The book chosen for One Book Chelmsford 2013 is Townie, by Andre Dubus III. There are lots of events planned over the next few months, including a visit from the author – check out https://www.chelmsfordlibrary.org/onebook/ for more information.

Townie is a memoir of the author’s early life in Newburyport and Haverhill.

After their parents divorce in the 1970’s, Andre Dubus III and his three siblings grew up with their exhausted working mother in a depressed Massachusetts mill town saturated with drugs and crime. To protect himself and those he loved from street violence, Andre learned to use his fists so well that he was even scared of himself. He was on a fast track to getting killed, or killing someone else, or to beatings-for-pay as a boxer. Nearby, his father, an eminent author, taught on a college campus and took the kids out on Sundays. The clash of worlds couldn’t have been more stark or more difficult for a son to communicate to a father. Only by becoming a writer himself could Andre begin to bridge the abyss and save himself.

Copies of Townie are available at the library – after you read it, please return it to the library or pass it along to someone else.

Here’s an overview of One Book events – check https://www.chelmsfordlibrary.org/onebook/ for more information.

• “Keeping Your Heart Open in Hell: Jump Start Your Memoir” by Nancy Slonim Aronie, author of “Writing From The Heart”
  Wed, Mar 20, 2013 at 7 p.m. at the main library

• “Connecting Boys with Books” presented by Michael Sullivan
  Tue, Mar 26 at 7 p.m.

• Townie Book Discussion
  Mon, Apr 1, 2013: the Evening Book Group will discuss “Townie” at 7 p.m. in the fireplace room at the main library

• “From Memory to Memoir: How do we turn fragments of memory into stories that others care about?” by Mimi Schwartz, author of “Writing True, the Art and Craft of Creative Nonfiction”
  Wed, Apr 3, 2013 10 a.m. – noon at the Senior Center

• “The Fatherhood Project” presented by Dr Ray Levy
  Thu, Apr 4, 2013 at 7 p.m. at the main library

• Townie Book Discussion
  Fri, Apr 5, 2013: the Novel Conversations Book Group will talk about “Townie” at noon at the MacKay Library

• “Why Write Memoir?” presented by Professor Maureen Stanton
  Thu, Apr 25, 2013 at 7 p.m. at the main library

• Author Visit with Andre Dubus III
  Sun, Apr 28, 2013 at 1 p.m. at the McCarthy Middle School

Enjoy One Book Chelmsford 2013, and be sure to let library staff know what you think!