The 22nd Annual Brattleboro Literary Festival will span three days with renowned Literary Artists in downtown Brattleboro, October 13 – 15, 2023.
The Brattleboro Literary Festival is a three-day annual festival founded in 2002. The festival has grown from year to year to become one of the region’s most significant annual events, drawing more tourists, more sponsors and has presented over 900 authors, including winners of the Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, National Book Critics Circle Award, Women’s Prize, Newbery Medal and Caldecott Medal, among others. Saul Bellow appeared at the very first festival in 2002…it was to be his last public appearance. He was a part-time resident of the area. Past festivals have featured authors such as Julia Alvarez, Russell Banks, Saul Bellow, Ken Burns, Teju Cole, Anthony Doerr, Mark Doty, Joseph Ellis, Julia Glass, John Irving, Tracy Kidder, Paul Krugman, Min Jin Lee, Ada Limón, Colum McCann, Claire Messud, Dinaw Mengestu, Paul Muldoon, Sigrid Nunez, Grace Paley, Gregory Pardlo, Tom Perrotta, Robert Pinsky, Richard Russo, Dani Shapiro, Elizabeth Strout, Isabel Wilkerson, and many, many more.
The Brattleboro area has a strong history of writing and publishing. In addition to Saul Bellow, authors Rudyard Kipling, John Irving, Mary Wilkins Freeman, Lucy Terry Prince, and many more called the area home. In 2020 we added a monthly virtual event called A Literary Cocktail Hour which has featured writers such as Jay Parini, Ruth Ozeki, Tess Gunty, David Maraniss, Maud Newton, and many more. We look forward to continuing to grow the festival and celebrating the area’s rich literary history.
Schedule of Events
Friday Night – October 13, 2023
Friday the 13th with Margot Douaihy, Jennifer McMahon and Michael Ruhlman
- 7:00-8:30 pm
- 22 High Street
- Cash bar (beer & wine)
What scares us? And why do we like to be scared?? Join us on Friday 13th to explore this topic with three writers that have three very different mysteries. In Margot Douaihy’s Scorched Grace, Sister Holiday, a chain-smoking, heavily tattooed, queer nun, puts her amateur sleuthing skills to the test in a bold series for Gillian Flynn Books that breathes new life into the hard-boiled genre. Jennifer McMahon’s My Darling Girl is a spine-tingling psychological thriller about a woman who, after inviting her dying, alcoholic mother into her Vermont home, begins to suspect demonic possession is haunting her family. And Michael Ruhlman’s book is one that he both edited and contributed to…Cleveland Noir…a classic collection of urban noir stories that take place in the dark underside of Cleveland.
Diana Whitney and Cate Marvin
- 7:00-9:00 pm
- Epsilon Spires
Cate Marvin is the author of four collections of poetry. Her first book, World’s Tallest Disaster earned the Kate Tufts Discovery Award. Marvin is Professor of English at the College of Staten Island and she lives in Scarborough, Maine.
Diana Whitney writes across genres with a focus on feminism, motherhood, and sexuality. She is the editor of the bestselling anthology You Don’t Have to Be Everything, winner of the Claudia Lewis Award. She lives in Brattleboro.
Saturday – October 14, 2023
Difficult Discussions — Catherine Newman and Laura Zigman
- 9:30 am
- 118 Elliot
Catherine Newman’s We All Want Impossible Things is the story of Edith and Ashley. They’ve been best friends for over forty-two years, shared the mundane and the momentous together: trick or treating and binge drinking; Gilligan’s Island reruns and REM concerts; hickeys and heartbreak; surprise Scottish wakes; marriages, infertility, and children.
Laura Zigman is the author of six novels, including Animal Husbandry (made into the movie “Someone Like You,” starring Hugh Jackman and Ashley Judd) and her new book, Small World. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Family Truths — Maud Newton and Liz Scheier
- 9:30 am
- 22 High Street
Maud Newton is the author of Ancestor Trouble: A Reckoning and a Reconciliation, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. She is married to the artist Maximus Clarke and lives in New York City.
Liz Scheier is a former Penguin Random House editor and is now a product developer living in Washington, D.C., with her husband, two small children, and an ill-behaved cat. Never Simple is her first book.
