the case, as Jane explains so thoughtfully in the book.
Here’s some applause from the reviewer: “Ruminative and curious, Brox excels at discussing the cultural and psychological changes wrought by more and better light….”
Read the full review here, and considering buying one or more copies of the book, please. This commercial is brought to you by the Merrimack Valley Writers Association (or would be if we had one).
July 19th, 2010
Update on Jane Brox in TIME
“Brilliant” author Jane Brox said “thanks” for the blog post about her book the other day and also said that she was “as surprised as anyone to see the mention [in TIME magazine].” She credited her publicist at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, whom she says is treating her very well. Jane noted that there’s a review of her new book due in the New York Times Book Review on August 1.
In addition to writing books, Jane is the Coastal Studies Scholar at Bowdoin College. I’m sure we’ll be seeing her in the Lowell area in the near future. She read and signed “Brilliant: The Evolution of Artificial Light” at the Concord Bookshop on July 11, and will be at the Andover Bookstore on Sept. 9. Other fall appearances include Boston College, Penn State, and the Bangor (Maine) Book Festival. Keep up with her schedule on www.janebrox.com
July 19th, 2010
Jane Brox in TIME. Repeat. Jane Brox in TIME.
We know her. Jane Brox, now living in Maine, but who will always be connected to Dracut and the Merrimack Valley, has a new book, “Brilliant: The Evolution of Artificial Light,” which is featured this week as one of TIME magazine’s Short List “Picks for the Week.” Here’s the recommendation:
Jane Brox’s extraordinary history of artificial light is aptly named. It’s not just a record of technological innovation; it’s a great human fable about how we went from desperately fending off darkness to searching for the last vestiges of true night in a light bedazzled world.
Congratulations to Jane for her fourth book. The others are “Here and Nowhere Else,” “Five Thousand Days Like This One,” and “Clearing Land.” Click here for details about her books.
And click here for a list of her upcoming readings and book-signings in New England and beyond. On Thursday, Sept. 9, 7 pm, she will be at the Andover Bookstore. Don’t wait until then to get the book.
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