Magic Realism Book Club

A monthly gathering of readers, focusing on 2 books and 4 short stories in the Magic Realism genre. 

At the Prospect Street Writers House

Four sessions. January 14th, February 11th, March 11th, and April 15th, 2025, 6:30 – 7:30pm

Hosted by the John G. McCullough Free Library and Bennington Museum.

Magic: the Blathering

Ever wondered – what if magic were real, but it was kind of a pain? An inconvenient fact of life – like wild animals leaping from the forest into the road, right in the dull routine of your commute? Say some unforeseeable, paranormal circumstance availed itself of your world. And it occurred very locally, without fanfare, and – honestly, it was messing up your whole vibe? 

Great news for you! Artists have been hard at work on this question for years. They came up with Magic Realism; a genre of fiction that’s a bit like fantasy, a bit like science fiction, but really about how to live when the unexplainable shows up, and decides to stay. 

This winter, Bennington Museum and the John G. McCullough Free Library are hosting a Magic Realism book club, and we hope you’ll join us. We’ll have speakers from the world of literature and art, lively discussions, and we’ll delve into great tales by Shirley Jackson, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, John Cheever, Laura Esquivel, and Jo Walton, among others. We will also hold at least one film screening, and participants will be invited to a guided tour of the upcoming exhibition, Green Mountain Magic: Uncanny Realism in Vermont, once it is mounted.

There’s no fee to participate, so come join us – you’re sure to come away enlivened, wiser, weirder, and definitely enchanted.

Special Guests

January 14 – Bennington Museum curator, Jamie Franklin, joins the club for its first gathering. He will discuss Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Ghosts of Loiret” Jamie will curate Green Mountain Magic: Uncanny Realism in Vermont.

February 10 – Prof. Samantha Landau, University of Tokyo, Komaba

March 11 – Prof. Lena Retamoso Urbano, Bennington College Visiting Assistant Professor of Spanish. Prof. Urbano will discuss Marquez’s “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings,” and links between Latin American surrealism and magic realism generally

All meetings take place at The Prospect Street Writers House in North Bennington

Join the Club

To become a part of the Magic – the Blathering book club, email dmccaffery@benningtonmuseum.org.