We're incredibly lucky that our area seems to draw some heavy hitters.
The Words, Ideas, and Thinkers Festival (or WIT) is bringing some to Shakespeare & Company in Lenox this weekend to explore their works, the future landscape of literature, and more. Perhaps the most acclaimed of those headed to the mountains is poet Rita Dove. Poet Laureate of the US from 1993-1995, recipient of the Pulitzer prize, almost 30 honorary degrees, including one from Smith College, the National Humanities Award from Bill Clinton, the National Arts Award from Barack Obama, and a veritable pile of other accolades. Her most recent book, entitled "Playlist for the Apocalypse" is the subject of her workshop for the festival, and we can't resist getting a person of her stature and renown to explore their career with us.
Just a bit northeast of that, the Ashfield Film Fest is gearing up for it's 15th year of bringing local films and film shorts to the hilltowns. One of it's founders, just happens to have a long list of film credits to his name, just not in a way you'd expect. Harry Keramides has edited a long list of films over to course of his career, including the entire Back to the Future trilogy. We get to talk to him about the importance of having local folx involved in the films they bring to the Ashfield Film Fest, as well as the changes to the editing landscape that have happened over the decades.