Live to See the Day — Nikhil Goyal with Bob Parks
- 9:30 am
- Centre Church
Nikhil Goyal is the author of Live to See the Day: Coming of Age in American Poverty. He served as senior policy advisor on education and children for Chairman Senator Bernie Sanders. He lives in Vermont.
Bob Parks is a curriculum developer, writer, and designer for the App Inventor team at MIT. Previously a senior editor at Wired magazine, he lives in Brattleboro.
This Body I Wore — Diana Goetsch
- 10:00 am
- Epsilon Spires
Diana Goetsch is an American poet and essayist and the author of eight poetry collections and a new book, the acclaimed memoir This Body I Wore. She lives in New York City.
Contemporary Shorts — Alejandro Varela and Kathleen Alcott
- 118 Elliot
- 11:00 am
Kathleen Alcott was born in 1988 in Northern California. She is the author of the novels America Was Hard to Find, Infinite Home and The Dangers of Proximal Alphabets. She lives in New York and California.
Alejandro Varela is a writer based in New York. His debut novel, The Town of Babylon, was a finalist for the 2022 National Book Award. His new story collection, People Who Report More Stress, was published in April.
Two Sides of Friendship — Jonathan Rosen and Will Schwalbe
- 22 High Street
- 11:00 am
Jonathan Rosen is the author of two novels and two nonfiction books. His new book is The Best Minds: A Story of Friendship, Madness, and the Tragedy of Good Intentions. He lives with his family in New York City.
Will Schwalbe is currently an editor at Macmillan. He is the New York Times best-selling author of three books of nonfiction, including We Should Not Be Friends, and co-author of another. He lives in New York City with his husband, David Cheng.
We Have Been Here Before – Robert Watson
- 11:00 am
- Centre Church
Robert Watson is a historian and political commentator with over 40 books to his name. He is the political analyst for WPTV 5 (NBC) in south Florida and is a professor at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida.
Coyotes, Cockroaches, and Justice: Building a Book for Young People — Charlene Allen and Dayna Lorentz
- Brooks Memorial Library
- 11:00 am
Charlene Allen works with community organizations to heal trauma and fight injustice. She lives in Brooklyn with her fabulous family and their very silly dog. Play the Game is her debut novel.
Dayna Lorentz is the author of Wayward Creatures and other children’s books. A staff attorney with the Vermont Judiciary, she lives with her husband, two kids, and two cats in Vermont.
Roots, Rock and the Apocalypse — Sarah Audsley and Franny Choi
- 11:30 am
- Epsilon Spires
Sarah Audsley is the author of a poetry collection Landlock X. A Korean American adoptee, and a graduate of the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College, Audsley lives and works in northern Vermont.
Franny Choi is a queer, Korean American writer who works at the intersections of race, gender, technology, history, and the speculative imagination. They are the author of three books and live in Massachusetts.
Between Two Worlds — Patricia Park and Jennifer De Leon
- 12:30 pm
- 118 Elliot
Patricia Park was born and raised in New York City. A former Fulbright Scholar and Emerging Writer Fellow at the Center for Fiction, she is the author of a novel and a new young adult novel. She lives in Brooklyn, NY.
Jennifer De Leon is author of the YA novel Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From and a new YA book, Borderless, plus an essay collection. Jennifer lives outside of Boston with her husband and two sons.
The Beauty of Art — Jill Bialosky and Patrick Bringley
- 12:30 pm
- 22 High Street
Jill Bialosky is the author of six collections of poetry, three novels, and two memoirs. She is executive editor and vice president at W. W. Norton and Company. She lives in New York City.
Patrick Bringley worked for a decade as a guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, then wrote his memoir about that experience . He lives in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, with his wife and two children.
Rough Sleepers — Tracy Kidder with Robbie Gamble
- 12:30 pm
- Centre Church
Tracy Kidder has won the Pulitzer Prize, and the National Book Award for Soul of a New Machine, and many other literary prizes. He is the author of twelve books including Rough Sleepers and he lives in Massachusetts and Maine.
Robbie Gamble is the Poetry Editor for Solstice. He worked for twenty years as a nurse practitioner with Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program and now divides his time between Boston and Vermont.
