Britt Kaufmann ’96 to read newly released poetry book

What: Poetry reading from “Midlife Calculus,” a new book by Britt Kaufmann ’96

When: Tuesday, Oct. 1, from 7:30 – 8:30 p.m.

Location: Koinonia Room, College Mennonite Church

Tickets: Free and open to the public

When Britt Kaufmann ’96 graduated from Goshen College with an English Education degree, she didn’t anticipate becoming a math tutor in the Appalachian Mountains of Western North Carolina. Nor, when she decided to take calculus for the first time at age 47 so she could cross it off her bucket list, did she expect it to result in book of poetry. But when she found herself writing poems in the margins of her math homework, she thought maybe she would have enough for a full-length collection. Midlife Calculus, which will launch on September 6 at the Carolina Mountains Literary Festival, is that collection.

The poems are filled with math terms and equations, but also acknowledge the difficulties of transitions—both the ones high school students experience and the ones in midlife. “Calculus is the study of how things change,” Kaufmann says, “which is what I was feeling as I approached my empty-nest years and what I was seeing in students preparing to be adults. The challenge of learning calculus, something difficult and new, made her more sympathetic toward struggling students.

Kaufmann finds her ability to express herself through story or metaphor helpful when explaining new math concepts to students. “I try to make connections,” she said. “That’s part of the beauty of a liberal arts education: the ability to make connections across disciplines. Sometimes that ends up being math poetry.”

Many of the poems in the book have been previously published in literary journals and math/science magazines. Most notably, the title poem “Midlife Calculus” appeared in the February ’24 issue of Scientific American, the same month that Kaufmann turned 50.

Midlife Calculus will be available for purchase at Fables Books in Goshen where she will be a part of October’s First Friday Author Meet & Greet (6-8 pm). Goshen College will also host a public reading and Q&A on October 1 at 7:30 pm in the Koinonia Room. Kaufmann will also sign books at Goshen College’s Alumni Weekend celebration on Saturday. More information is available at brittkaufmann.com.