Upcoming Events
Gloucester's Acropolis | Events Calendar |
Email Notices
If you would like to be kept up-to-date about JBS activities, please subscribe to the JBS email list, as the calendar on this page doesn't provide complete information. (Click on an event name for a few details, including how to register.)
Zoom Reading Group
We welcome all who are interested to attend our friendly online reading group. No prior knowledge of Bayliss's writing is required.
Currently each session is devoted to a chapter in the novel Gloucesterbook, which takes place in the "Cape Gloucester" of the 1960s. The hour usually includes an overview of the chapter followed by passages read aloud by volunteers.
Register via the calendar on this page to receive a link for the upcoming monthly session.
2026 Centenary Events to Date
Note that our YouTube site contains recordings of many past JBS events.
April 2026 - Oaks, the Tower, and Bayliss at Mt. Auburn Cemetery
On April 17, a group met at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, where Bayliss and his mother's family's graves are located. David Bowditch, Bayliss's nephew, gave a short talk about the relatives buried in the family plot, following which Mount Auburn's Dennis Collins led a tour of a few of the cemetery's oldest oak trees (oaks are frequently mentioned in Bayliss's novels, and Bayliss played under the cemetery's oaks as a child). Most of the group then climbed the 62-foot Washington Tower and were lucky to see Boston for a few minutes before mist obscured the view. Back at ground level, the weather improved and there was time to wander around Mount Auburn's beautiful grounds and check out some of the famous monuments.
March 2026 - Herman Melville and His Admirers Bayliss and Olson
Our March 20 program at Harvard's Houghton Library included short talks about the enthusiasm Jonathan Bayliss and Charles Olson shared for the works of Herman Melville. On display were precious materials from Houghton's archives, including selected Bayliss and Olson materials as well as a journal Melville kept in 1857 while traveling by ship through the Mediterranean to Palestine. After an introduction by Leslie Morris, Houghton's Gore Vidal Curator of Modern Books and Manuscripts, there were talks by Paul McGeary, a founding JBS member ("Beyond the Veil: Bayliss's Dromenology and Melville's Unfathomable Sea," read aloud by Michael O'Leary); John Day, JBS Board member ("Melville, Olson, Harvard"); and Wyn Kelley, a Melville scholar recently retired from MIT ("'To See and Touch the Stones You Live Among': Jonathan Bayliss as Reader of Melville"). Michael O'Leary read and sang excerpts from Melville's very long poem Clarel. The three talks will appear in the Bayliss Society Notebook sent to JBS members in September 2026.
February 2026 - The Seagull: Bayliss's Favorite Bird
Seagulls, sometimes referred to as "angels," are mentioned scores of times in Bayliss's works. On February 10, 2026, the JBS hosted an online program, "The Seagull: Bayliss's Favorite Bird," with illustrated talks by Martin Ray and Trina Smith. The program was videotaped a few days later and is available on YouTube.
January 2026 - The Gloucesterman Adventure: Jonathan Bayliss and Schooner Adventure at 100
On January 26, 2026, the JBS joined with Schooner Adventure, a Gloucester nonprofit, to present an hour-long program at Sawyer Free Library about Gloucester's flagship, the schooner Adventure, which was launched in 1926, the year Bayliss was born. Schooner Adventure's director, Emily Pearce, presented an illustrated history of Adventure and discussed its continuing importance today. Passages about schooners from Bayliss's fiction were read by JBS Board member John Day and Schooner Adventure Board member Ken Riaf.
Prior JBS eventsSeptember 2025 conference - Gloucester Harbor - The Soul of Cape Ann September 2024 Conference - Granite and the Sea September 2023 Conference - Walking GloucesterSeptember 2022 Conference - Celebrating Dogtown Common: A Special Place June 2022 Special Event - A Cambridge Kid in the '30s and '40s September 2021 Conference - Rocky Neck and more September 2019 Conference - Readings by David Rich and Ken Riaf relating to downtown "Dogtown" Also ...A video of a September 2015 reading on labor-related themes in the novel Prologos is on YouTube, courtesy of the Gloucester Writers Center. Readers were David Adams, Peter Anastas, Thorpe Feidt, Henry Ferrini, Doug Guidry, Victoria Bayliss Mattingly, Martin Ray, Ken Riaf, and David Rich. On Bayliss's birthday, September 7, 2013, the Gloucester Lyceum and Sawyer Free Library sponsored "Dogtown's Acropolis," a reading with commentary by Peter Anastas and David Rich. See the video recording. A 1990 student production of Bayliss's stage play The Tower of Gilgamesh is available on the JBS YouTube channel. |