Literary Festival Attracts an Array of Authors to Brattleboro

Avid readers can rejoice and revel in their bookworm tendencies when the region's largest literary festival returns this weekend to keep the pages turning as fast as the color-drenched October leaves. The 24th annual Brattleboro Literary Festival will take place Oct. 17 to 19 in several downtown Brattleboro locations with all festival events open to the public and offered for free, no registration required. The festival is headquartered in the Brooks House lobby at 132 Main St. Nicole Lamoreaux, a festival committee member helping with hospitality and public relations, said this year's festival includes a lineup of 44 authors in the genres of fiction, nonfiction and poetry. Authors travel from across the country to attend, and eight local authors will also participate this year. The Brattleboro area has a robust history in writing and publishing, with well-recognized names such as Saul Bellow, Rudyard Kipling, John Irving, Mary Wilkins Freeman and Lucy Terry Prince having called the region home. Originally founded by a local group of book lovers, the festival has attracted more than 900 authors over the years, including winners of the Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, National Book Critics Circle Award, Women's Prize, Newbery Medal and Caldecott Medal. Authors are chosen via selection committee, and the annual nomination process is open from Jan. 1 to May 1. While audience attendance was higher pre-pandemic, the festival now welcomes up to 3,000 people for the weekend, Lamoreaux reported. As there are no tickets, seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. A New York-based librarian, Lamoreaux has a second home in the area and learned of the festival for the first time last year. Along with a board of directors, festival veteran and program director Sandy Rouse, and other longtime committee members, the festival is facilitated by many dedicated volunteers, some of whom, like Lamoreaux, are relatively new to the event. "I attended last year and thought it was amazing," Lamoreaux recalled, adding that afterwards she reached out to the board to volunteer. "It's been fun and a lot of interesting work." She said that the committee believes in the festival for many reasons, one being that we can learn from our differences and that stories do matter. While the festival is a fun mix that features some bigger names every year, it is also a "launching pad" for first-time authors. "We're excited to have National Book Award nominees joining us this year," Lamoreaux noted, including Jonas Hassen Khemiri (fiction, longlist), Tiana Clark (poetry, shortlist) and Helen Whybrow (nonfiction, longlist). A "Books to Looks" fashion show kicks the event off on Friday night, followed by an "Other Worlds" fiction panel. The fashion show is a collaboration with Kate Trzaskos and features live models wearing outfits to represent 10 book covers, with clothing that was thrifted locally at Experienced Goods and Morning Glorious Vintage. The looks will be available for purchase. Lamoreaux said the fashion show, which debuted at last year's festival and was a crowd favorite, is about building community and was brought back for an even bigger and better encore in 2025. "The authors got excited about it, too," she said of last year's show. "It's a lot of fun and people enjoy it." An event of note is a Joni Mitchell-themed panel that features two books and authors: "I Dream of Joni" by Henry Alford and "Songs So Wild & Blue" by Paul Lisicky. Another panel of interest will delve into Laurie Gwen Shapiro's book, "The Aviator and the Showman," based on the adventurous life of Amelia Earhart, who is recently back in the news. Additional festival highlights include: Ocean Vuong speaking about his new novel, "Emperor of Gladness," a New York Times bestseller that was chosen for Oprah's Book Club. Adam Higginbotham, author of "Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space," which was winner of the 2024 National Book Critics Circle Award in Nonfiction. Alison Espach, who will be discussing her instant New York Times bestseller, "The Wedding People," a Goodreads Choice Award winner for Fiction in 2024. New Yorker cartoonist Harry Bliss speaking on his graphic memoir about his dog Penny, titled "You Can Never Die." Heather Clark will discuss her debut novel, "The Scrapbook," the story of an intense first love haunted by history and family memory, inspired by the startling World War II scrapbook of Clark's grandfather. Tiya Miles, author of "Night Flyer: Harriet Tubman and the Faith Dreams of a Free People," which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in Biography, a Washington Post Notable Book and one of Smithsonian Magazine's Ten Best History Books of the Year. Local author Tim Weed will discuss his new novel, "The Afterlife Project." Toadstool Bookshops will sell copies of the books at all events for signings, and Wild Book Company will host a pop-up bookstore at festival headquarters. In addition, there will be a youth literature event held at Brooks Memorial Library, silent book club gatherings and readings by members of Write Action, a local nonprofit writing support organization. Lamoreaux encourages everyone to look over the schedule of events and come for one or many events, while also enjoying the seasonal beauty of the area and the walkable community of downtown Brattleboro's shops and eateries. "I feel lucky to be part of the committee that puts this together," she enthused. "It's a labor of love and we're excited to bring this level of creativity to the area and to continue this tradition in Brattleboro." For more information and a schedule of events, visit brattleborolitfest.org. Follow on Facebook and Instagram @brattleborolitfest or BlueSky @vtbookfest.