From Eric LaRocca, the award-winning author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke, comes a startling new drama of religion, identity, and violence:
Two high-profile gay men become embroiled in a verbal cat-and-mouse game of utter cruelty when an unpleasant bargain goes awry. As social graces are discarded and basic human decency is abandoned, both men discover shocking truths about themselves and one another that will forever transform them.
Join us the Saturday evening of StoryFest for an exclusive staged reading of Gentle Hacksaw!
Tickets are $20 and can be purchased here.
The performance starts at 8 pm, followed by a talk-back with the playwright and cast moderated by New York Times best-selling author Clay Mcleod Chapman.
Doors open at 7 pm for a reception, where guests can mix and mingle with StoryFest authors while enjoying small bites and a cash bar.
StoryFest Saturday will feature an array of award-winning authors and special events featuring Clay Chapman, Angie Kim, Gabino Iglesias, Stephen Graham Jones, Caroline Kepnes, Josh Malerman, and many, many more.
Here is a closer look at a packed and exciting Saturday at Connecticut's largest literary festival:
PANEL DISCUSSIONS
10 am-6 pm
Trefz Forum
10-11 am: Peek-a-Boo, I See You: Inclusivity in Children’s Literature
Hear about the importance of seeing yourself in the stories you read, from a very young age. Moderated by Meagan Flynn, co-owner of Black Rock Books in Bridgeport. With Sally J. Pla, Sivan Hong, Dan Poblocki, Lorien Lawrence, Janae Marks. Moderated by Meagan Flynn. Sponsored by Black Rock Books.
11 am-12 pm: Putting It Together: Ellen Datlow Presents…
Genre fiction’s preeminent editor returns with a brand-new collection, Christmas and Other Horrors: An Anthology of Solstice Horror. Ellen Datlow and some of her favorite contributors from this and other collections talk about the artform that is short fiction and the literature of the fantastic. With Cassandra Khaw, Josh Malerman, Stephen Graham Jones, Paul Tremblay, and Bracken McLeod. Moderated by Ellen Datlow.
12-1 pm: Killer Women: Writing Crime from a Female Point of View
Women are having their moment in crime fiction. Whether it’s mysteries, thrillers, or suspense, female authors are creating powerful female characters who break molds and catch killers. Hear what five authors, all part of Sisters in Crime Connecticut (SinC-CT), have to say about how writing crime fiction from a female point of view impacts their approach to storytelling. With Manju Soni, Elise Hart Kipness, Emily Arsenault, Wendy Walker, and Lynne Constantine. Moderated by author and co-president of Sisters in Crime CT, Tessa Wegert.
1-2 pm: On Leaving and Returning: Writing the Body Home
Familiar and safe, alien and uninhabitable, marked by the past and vulnerable to the present and future: The concept of home — whether in our bodies or in the physical spaces they inhabit — can evoke complex and seemingly competing ideas. Take a journey with these five writers as they explore the visceral connections between home, identity, and belonging. With Mitzy Sky, Oliver Radclyffe, Namrata Patel, Sonya Huber, and Sidek Fofana. Moderated by the Director of the Connecticut Writing Project and Associate Professor of Literacy in Educational Studies and Human Development at Fairfield University Dr. Bryan Ripley Crandall.
2-3 pm: Community Into View: Writing Race, Culture and Identity
What elements do writers consider while elevating the voices of historically underrepresented and often marginalized communities in their work? Join our panel of acclaimed authors, all writing at the top of their genres, as they discuss how racial and cultural identities intersect with their craft and the importance of visibility on the page. With Stephen Graham Jones, Magogodi Makhene, LaQuette, Angie Kim, and Cassandra Khaw. Moderated by Connecticut Poet Laureate Antoinette Brim-Bell. Sponsored by Kindred Thoughts Bookstore in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
3-4 pm: Scream with Me: Heartache, Humor, and Horror
Join today’s top horror writers as they explore that fascinating thread that weaves between horror and humor. Find out how horror can be the best genre to examine themes of grief and loss — and also hope and humanity — as we ask: How do you write your darkness without drowning in it? With Clay McLeod Chapman, Gabino Iglesias, Eric LaRocca, Rachel Harrison, and Owen Egerton. Moderated by the former president of the Horror Writers Association, John Palisano.
4-5 pm: The Incredibly True Adventures of… Twists and Turns on the Writer’s Path
What do two rock stars, an ex-police officer, a lawyer, a game designer, and an Emmy-winning TV host all have in common? We’ll explore life’s transitions with an all-star lineup of authors who come to the craft from very different walks of life. With Lynne Constantine, Travis Myers, Dave Hill, Lizzie Stark, and Josh Malerman. Moderated by two-time Emmy Award-winning journalist Jay Schadler.
5-6 pm: On the Edge of Our Seats: Writing Suspense and Anticipation
Get inside the minds of today’s best thriller writers to find out what it takes to keep readers on the hook. Explore the mechanics of building tension and delivering a killer ending. With Caroline Kepnes, Angie Kim, May Cobb, T.M. Dunn, and Gregory Galloway. Moderated by award-winning and bestselling author Gabino Iglesias.
***
TINY TABLE TALKS WITH KERSTIN RAO
12-4 pm
Brooks Place
Deep-dive, intimate conversations with StoryFest authors and artists, all moderated by Westport’s own Kerstin Warner Rao.