Sincerely Yours — Chen Chen and Brian Turner
- 1:00 pm
- Epsilon Spires
Chen Chen is the author of two books of poetry, including his new collection Your Emergency Contact Has Experienced an Emergency. He lives with his partner, Jeff Gilbert, and their pug, Mr. Rupert Giles.
Brian Turner is the author of five collections of poetry. A musician, he has also written and recorded several albums. He lives in Orlando, Florida, with his dog, Dene, the world’s sweetest golden retriever.
American Ramble — Neil King, Jr. with Tom Bodett
- 2:00 pm
- 22 High Street
Neil King Jr. is a former national political reporter and editor for the Wall Street Journal. American Ramble: A Walk of Memory and Renewal is his first book. He lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife.
Tom Bodett made his national broadcasting debut in 1984 on NPR’s evening news program All Things Considered. He has been the brand spokesman for the Motel 6 lodging chain for 35 years.
Alternate Worlds — Kelly Link and Holly Black
- 2:00 pm
- 118 Elliott
Kelly Link is the author of the collections White Cat, Black Dog and four other collections including Get in Trouble. She lives with her husband and daughter, as well as a dog and some chickens in Northampton, Massachusetts.
Holly Black is the #1 NYT bestselling author of fantasy novels including the Novels of Elfhame and Spiderwick Chronicles. She currently lives in New England with her husband and son in a house with a secret library.
On Patriarchy — Angela Saini with Carrie Baker
- 2:00 pm
- Centre Church
Angela Saini is an award-winning British science journalist and broadcaster. She is the author of three books of nonfiction— her new book is The Patriarchs: The Origins of Inequality. She lives in New York.
Carrie Baker is the Sylvia Dlugasch Bauman Chair of American Studies and Professor of the Study of Women and Gender; Chair, Study of Women and Gender at Smith College.
Martha Collins and Enzo Silon Surin
- 2:30 pm
- Epsilon Spires
Martha Collins has published eleven volumes of poetry, most recently Casualty Reports And Because What Else Could I Do. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Enzo Silon Surin is an award-winning Haitian-born poet. He is the author of four collections of poetry, including his newest American Scapegoat. He lives in Boston.
A View From the Natural World — Henry Hoke and Tom Comitta
- 3:30 pm
- 118 Elliott
Tom Comitta is the author of O, Airport Novella, and First Thought Worst Thought: Collected Books 2011–2014. Their new critically acclaimed novel is The Nature Book. They live in Brooklyn.
Henry Hoke is an editor at The Offing and the author of a new novel, Open Throat, He has taught at CalArts and the UVA Young Writers Workshop and he lives in New York City.
Coffee, Tea, or…Cocktails? — Ann Hood and Michael Ruhlman
- 3:30 pm
- 22 High Street
Ann Hood is the author of over a dozen novels, and three memoirs, including her recent memoir, Fly Girl, and her new middle grade book, Clementine. She divides her time between Providence, RI and New York City.
Michael Ruhlman is the author of nine nonfiction books, one collection of novellas, and eight cookbooks; and is the co-author of ten other cookbooks, including The French Laundry Cookbook. Michael lives in New York City and Providence, RI.
Easy Beauty — Chloé Cooper Jones with Lissa Weinmann
- 3:30 pm
- Centre Church
Chloe Cooper Jones is a contributing writer at The New York Times Magazine. Her new memoir Easy Beauty was a 2023 Pulitzer finalist. She lives in Brooklyn, New York with her family.
Lissa Weinmann is a producer, writer and partner of 118 Elliot, a Downtown community gallery and performance space that promotes arts and education in Brattleboro.
Different Kinds of Fruit — Kyle Lukoff
- 3:30 pm
- Brooks Memorial Library
Kyle Lukoff is the author of many books for young readers. His middlegrade novel, Too Bright To See, received a Newbery honor, and was a National Book Award finalist. He lives in New York City.
Prose Poetry Panel — Nin Andrews, Denise Duhamel, Jeff Friedman, Henry Walters
- 4:00 pm
- Epsilon Spires
Nin Andrews is the author of seven full-length poetry collections including The Last Orgasm. She lives on a farm in Charlottesville, Virginia with her husband, cows, coyotes, and many bears.
