LITERATURE

Today we host a roundtable discussion with four local organizations who are facing real-life material consequences from widespread federal funding cuts.

We speak with author Heidi Stemple about her latest book, "The Poetry of Car Mechanics," agonize over better words to describe terrible things with Word Nerd Emily Brewster and check out the arborvitae at Amherst Nurseries.

We talk with Mr. Universe about funding cuts to scientific research and education, find out about the expansion of the Mass Kids Lit Festival and check in with the Center for New Americans they face changes in programming.

We learn about some exciting upcoming productions from Nero Orchestra and Eggtooth Productions and the nuances behind depicting the history of enslavement in picture books.

We check out roosting falcons atop the W. E. B. Du Bois library at UMass Amherst and check in with Amherst College's The Common as it celebrates 25 years of publication.

The Amherst Town Council reaffirmed its commitment Monday to funding $15.8 million to a restoration project for the Jones Library located downtown.

We learn about this weekend's Poetry Carnival at Bombyx with Brother's Keeper Poetry Ensemble and learn about migrating birds with UMass professor Nathan Senner.

We broadcast live from the Emily Dickinson Museum and speak with the Jane Wald, executive director; Brooke Steinhauser, senior director of programs; and two contemporary poets, Joan Kwon Glass and DeMisty Bellinger.

We hear about the first presidential Passover Seder at the White House in a new picture book with poet Richard Michelson and former State Senator Eric Lesser, check in with poet Martín Espada on some new work and get nerdy with the wordster.

We have triple Live Music Friday with Ciarra Fragale, Peter Mulvey and Ruth Theodore, learn about this year's LitFest at Amherst College and try wines at Dare Bottle Shop in Lenox.