Mason Hosts Reading from Book Against Gun Violence

Bullets into BellsBullets into Bells, a book of poems and prose calling for an end to gun violence in America, will be the focus of a reading on the Mason campus at 7:30pm on Thursday, April 5, in the Main Reading Room of Fenwick Library during the spring series New Leaves week.

The book includes poems by some of today's best known poets with responses in prose from an array of activists, victims and survivors of gun violence, as well as political figures. At the Mason event, Brian Clements, a poet and one of the anthology's editors, plus several contributors will be joined by Mason faculty and students in reading from and discussing the book.

Clements is the author most recently of A Book of Common Rituals, and he lives in Newtown, Connecticut, where his wife, a teacher, survived the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

From the back leaf of the book cover:

"Focused intensively on the crisis of gun violence in America, this volume brings together poems by dozens of our best-known poets, including Billy Collins, Patricia Smith, Natalie Diaz, Ocean Vuong, Danez Smith, Brenda Hillman, Natasha Trethwey, Robert Hass, Naomi Shihab Nye, Juan Felipe Herrera, Mark Doty, Rita Dove and Yusef Kpmunyakaa.

"Each poem is followed by a response from a gun violence prevention activist, political figure, survivor, or concerned individual, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jody Williams; Senator Christopher Murphy, Moms Demand Action founder Shannon Watts; survivors of the Columbine, Sandy Hook, Charleston Emmanuel AME and Virginia Tech shootings; and Samaria Rice, mother of Ramir Rice, and Lucy McBath, mother of Jordan Davis.

"The result is a stunning collection of poems and prose that speaks directly to the heart and a persuasive and moving testament for the urgent need for gun control."