Denise Duhamel is a distinguished university professor in the MFA program at Florida International University in Miami. She is the author of eight collections of poetry including Second Story.
Jeff Friedman’s poems, mini stories and translations have appeared in many publications. His newest book is The Marksman and he co-wrote The House of Grana Padano with Meg Pokrass. He lives in New Hampshire.
Henry Walters is the author of two books of poetry. He is also the translator from Italian of Enrico Testa’s Ablativo, He lives in New Hampshire with his young family, a hawk, and a hive of bees.
The Green Writers Press 10th Anniversary Reading and Celebration
- 5:00 pm
- 118 Elliot
The Green Writers Press 10th Anniversary Reading, hosted by GWP author and Brattleboro Literary Festival committee member Tim Weed, will include poetry, nonfiction and fiction from a selection of GWP’s award-winning authors. We will have hors d’oeuvres and libations, along with a special audiobook launch from Brattleboro’s own Peter Gould and Guilford Sound’s David Snyder.
Green Writers Press, an independent, women-owned, Brattleboro-based publishing company, is dedicated to spreading environmental awareness and social justice by publishing authors who promulgate messages of hope and renewal through place-based writing, racial justice, and environmental activism. The press’ mission is to spread a message of hope and renewal through the words and images we publish. Throughout we adhere to our commitment to preserving and protecting the natural resources of the earth. Green Writers Press has published authors such as Julia Alvarez, John Elder, Dr. M Jackson, Madeleine Kunin, Congresswoman Becca Balint, Sharyn Skeeter, and Clarence Major. GWP was part of the Women’s Convention in 2017, was a finalist for AWP’s Publisher of the Year Award, and received The Vermont Literary Inspiration Award in 2019. In June 2023, founder Dede Cummings appeared on “The Innovation Station,” at the Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues (S/GWI) at the U.S. Department of State.
Authors who will be reading short excerpts include:
- Alcy Leyva is a Bronx-born multi-genre writer whose debut fiction is the silent, subtle, ever-present perils of life. In his YA novel, we meet Maji, a Black boy from the Bronx haunted by racial injustice. He is the author of two books in the Shades of Hell series—And Then There Were Crows and And Then There Were Dragons—and his short stories have appeared in the award-winning anthologies A Midnight Clear and Dead of Winter. He currently lives and teaches in New York City.
- Bethany Breitland was born in northern Indiana. Her people are cult members, truckers, doctors, child-mothers, and business tycoons. Breitland earned her undergraduate degree from Pepperdine University, and her MFA from Vermont College of the Fine Arts. As an educator and activist, she has worked for over 20 years concerning women’s rights and the LGBTQ community. Recipient of various poetry prizes including winner of the Sundog Poetry Prize) is her first full length book of poems. She lives with her children and her partner, Michael, outside of Burlington, Vermont.
- Chuck Collins is a campaigner and storyteller who has worked for decades on environmental and economic justice campaigns. He is the Director of the Program on Inequality and the Common Good at the Institute for Policy Studies where he co-edits Inequality.org. He is also co-founder of DivestInvest.org, a global movement to divest from fossil fuels and invest in climate solutions; and trustee of the Post-Carbon Institute and Resilience.org. Author of five previous books, The Wealth Hoarders, Born on Third Base, Bringing Wealth Home, Committing to the Common Good and, with Bill Gates Sr., Wealth and Our Commonwealth. His new book, Altar to an Erupting Sun is his first novel. He lives with his family in Guilford, Vermont.
- Jen Ellis was a teacher and crafter when the mittens she sewed for Senator Bernie Sanders became the inspiration for millions of memes. Originally from South Portland, Maine, Ellis’s teaching career spanned nearly two decades in the public schools of North Carolina and Vermont. She is a songwriter, beekeeper, and crafter of the occasional pair of mittens for local non-profit fundraisers. She is currently pursuing a Master’s in Counseling from the University of Vermont. Bernie’s Mitten Maker is her debut publication. Ellis lives in Vermont with her wife and daughter.
