0 Event Reminder, Thursday, 5 PM, MIT, and Here Are Some Directions (ETA: And Parking Info!)

This is your friendly reminder that on Thursday, from 5 to 7 PM, Marah Gubar, Kenneth Kidd and I will be speaking about darkness, dystopia, and trauma in YA literature at MIT. Should be pretty cheery. Please join us. :o)

The MIT campus can be a bit bewildering for outsiders (possibly also for insiders), so here are some directions to the event at 66-110 on the MIT campus:

66-110 stands for room 110 in building 66. Building 66 (also called the Ralph Landau Building) is on Ames St in Cambridge. The street address for the building is 25 Ames Street. If you're coming from Kendall Square, walk away from the Longfellow Bridge (keep the Kendall Hotel on your left and the Marriott on your right) down Main St. until you see Ames St. Take a left on Ames (the Koch Institute is right on the corner) and walk 2 minutes until you see the MIT List Center on your left. Across the street on your right is building 66. The side of the building that you'll enter comes to a sharp point (66 is shaped like a large triangle). Walk into 66 from the edge facing Ames and continue down the hallway (you'll see classrooms on your left and labs on your right) until you reach an open area. Room 110 is in the corner of this open foyer. There will be a large poster board with 'MIT Communications Forum' outside the room, and you'll see posters for the event by the door.

(Thanks, Cora, for the directions!)

ETA: Info about parking!  A list of the parking lots near MIT: http://web.mit.edu/facilities/transportation/parking/visitors/public_parking.html. Apparently the lots at 4, 5 and 7 Cambridge Center are the closest to building 66. Otherwise there is metered parking along Memorial Drive, Ames Street, and Amherst Street, if you're lucky.

Detail: Event Reminder, Thursday, 5 PM, MIT, and Here Are Some Directions (ETA: And Parking Info!)

0 Two Upcoming Local Events

It snowed again yesterday, heavy, wet flakes this time. I walked home from a friend's house late last night and the falling snow was sparkling; the mountains of snow lining the streets and consuming people's yards were sparkling. This winter is like being trapped inside a snow globe. It is a little bit claustrophobic, but it's also kind of magical. Many, many cars are still completely encased in mounds of snow. We're expecting a blizzard this weekend. Tonight it will be 0°F (-18°C) and I have bedazzled my fingernails for a party.

On Tuesday, March 3, Marie Rutkoski is coming to town and she and I will be doing an event together at 7 PM at the Harvard Book Store. Yay! Do come! The event is to celebrate the release of Marie's book The Winner's Crime, sequel to The Winner's Curse, both of which are SO WONDERFUL, and I'm so excited to talk about it with her. The event is also to celebrate the release of ABSOLUTELY NOTHING I HAVE WRITTEN, because I am SO SLOW and still have nothing new out. But! Things are in the works, I swear. Please come to our event and ask us lots of questions!

Also, on Thursday, March 19, I will be participating in an MIT Communications Forum entitled Coming of Age in Dystopia: The Darkness of Young Adult Fiction. It's from 5-7 PM and here's the blurb: "Why are brutal dystopias, devastating apocalyptic visions, and tales of personal trauma such a staple of young adult literature? Kristin Cashore, author of the award-winning Graceling Realm trilogy, and the University of Florida’s Kenneth Kidd will explore the history and current preoccupations of one of the most popular forms of fiction today. Marah Gubar, an associate professor in MIT’s Literature department, will moderate." It's an honor to be invited to participate in one of MIT's Communications Forums, and this is going to be an interesting topic to get into deeply. You should all come to that, too! I'll get organized and put both of these events onto my Appearance Schedule soon, but in the meantime, I wanted to get them onto people's radars.

Detail: Two Upcoming Local Events