The 2601 Salon

The Courses

Click any course to see its full syllabus, readings, and sessions.

A chronological journey from Indigenous voices and Puritan sermons to contemporary American writing — read slowly, together.

From Anne Bradstreet and Phillis Wheatley to Toni Morrison and Joy Harjo — a chronological reading of the women whose work makes the American canon whole.

Black, Latinx, Asian American, Native American, and immigrant voices — from Frederick Douglass to Ocean Vuong — read with the close attention they have always deserved.

Sholem Aleichem, Kafka, Singer, Primo Levi, Celan, Bellow, Malamud, Ozick, Paley, Amichai — a literature older than empires, read together.

Sixteen weeks of Irish writing — from the Táin and Swift to Yeats, Joyce, Heaney, Boland, and the contemporary moment. Personal territory for your instructor.

Each week pairs a primary historical document with the literary work answering it — the Declaration with Douglass, the 14th Amendment with Du Bois, the Pentagon Papers with O'Brien.

An unhurried introduction to poetry for anyone who has ever felt locked out of it. We read aloud, we sit with the lines, and we discover that a poem is not a code to crack.

Sixteen sonnets paired with sixteen of Shakespeare's most famous monologues — short, self-contained texts read aloud and discussed. No full plays, no homework dread.

Writing from a life — your own. We read masters of the form and we write by hand, in scene, with candor and craft.

Bring your pages. We will read them aloud, cut them, sharpen them, and send them out.

The literary magazine scene, cover letters and queries, agents, small presses, contests — the practical work of becoming a published writer, taught by a working writer and former editor.

A salon in short story, poetry, and memoir. Ten Sundays across the three great narrative forms — the course that gave the salon its name, now on the shelf beside the others.

A close-reading workshop on the last paragraph of the modern short story. Four Chekhov stories, read slowly, with attention to the ending Chekhov taught fiction how to make.

A close-reading weekend on the last pages of The Dead and on Molly Bloom's soliloquy at the end of Ulysses. Two of the most famous passages in modern English prose, read aloud and slowly.

Four Emerson essays read slowly — Nature, Self-Reliance, The American Scholar, and Circles. The founding voice of American thought, at the pace he asks to be read.

Emily Dickinson at close range — the dashes, the slant rhymes, the small rooms that hold whole universes. Twenty-four of her finest poems, unhurried.

Walden and Civil Disobedience, read as literature and as challenge. Three sessions in the cabin at the pond, one in the Concord jail.

Song of Myself in three unhurried passes, then the Civil War poems that gave Whitman his deepest music. Read aloud, always.

Six great American speeches close-read for their craft, rhetorical devices, and historical context. Washington's Farewell, Lincoln's Second Inaugural, FDR, JFK, Dr. King, and Reagan on the Challenger.

About This Salon

The 2601 Salon is a literary program of Silver Current Press — a working catalog of the courses Professor Mulhern is prepared to teach for adult readers and writers. Every course meets weekly for ninety minutes. There are no grades, no quizzes, and no prerequisites — only an invitation to sit with serious books, to talk about them in plain language, and to improve one's own writing along the way. These courses are about both literature and the craft of writing.

Each course is shaped the same way: a brief historical framing at the top of the hour, a passage read aloud, a guided discussion around four to six open questions, and an optional ten-minute writing prompt at the close. Any device with a browser suffices for in-class access to the readings. Writing in class, however, is always done by hand. We have found this matters.

Readings are open-access. Most are in the public domain and are linked from each course page; the remainder are available as free digital borrows through the Internet Archive.

About the Instructor

James F. Mulhern is a Philadelphia novelist and Professor Emeritus of English. His novel Give Them Unquiet Dreams received a Kirkus starred review and was named a Kirkus Best Book of 2019. He held a fully funded Writing Fellowship at Exeter College, University of Oxford; was nominated for a Pushcart Prize; and was shortlisted for the Aesthetica Creative Writing Award. He served as Department Chair in both English and Social Studies and as an AP Consultant for the College Board and the National Math and Science Initiative. He is the founder of Silver Current Press, a Philadelphia literary imprint. Full biography at authorjamesmulhern.com.

Formats & Availability

Courses are offered in three formats, and Professor Mulhern will adapt any of the courses in this catalog to fit a partner venue's calendar and audience.

• In person — at libraries, bookstores, community centers, universities, retirement communities, and literary nonprofits in the Philadelphia region and, on request, elsewhere in the Northeast.
• Online — by Zoom or comparable platform, to any group of adult readers anywhere.
• Hybrid — a combination of in-person sessions and online continuation, tailored to the host.