- Katherine MacLean, Ph.D. is a neuroscientist with expertise in studying the effects of mindfulness meditation and psychedelics on cognitive performance, emotional well-being, spirituality, and brain function. As a research fellow and faculty member at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, she conducted clinical trials of psilocybin, the primary chemical found in “magic mushrooms,” and other psychedelic compounds. Dr. MacLean co-founded and directed the first center for psychedelic education and training in New York, was featured in the New Yorker article entitled “The Trip Treatment” by Michael Pollan, and her TED Talk has been viewed nearly fifty thousand times. Her new book is Midnight Water: A Psychedelic Memoir.
- Christine Davis Merriman is a Maryland-based author whose autofiction recounts and re-examines what it has been like, from the inside-out, growing up and living through the second half of the twentieth century and beyond. As a counterpoint to reports and commentary from news media and historians, she captures one woman’s unique perspective of an era that carries great impact even as it draws to a close in Traveling a Slant Rhyme: 1973-’74. She lives with her husband, Jack, in a 1930 farmhouse.
- T.J. Weed is the author of two books: a short fiction collection, A Field Guide to Murder and Fly Fishing, named to the Eric Hoffer Book Award Grand Prize Shortlist, and a novel, Will Poole’s Island, one of Bank Street College of Education’s Best Books of the Year. Weed is the winner of multiple Writer’s Digest Fiction Awards and has been shortlisted for the Tobias Wolff Award for Fiction, the Fish International Short Story Award, and the Prism Prize in Climate Literature. Weed serves on the core faculty of the Newport MFA in Creative Writing and is the co-founder of the Cuba Writers Program. He holds a BA in Spanish from Middlebury College, a master’s in international affairs from the University of California, and an MFA in Creative Writing from Warren Wilson College. Based in southern Vermont, Weed is a member of the Vermont Humanities Council Speakers’ Bureau and frequently appears at writing conferences in the U.S. and abroad.
Sunday – October 15, 2023
Dirt Poor — Idra Novey and Asale Angel-Ajani
- 11:00 am
- Epsilon Spires
Asale Angel-Ajani is the author of A Country You Can Leave and Strange Trade: The Story of Two Women Who Risked Everything in The International Drug Trade. She lives in New York City.
Idra Novey is the award-winning author of two previous novels and a new novel, Take what You Need. She teaches at Princeton University and in the MFA Program at New York University.
Omega Farm — Martha Martha McPhee with Robin Marie MacArthur
- 11:00 am
- Brooks Memorial Library
Martha McPhee is the author of the new memoir, Omega Farm. The author of five acclaimed novels, she lives in New York City with her children and husband, the poet and writer Mark Svenvold.
Robin Marie MacArthur lives on the hillside farm where she was born in southern Vermont. Her debut collection of short stories, Half Wild, won the 2017 PEN New England award for fiction.
Madeleine May Kunin and Richard Michelson
- 11:00 am
- 118 Elliot
Madeleine May Kunin was the first woman to be elected governor of Vermont, and also served as the U.S. Ambassador to Switzerland. She is the author of two books of poetry, and lives in Shelburne, Vermont.
Richard Michelson is the author of three collections of poetry and nineteen books for children. The former Poet Laureate of Northampton, he hosts a poetry radio program and owns R. Michelson Galleries.
Missing — Angie Kim and Jean Kwok
- 1:00 pm
- Epsilon Spires
Angie Kim moved as a preteen from Seoul, South Korea, to the suburbs of Baltimore. She is the author of the new novel, Happiness Falls. Angie Kim lives in northern Virginia with her family.
Jean Kwok is the New York Times bestselling author of Girl in Translation and Mambo in Chinatown. Her new book is The Leftover Woman. She divides her time between the Netherlands and New York City.
A Traveler’s Guide to the End of the World — David Gessner with Bill Roorbach
- 1:00 pm
- Brooks Memorial Library
David Gessner is the author of thirteen books of memoir and the environment, His new book is A Traveler’s Guide to the End of the World. He lives in North Carolina with his wife, the novelist Nina de Gramont.
Bill Roorbach is the author of six books of fiction including Lucky 32 Turtle. He lives in Farmington, Maine, where he writes full time and lives with his family.
Ewa Chrusciel and Charles Coe
- 1:00 pm
- 118 Elliot
Ewa Chrusciel is a poet, translator, and educator. She has four books of poems in English, as well as three in Polish and other translated selections. She is a Professor of Humanities at Colby-Sawyer College.
