Free Poetry Reading At the Mason Library

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — Friends of Great Barrington Libraries and the Board of Library Trustees invites the community to a free poetry reading at the Mason Library on Saturday, Aug. 29, 2026 from 4 -6 pm. 

Poets Jan Conn and Orchid Tierney will read from their works. 

Wine, cider and food provided by the Friends of Great Barrington Libraries.

About the poets

Jan Conn is a poet, biologist, and visual artist. Peony Vertigo is her most recent book. The Disruptive Ordinary, a chapbook, is forthcoming this autumn. Her visual art is represented by Lauren Clark Fine Art Gallery in Great Barrington. She recently retired as Professor and Research Scientist with the New York State Department of Health and SUNY-Albany.

Orchid Tierney is a poet and scholar, originally from New Zealand. She is the author of This Abattoir Is a College and A Year of Misreading the Wildcats as well as several chapbooks including Pedagogies for the Planthroposcene. She co-edited the Routledge Companion to Ecopoetics. She teaches at Kenyon College in Ohio and is a senior editor at the Kenyon Review.

The OtherWords reading series, co-curated by Michael Gottlieb and Evelyn Reilly, is sponsored by Friends of Great Barrington Libraries and the Board of Library Trustees. Friends of the GB Libraries sponsors events and programs to bring community members together with library resources.

Mason Library, 231 Main Street, Great Barrington, for more information call (413) 528-2403.

Units Available at Lee's New Eagle Mill Housing Development

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
01:57PM / Tuesday, October 27, 2026

It's took more than a decade to bring the Eagle Lofts to fruition in the former Eagle mill. 

LEE, Mass. — Hearthway wants community members to know there are three-bedroom units available at The Lofts at Eagle Mill with little to no waitlist. 

The apartments at 73 West Center St. recently came online in the historic building on the banks of the Housatonic River after more than a decade of work. The first tenants began moving in last week. 

Three-bedroom units are less than $2,000 per month for those who meet income requirements. 

"These units are $1,855 a month with hot water included. To qualify, applicants must be under the 60 percent AMI income limit by household size and be able to afford the rent," the affordable housing provider wrote in a communication on Monday. 

"Mobile vouchers are welcomed."

A ribbon was cut at the former paper mill over the summer for 56 one- to three-bedroom, mixed-income units in the heart of downtown. 

According to a chart provided by Hearthway, 60 percent area median income is $55,320 per year for a one person household, $63,240 a year for a two-person household, $71,160 a year for a three-person household, and $79,020 a year for a four-person household. 

Applications are available in English and Spanish. They can submitted via email to leasing@hearthway.org, drop off to the main office at 1 Fenn St in Pittsfield, fax to 413-403-2710, or USPS mail to P.O. Box 1180, Pittsfield, MA 01202-1180.