The Jones Library
proudly announces Madeleine Blais and the Amherst Regional High School Theater
Program as winners of the Fifth Annual Samuel Minot Jones Awards for Literary
Achievement. A gala event, the Sammys, will take place on April 26, 2018, at
6:00 p.m. at the Mead Art Museum on the Amherst College campus to recognize and
celebrate the award winners.
Now celebrating its 5th
year, the Sammys is Amherst’s signature event honoring the community’s
remarkable and vibrant literary heritage. The evening will feature a lively
awards presentation, food and drink provided by local artisans, and live music.
Past events have been remarkably successful, with more than 200 community
members gathering each year to honor Cammie McGovern and Arthur Kinney in 2017,
Polly Longsworth and Aaron Lansky in 2016, Julius Lester and Pat & Peter
Schneider in 2015, and Norton Juster and Amherst Books in 2014. Proceeds from
the Sammys provide considerable support to the Jones Library and its branches.
This year, the Sammy for
local literary achievement will be presented to Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter
and author Madeleine Blais, of the University of Massachusetts journalism
department. Her book about Amherst Regional High School’s 1995 state champion
girls’ basketball team, In These Girls, Hope Is a Muscle, was a National Book
Critics Circle Award finalist and named one of the Top 100 sports books of the
20th Century by ESPN. Ms. Blais’s other books include The Heart Is an
Instrument: Portraits in Journalism; Uphill Walkers: Portrait of a Family; and
her well-reviewed new book, To the New Owners, an evocative memoir about her
family’s deep connection with Martha’s Vineyard.
The Sammy for
significant contribution to Amherst’s literary culture will be presented to the
Amherst Regional High School Theater Program, currently being led by John
Bechtold. At ARHS’s Theater Department, students have the opportunity to take
coursework in both the academic and practical applications of theater, participate
in acting classes, write new works, direct plays, and work on the design of
lighting, sound, and set plans for productions. Illustrious alumnae can be seen
in many venues, from professional stages (playwright Annie Baker ’98, actor
Libby Woodbridge ’05) to Hollywood (screenwriter/director Tom Bezucha ’82,
actor Erik Mabius ’86, playwright Madeleine George ’92).The ARHS Theater
Company was recognized by American Theatre magazine in 2012 for its innovative
staging of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
In keeping with
tradition, The Sammys is honored to feature the work of a local artist.
Illustrator Micha Archer, whose most recent book is Daniel Finds a Poem, has
donated her talents to the Sammys. Working with oil, watercolors, pen and ink,
and collage, Archer creates vibrantly layered pieces from various materials
that jump off the page to inspire the imagination. Attendees purchasing tickets
at the $100 and above level will receive a signed and numbered print of
Archer’s work.
About the Jones Library
The Jones Library’s
mission is to serve and inspire people of all ages and from all walks of life
by providing multicultural resources for lifelong learning. An Amherst
treasure, the Jones Library contributes to the educational and cultural
landscape of the area. The Library provides adult, family, and children’s
programs to the public, as well as heavily used community meeting rooms. The
availability of resources to all, partnerships with area organizations, and
numerous community events ensure that the Library receives more than 250,000
visits every year.
About the Samuel Minot
Jones Awards for Literary Achievement
The Sammys are named for
Samuel Minot Jones, the Library’s first benefactor and namesake. Jones
contributed the initial funding for the endowment that continues to provide a
portion of the Library budget annually. The Sammys are our way of honoring the
legacy of Jones’s commitment to the community.
Over the past 4 years,
the Sammys have brought in over $100,000 in support for the Jones, Munson, and
North Amherst Libraries. All proceeds from the awards ceremony will be used to
support Library collections, purchasing materials in all formats and for all
ages. Budget constraints this year mean that philanthropic dollars are even
more critical for buying the Library materials on which our community depends.
Sammys tickets are
available and can be purchased at the Jones Library or online at
www.joneslibrary.org/sammys. Tickets will be offered at $60, $100, $150 and
$200, allowing people to choose their level of support for the Library’s
collections.