Full sixteen-session courses, four-session workshops, single evening talks, and one-day masterclasses are all available. Please write with your calendar and I will propose a shape that fits.

How to Enroll or Book a Course

Individual learners — if you would like to attend a course, express interest in a future session, or receive occasional announcements about new offerings, please write to me at [email protected]. There is no formal enrollment.

Program directors, librarians, and venue partners — if you host adult programming and would like to bring a course to your community, please write to [email protected]. Please include the venue, an approximate audience size, and a proposed date window; terms are set to fit the host.

Silver Current Press · Philadelphia · silvercurrentpress.com

Elsewhere on the Web

The 2601 Salon is one of several sites that make up Professor Mulhern's teaching and publishing work. Anyone wanting the fuller picture — books, philosophy of writing, press packet, related courses, and background — can start here.

Author & Press

• authorjamesmulhern.com — the author site: reviews, awards, credentials, and news.
• Press Packet — for journalists, program directors, and event bookers: Kirkus starred review, high-resolution author photo, cover images, bio in three lengths, contact.
• Philosophy of Writing — the author statement that sits under every course in this salon.
• Kirkus starred review of Give Them Unquiet Dreams, a Kirkus Best Book of 2019.
• Shelf Media Group interview on Molly Bonamici.

The Books

Novels, story collections, and poetry. Full catalog on Amazon; the pieces below are the ones a new reader is most likely to want to start with.

• Give Them Unquiet Dreams (novel, 2019) — Kirkus starred review; Kirkus Best Book of 2019; also available on Audible and Goodreads.
• Molly Bonamici (novel, 2016) — a dark comic mystery of Boston and South Florida; five-star review from Readers' Favorite; positively critiqued by Kirkus Reviews.
• A Prayer for Home (novelette, 2016) — praised by The Missouri Review for its “well-written, complex characters… and fantastic voice.”
• Assumptions and Other Stories (story collection, 2016) — five-star review from Readers' Favorite.
• Mia Bambina and Other Stories (story collection).
• About Aiden: Selected Stories (2018) — a compact selection of the Aiden stories.
• Blindfolded and Other Stories (story collection).
• Crossings (poetry chapbook) — poetry shortlisted for the Aesthetica Creative Writing Award 2021.
• See the full catalog on Amazon — including individual short stories, teaching guides, and back issues.

Related Courses

• The Art of Telling — the ten-session course that gave the salon its name.
• Because There Wasn't Time to Tell Everything — the companion site to The Art of Telling. Expanded biographies, close readings, historical context, answers to every discussion question, craft essays, and a downloadable sixty-eight-page Word booklet for readers who want to go deeper.
• How Chekhov Ends — a four-session close-reading workshop on the last paragraph of the modern short story.
• Joyce's Sentences — a two-session close-reading weekend on The Dead and Molly Bloom's soliloquy.

The Mulhern Library

• The Mulhern Library — Short Stories — a curated library of canonical short stories, with reading notes, discussion guides, and downloadable PDFs, suitable for salons, classrooms, and independent readers.

Publishing Guides for Writers

Student-facing guides for adult writers learning how contemporary publishing works. Each site includes a working guide, a downloadable PDF, model reading lists, and annotated craft studies from published work.

• Publishing Poetry — how to submit poems and chapbooks to literary magazines, contests, and small presses.
• Submitting Short Stories — the working submissions playbook for the short story: markets, cover letters, response times, and craft.
• Submitting Memoirs — a practical guide to essay, memoir excerpt, and full-manuscript submissions in creative nonfiction.

Press & Publishing

• Silver Current Press — the Philadelphia literary imprint behind these courses; services, catalog, and production notes.
• Press Kit — for journalists, program directors, and event bookers: high-resolution author photo, Kirkus starred review, cover images, bio in three lengths, contact.
• Shelf Media Group interview on Molly Bonamici.

About the Use of These Materials

Everything on this site — course descriptions, reading lists, syllabi, discussion questions, session pages, revision checklists, and The Mulhern Library — was written and designed by James F. Mulhern for Silver Current Press.

Readers are always welcome to read, print, share, and quote these pages for their own study and enjoyment. That is what the site is for.

Teachers, program directors, and institutions who would like to use any of it in a classroom, syllabus, publication, or paid program are asked to write first — a short email is enough. The answer will almost always be a warm yes, with a note on attribution. Please contact Professor Mulhern at [email protected].

"A book is a heart that only beats in the chest of another."

— Rebecca Solnit