Charles Coe is the author of four poetry collections including the new Purgatory Road. In addition to his work as a writer, Charles has an extensive background as a jazz vocalist. He lives in Cambridge, MA.
Circumstances of Life — Andre Dubus III and Mary Beth Keane
- 2:30 pm
- Epsilon Spires
Andre Dubus III is the author of six books of fiction including his new novel, Such Kindness and two memoirs. He lives in Massachusetts with his wife, Fontaine, a modern dancer, and their three children.
Mary Beth Keane is the author of four novels, including Ask Again, Yes, which spent eight weeks on the New York Times Best Seller List and her new book, The Half Moon. She lives in New York.
The Undertow — A Slow Civil War — Jeff Sharlet
- 2:30 pm
- Brooks Memorial Library
Jeff Sharlet is the New York Times best-selling author or editor of nine books including The Undertow. He is the Frederick Sessions Beebe ’35 Professor in the Art of Writing at Dartmouth College and lives in Vermont in the woods with many animals.
Leah McGrath Goodman is an author and freelance journalist who has worked in New York City and London. Author of two books, she is best known for her investigative journalism.
Oliver de la Paz and Baron Wormser
- 2:30 pm
- 118 Elliot
Oliver de la Paz is the Poet Laureate of Worcester, MA for 2023-2025. He is the author and editor of seven books including his latest, The Diaspora Sonnets. He lives in Worcester with his wife and three sons.
Baron Wormser is the author of twenty books including novels, a memoir, a book of short stories, and many books of poetry. He is the founder of the Frost Place Conference on Poetry and Teaching and resides in Montpelier, Vermont.
Coming of Age — Daisy Alpert Florin & Allegra Goodman
- 4:00 pm
- Epsilon Spires
Daisy Alpert Florin is the author of the novel My Last Innocent Year. She attended Dartmouth College, and received a graduate degree from Columbia University. She lives in Connecticut with her family.
Allegra Goodman is the author of six novels including her newest novel, Sam, two collections of short stories and a novel for younger readers. Raised in Honolulu, she lives with her family in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Seeing Life — Peter Orner and Pam Petro
- 4:00 pm
- Brooks Memorial Library
Peter Orner is the author of two novels, three story collections, two collections of essays. He is the director of creative writing at Dartmouth College and lives with his family in Norwich, Vermont.
Pamela Petro is an author, artist and educator living in Northampton. MA. She has written three place-based creative nonfiction books. Her new book is The Long Field, a memoir of Wales.
Write Action Spotlight Reading
- 4:00 pm
- 118 Elliot
Brattleboro’s vibrant writing community will be featured at the Write Action Spotlight Reading. The Spotlight Reading consists of ten-minute readings by local authors who have published a noteworthy book in the past year.
The 2023 Brattleboro Literary Festival readers include:
- Rebecca Kaiser Gibson will read from her debut novel, The Promise of a Normal Life, which has been called “riveting,” “radiant and transporting.” Kaiser Gibson has taught poetry at Tufts for 23 years and published two well-received books of poetry.
- Judith Janoo, reading from her second collection, Just This, published by Kelsay Press. Her poems are cited as beautifully crafted, “tender glimpses of grief, love, and wonder” with an especial affection for her New England roots.
- Christian McEwen, author of World Enough and Time will read from In Praise of Listening, a collection of essays that focus on listening as an extended metaphor for openness and receptivity.
- Barbara Benoit’s Sun Inside Us is a posthumously published collection of intensely personal poems charting the poet’s inner journey through her life and, finally, her battle with breast cancer. Read by her friend, poet Arlene Distler.
- Steve Minkin will read from his first published collection of poems, Where People Are Trees, taking in his world travels. A “Truth Traveler” both geographically and spiritually, “transformation takes root in the truths he finds and speaks.”
- Toni Ortner will read from Shadow and Silhouettes, a poetry collection of “haunting images, and frank portrayal of love, loss, and human frailty.”
- Wendy E. Slater’s The Perspective of the Constellation, is a collection
of modern mystical poetry that guides the reader from cultural, familial and societal expectations into healing and liberation.
