A Summer of Short Fiction
How are your summer reading plans shaping up? How about joining me for a few small group discussions where we dig into classic short stories by Boston-area authors of the past?
A Summer of Short Fiction is a low-commitment, in-person series of stand-alone discussions for curious readers. Each session focuses on one classic short story by a Boston-connected author, with a guided one-hour discussion led by me.
Come for one session or join the full series. We'll do an optional social time afterward, so you can continue the conversation and connect with other local literary-minded folks.
Register for each session below!
Stories and Dates:
Wednesday, July 1: “Young Goodman Brown” (1835) by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The story: Young Goodman Brown ventures into the forest of Puritan Salem one evening to find the town gathered for an unholy convocation. Will he be able to save his wife and his faith?
The themes: loss of innocence; faith, doubt, and hypocrisy; appearance versus hidden corruption.
The author: Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–1864) was born in Salem and later lived in Boston and Concord. Throughout his short and long fiction, he wrestled with New England’s Puritan past and its legacy of guilt, secrecy, and judgment.
Register for Wednesday, July 1: “Young Goodman Brown.”
Wednesday, July 15: “Farmer Eli’s Vacation” (1895) by Alice Brown
The story: Farmer Eli has lived near the ocean all his life, but has never seen it. When he finally travels with his family to the seashore, his long-awaited vacation reveals something he never expected about work, home, and belonging.
The themes: attachment to home and place; labor as identity; rest, aging, and belonging.
The author: Alice Brown (1857–1948) was a prolific Boston-based short-story writer, poet, novelist, and playwright whose work frequently portrayed rural New England life. She was once described as a “cornerstone in Boston’s most Bostonian life and lore.”
Register for Wednesday, July 15: “Farmer Eli’s Vacation.”
Wednesday, July 29: “Talma Gordon” (1900) by Pauline Hopkins
The story: Considered the first mystery story written by a Black author, “Talma Gordon”begins with a murder. But the search for the culprit becomes increasingly complicated as secrets involving race, identity, and inheritance emerge.
The themes: race and hidden identity; inheritance, family secrets, and justice; appearance versus reality.
The author: Pauline Hopkins (1859–1930) was a prolific Boston-based novelist, short-story writer, playwright, editor, and cultural critic. Her groundbreaking fiction explored Black history, racial identity, and the political possibilities of popular genres.
Register for Wednesday, July 29: “Talma Gordon.”
Wednesday, August 12: “In the Land of the Free” (1909) by Sui Sin Far
The story: A Chinese immigrant couple bring their young son to the US, only to have him detained by immigration at the border. As the months pass, his parents must navigate a costly and indifferent bureaucracy to bring him home.
The themes: immigration and family separation; bureaucracy as violence; the gap between American ideals and lived reality.
The author: Sui Sin Far (1865–1914), the first Asian American published author, portrayed Chinese immigrant life at a time of widespread exclusion and racism. She lived in Boston from 1909 to 1913, when she published her first collection of short stories, Mrs. Spring Fragrance, and wrote for the Globe.
Register for Wednesday, August 12: “In the Land of the Free.”
Wednesday, August 26: “The Swimmer” (1964) by John Cheever
The story: Neddy Merrill decides to swim home to his Westchester residence through his neighbors’ pools. But what begins as a bright summer adventure gradually grows colder and stranger as time shifts, social encounters become unsettling, and submerged truths rise to the surface.
The themes: self-deception and denial; aging, time, and decline; suburban privilege and isolation.
The author: John Cheever (1912–1982) was a Pulitzer Prize–winning author born in Quincy who also lived in Boston’s Back Bay. His fiction is known for exposing the loneliness, instability, and hidden despair beneath prosperous suburban life.
Register for Wednesday, August 26: “The Swimmer.”
Register for each session below!
Format: In-person, guided small-group discussion.
Capacity: Each session will be capped at 10.
Commitment: Each session stands alone. Come to one, come to a few, or join the full series!
Time: 6:00pm to 7:00pm, with optional social time after.
Location: Location will be sent to registrants, and will be in Boston proper, accessible by T.
Discussion Leader: Jessica A. Kent, founder and director of Literary Boston. You can learn more about me below!
Cost: $30 a session. (Food and drinks are not included.)
Texts: Each story will be provided to you via .pdf that you can read digitally or print. Stories will be sent upon registration/one week before each session.
Preparation: Please read the story before arriving. Each selection is short enough to complete in one sitting.
Experience: No prior literature class or close reading experience necessary. Open to beginners as well as advanced readers.
Cancellation Policy: Cancellations made at least 72 hours before the session may receive a refund or transfer to another available session. Cancellations made within 72 hours are nonrefundable. If Literary Boston cancels a session, you’ll receive a full refund or may transfer your registration to another date. No-shows are nonrefundable.
Summer of Short Fiction
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Hi! I’m Jessica, and I’m the founder of Literary Boston, a cultural initiative that promotes the local literary community, past and present. Other literary roles include literary history tour guide, library assistant, bookseller at both indies and Barnes & Noble, book festival director and social media manager, lit mag founder, lit org board member — and, of course, writer.
I hold a BFA in Creative Writing from Emerson College and an MA in Literature from Harvard University (Extension), where my thesis on Moby-Dick and Calvinism won the Director’s Prize (yes, I wrote that for fun!). During my time in my master’s program, I tried to take as many classes in American Literature as I could, specifically 19th c. New England literature. And yes, there was a bit of literary theory in there, too.
My writing has appeared in the North American Review, the Emerson Review, Writer’s Bone, and others, and my short story “Rose” received the Leah Lovenheim Award for Short Fiction. I recently graduated from GrubStreet's Novel Incubator program, a year-long novel writing craft intensive, where I worked on a novel about paramedics in 1970s Boston (still in progress!).
Finally, my passion for “digging into the text” led me to run a book club for a few years we called “English class over dinner,” as well as a nine-month informal “Moby-Dick Class” where I guided friends through the novel.