Juneteenth is tomorrow, Friday, June 19th. There are many ways to observe Juneteenth, the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States, so we’ve compiled a list of Juneteenth events happening virtually here in the Greater Boston area. As the fight for equity and justice continues, we hope this list provides some resources to commemorate this vital day in history and celebrate the contributions, writing, art, and experiences of Black Americans.

In the June 2020 edition of "Best of Boston," we bring you our top Boston lit events this month, taking place virtually. See below for our list of local literary happenings.

Curator’s Choice: Trees! 

Tuesday, June 2nd at 12:00 PM

A Virtual Event by the Boston Athenaeum

Join the first virtual Tell-All Boston event on May 7th at 7:00pm, brought to you by alumni of GrubStreet’s Memoir Incubator and Essay Incubator (and co-sponsored by Porter Square Books). Maya Shanbhag Lang, author of What We Carry: A Memoir will be reading alongside featured readers including Susan McGee Bailey, Alicia Googins, Shirley Jones-Luke, and Linda K. Wertheimer. For more details and to register, visit the Tell-All Boston website. 

By Katrin Schumann

I sat down to write this post and have now written four openings and ditched them all.

What do writers need to hear in times like this? How can I be helpful to others when that which binds us--our obsessive love of words, books, writing--is overshadowed so universally by our fear of the unknown? 

Do I tell you how to make lemons out of lemondade?* Do I reveal that I'm writing page after page despite the uncertainty and boredom

The April 2020 edition of "Writing Life Essentials," a monthly hand-curated list of contests, grants, scholarships, submissions calls, and awards, with a focus on opportunities that are local, free to apply, and/or committed to celebrating and supporting writers from historically marginalized communities. We do the research, so you have more time for what matters: the writing. Or, preparing April Fool’s jokes. That’s important too.