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Join us for a discussion of the 2024 Vermont Reads selection, Gather, by Vermonter Kenneth Cadow. This discussion will be facilitated by Jim Schley, and is sponsored by Vermont Humanities. Copies of the book can be picked up at the library desk. About Gather
Gather, written by Vermonter and high schooler principal Kenneth Cadow centers Ian, a resourceful teenager from rural Vermont. He isn’t supposed to have a dog, but his adopted pup Gather soon becomes a good friend. Although he hasn’t yet finished high school, Ian works hard to take care of his mother, who is trying to overcome her addiction to opioids. In between classes and other responsibilities, Ian helps his family make ends meet by fixing things for neighbors and working at a sawmill off the books. Sadly, he needed to quit the school’s basketball team to support his family.
Above all, Ian wants his family to remain on the land where they have lived for generations. But after a tragedy, he and Gather leave Vermont. Living on the run, Ian draws on his well-honed survival skills to care for himself and his dog. At the same time, a community of folks come together to try to provide a way home for Ian and Gather.
About Jim Schley
Jim Schley has been leading book discussion groups for twenty years and has taught for Community College of Vermont and The Frost Place, where he was executive director. At Dartmouth College he majored in Literature and Creative Writing and minored in Native American Studies, and he has an M.F.A. in poetry from Warren Wilson College.
He has worked as a book editor for many years, previously for University Press of New England, Chelsea Green, and Tupelo Press, and presently for Wesleyan University Press, Brandeis University Press, and New Directions. He is regular contributor to Seven Days, and is the author of the poetry chapbook One Another (Chapiteau, 1999) and a full-length book of poems, As When, In Season (Marick, 2008). He lives with his family on a land cooperative in South Strafford.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
7 Richmond Street, Morrisville, VT, United States, Vermont 05661
