Sep. 3 Documentary Screening at the Cambridge Public Library –– Grolier Poetry Book Shop: The Last Sacred Place of Poetry

Weiying Olivia Huang, Director/Producer (left), and Mengyuan Lin, Cinematographer/Editor (right) (CREDIT: Ru Fang)

Sep. 3 Documentary Screening at the Cambridge Public Library –– Grolier Poetry Book Shop: The Last Sacred Place of Poetry

Article by Meia Geddes

Filmmaker Weiying Olivia Huang’s beautiful documentary featuring the Grolier Poetry Book Shop, “the last sacred place of poetry,” will be screened at the Cambridge Public Library this Tuesday, September 3^rd at 6:30 p.m., followed by a discussion between Huang, director and producer of the film, and local poet-publisher Doug Holder.

The Grolier, the oldest continuously running bookshop dedicated to poetry in America, is a light-filled room beloved by countless bookish souls. It has been frequented by well-known poets and writers including T.S. Eliot, Elizabeth Bishop, e.e. cummings, Robert Lowell, Anaïs Nin, and Seamus Heaney. This, coupled with the shock and sadness accompanying long-time owner Ifeanyi Menkiti’s unexpected death this past June 17, 2019, lends the documentary a certain gravitas.

Yet there is a kind of lightness that lifts the spirit, as well –– Huang captures her subjects’ love for poetry and poetry’s power to change the world with a quiet, urgent energy. The film is, in essence, serenely invigorating, in a way that makes one want to go buy and write books, and support those who do.

“This store as a cultural place belongs to all of us. So the thing for me is to make sure that we can keep it open,” says Menkiti, a poet and professor who bought the Grolier in 2006 to save it from closing and ensured its continued survival despite difficult finances. Menkiti’s kind aura and belief in uniting people through poetry makes for an uplifting time spent in this magical place. Watching the film, one senses the welcoming, open atmosphere fostered at the shop, which continues on to this day.

There is a lovely, unassuming accuracy to the documentary that warms the heart: long shots of customers browsing shelves of books, animated readings, those cordial-yet-somehow-intimate interactions at the cash register, local small-town gossip. Huang has an eye for lighting, living in the moment, and letting us, as viewers, linger on with those moments.

Those featured in the documentary include Menkiti and his wife, Carol Menkiti; staff Elizabeth Doran and Celia Muto; and local poets including Susan Barba, Doug Holder, Ben Mazer, Patrick Sylvain, and Gloria Mindock.

The footage Huang has captured is of immeasurable value to those of us in Cambridge, Boston, and beyond, who care for the Grolier and our literary destinations in general. It also serves as a reminder to support our local shops. “I want to make sure the bookstore continues for the next generation,” says Huang.

Many stores in Harvard Square alone have had to close their doors: Schoenhof’s Foreign Books, founded in 1856, closed its brick-and-mortar store in 2017 due to high rents and online competition. Crema Café, at Brattle Street, closed in 2018 after having trouble securing a new lease. The Menkiti family plans to continue keeping the shop open for the foreseeable future. I hope we can support their efforts as a community.

It is splendid what one room –– for it is a room, beloved and renown –– can do for the being. That Huang could create a documentary featuring this room and just some of the many folk who frequent it speaks both to her skills as a filmmaker and the way this humble, historic place has made it into our hearts.

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Weiying Olivia Huang (Director/Producer) is from Guandong, China, and lives in Cambridge. She holds a master’s in Digital Media from Northeastern University and currently is working on a documentary featuring graffiti artists at “Modica Way,” located at Central Square in Cambridge, thanks to a grant from the Cambridge Arts Council. Her first documentary, “Grolier Poetry Book Shop: The Last Sacred Place of Poetry,” has been screened at the Massachusetts Independent Film Festival, Barcelona Planet Film Festival, World Premiere Film Awards, North Beach Film Festival, Alternative Film Festival, and others.

Mengyuan Lin (Cinematographer/Editor) has edited numerous documentaries and features including “Grolier Poetry Book Shop.” She received her B.A. from Communication University of China and her master’s degree in Digital Media from Northeastern University. She works as a TV Conductor at Sinovision in New York.

Disclosure: Meia Geddes is friends with Huang –– thanks to the Grolier. Additionally, her books are sold at the Grolier and she assisted Huang with subtitles for the documentary.