On Sunday November 12, 2023, from 3-5:30pm in Turners Falls, at the newly-opened Unnameable Books, there will be a celebration of James Tate’s poems and new book Hell, I Love Everybody — a small collection of 52 poems Publishers Weekly, in a starred review, calls “quintessential” and “a whimsical, rollicking, and utterly jarring retrospective that showcases an unparalleled mind.”

Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winning poet, James Tate, a long-time resident of the Valley, taught at the University of Massachusetts for over 40 years and lived in Pelham, Massachusetts for most of those years.

Anyone who would like to join in can bring with them a Tate poem of their choice to read. There will be books available at Unnameable and light refreshments. Please invite yourself and anyone else you know who loves poetry or would like to be convinced they do. Unnameable Books is located at 66 Avenue A Turners Falls Massachusetts.

Hell, I Love Everybody: The Essential Poems of James Tate is edited by Emily Pettit, Kate Lindroos, and Dara Barrois/Dixon [née Dara Wier], with an Introduction by Terrance Hayes. The poems are chosen for their immediate and resonating thoughts and for their direct address to anyone who reads them.

More from Publishers Weekly: “Tate is famed for narratives set in the familiar and develop imaginatively, even chaotically: in one poem, strangers invite a jazz musician to a lavish party, only to reveal that he is their annual human sacrifice due to his lack of contribution to society. In another, an applicant interviewing to be an ice cream truck driver is told that extensive military experience is required. Elsewhere, [maybe in Leverett, Massachusetts] a woman instigates a bloody fight at her book club, then gets drinks with her victims. The poet explores social standards and fallacies, the terrifying beauty of nature.... Tate’s effervescent imagery assuages the heart: ‘It is late morning,/ and my forehead is alive with shadows,/ some bats rock back and forth/ to the rhythm of my humming,/ The mimosa flutters with bees./ This is a house of unwritten poems,/ This is where I am unborn.” Tenacious, surreal, impish, and soul-mending, these poems invite the reader into a transcendent world.” Publication date is November 7th, 2023, Ecco, HarperCollins.