In case you missed it, it’s true, book people. The newish Barnes & Noble in the Bridgehampton Commons may not serve coffee, but on the plus side it does offer author appearances, readings, signings. The latest, today at 4 p.m., focuses on poetry, namely that of Lucas Hunt from an appropriate volume, given the setting, “Hamptons.”
Mr. Hunt — bon vivant, style maven, man about town, formerly of Springs, once of a literary agency, then an auctioneer and now president of Hunt Philanthropy — has had poems and book reviews in this paper in the past.
He won’t be alone, as Geer Austin of East Hampton and New York, who’s been published in Bellevue Literary Review, will read from his chapbook “Cloverleaf.” And Bruce E. Whitacre will be on hand with his new collection, “Good Housekeeping,” on “the contradictions of privilege and want, the dynamics of gay marriage, the joy of a good cocktail,” he has said. Retired from the theater world, he’s had his work in Queensbound, a poetry project in the borough where he lives, and, topically, he won the Nebraska Poetry Society’s open poetry contest last year for his sonnet “about the culture of violence,” a release said.
For the Dog Days
But readers, it’s good to get to know Mr. Whitacre just a bit there, as he’ll be making the rounds north to Sag Harbor for a “Queer Poetry for Dog Days” reading at the John Jermain Memorial Library with Leah Umansky on Sunday at 2 p.m.
Ms. Umansky, the host of the Couplet series of readings in the city, will introduce her new collection, “Of Tyrant,” about “the many tyrants in our political, personal, professional, and romantic lives,” according to her website. She’ll be joined by Tyler Allen Penny, known hereabouts from his workshops. He has had his poetry in journals ranging from Denver Quarterly to The Southampton Review.
“Through a Glass, Finally”
Also in Sag Harbor, one of its own, Joyce Jacobson, will put in an appearance at the Romany Kramoris Gallery on the village’s Main Street on Friday at 4 p.m. to read from “Through a Glass, Finally,” described as “a memoir in poetry about the complexities and anguish of being a lesbian at the wrong time.”