12-12:30 pm: Rowan MacColl and Connor McCann on Comic Art
1-1:30 pm: Eric LaRocca and Owen Egerton on Writing for the Stage
2-2:30 pm: Gabino Iglesias and Ellen Datlow on Editing Anthologies
3:30-4 pm: Lizzie Stark and Cassadra Khaw on Game Writing
***
FEARMONGERS PODCAST – LIVE!
5-6 pm
Brooks Place
Clay McLeod Chapman will stage a live recording of his Fearmongers podcast live with Josh Malerman and Stephen Graham Jones.
Register today and don't miss a moment of StoryFest 2023!
Fireside Mystery Theatre (FMT) is an acclaimed and award-winning audio theatre production company that presents “old time radio”-inspired audio drama and variety shows — with a decidedly modern macabre sensibility. The troupe bridges the gap between the podcast era and the Golden Age of Radio with engaging characters, mystery, thrills, twists, unforgettable music, and liberal doses of good humor! Exclusively for The Westport Library, FMT has crafted an evening of all-new live audio entertainment with original mystery stories that draw from the rich local history, lore, and legends of the great state of Connecticut.
What is to be expected? Imagine going back in time to a live taping of a radio drama broadcast in the 1930s. You see a row of elegantly garbed actors, each in front of a mic, scripts in hand, venturing to craft the audio pictures that transport you, the spectator, into "the theatre of the mind." A musical score drives the narrative of each play as meticulous sound design further shapes a vivid sonic and suspenseful experience being created around and with you.
The LIVE performance will be recorded and later featured on FMT's podcast feed, which has reached millions of listeners around the world and lauded by media outlets from PopSugar to The New York Times.
TICKETS HERE!
This concert is made possible by the generosity of the Maurer Family Foundation.
(Ticket includes one drink: there will be specially crafted cocktail to fit the evening, along with light refreshments available.)
Photo: Alain Laforest, Kacie Laforest, Gustavo Rodriguez, Ali Silva, Mary Murphy, Lizz Leiser, Eirik Davey-Gislason
Photo Credit: Morgan Shortell
The Library is pleased to be able to offer free programs and events through the generous donations of patrons like you. Please consider giving to the Library so that we can continue to offer events like this one. Your donation is tax deductible. Donate Now!
Neil Gaiman, the prolific and admired author whose work includes American Gods, Coraline, and the graphic novel series The Sandman, will be this year’s keynote speaker at StoryFest 2023. He will be in conversation with award-winning, best-selling author, and StoryFest veteran Stephen Graham Jones.
The sixth edition of StoryFest, The Westport Library’s annual celebration of reading, writing, ideas, and community, will be held October 20-22.
Gaiman will headline opening night in the Library’s Trefz Forum. StoryFest 2023 will also include panel discussions and additional events on Saturday, October 21, and Sunday, October 22, with scheduled authors Angie Kim, Gabino Iglesias, Caroline Kepnes, Eric LaRocca, Josh Malerman, and many, many more.
The allotment of tickets for the free StoryFest 2023 keynote conversation and Fall 2023 Malloy Lecture in the Arts with author Neil Gaiman has been claimed. To join the waitlist, please visit our tickets page, click "Get Tickets," and sign up for the waitlist. Also, we will be livestreaming the talk at at no charge; more information on the livestream will be coming closer to the event. And there will be a limited number of Neil Gaiman-signed books available during StoryFest on Saturday, October 21, and Sunday, October 22.
This year’s StoryFest keynote is doubling as the Fall 2023 Malloy Lecture in the Arts, following the spring edition that featured artist and former Psychedelic Furs frontman Richard Butler. The Spring 2023 Malloy Lecture was held in conjunction with VersoFest, the Library’s annual music and media festival. The Malloy Lecture in the Arts, delivered free to the public since 2002 thanks to the generosity of Westport artist Susan Malloy, highlight individuals who have had significant cultural influence and whose work has enhanced the understanding and appreciation of the arts.
***
Renowned for his stage presence and oration, Gaiman routinely sells out large venues throughout the United States.
Following his early work as a journalist and biographer, Gaiman achieved fame — and cult status — with The Sandman series, which ran for 75 issues and earned him nine Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards and three Harvey Awards. In 1991, Sandman was recognized with the World Fantasy Award for Best Short Story, making it the first comic ever to receive a literary award.
After Sandman, Gaiman turned to novels, producing The New York Times best-sellers Good Omens (1990), Neverwhere (1995), Stardust (1999), the Hugo Award- and Nebula Award-winning American Gods (2001), and Anansi Boys (2005), as well as the short story collections Smoke and Mirrors (1998) and Fragile Things (2006).
Gaiman also has written a number of celebrated children’s and young adult books, including the Hugo Award-, Nebula Award-, and British Science Fiction Award-winning Coraline (2002); The Wolves in the Walls (2003); Odd and the Frost Giants (2008); The Graveyard Book (2008), which was awarded both the Carnegie Medal and the Newberry Medal; and Crazy Hair (2009), among many others.
Unsurprisingly, given their popularity and acclaim, Gaiman’s books have been adapted for film and theater. Stardust and Coraline were both made into feature films, with Coraline winning a BAFTA Award and earning an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Film. Coraline was also adapted as a musical, and The Wolves in the Walls was developed into an opera by the Scottish National Theatre in 2006.
***
Graham Jones is a professor at the University of Colorado and a New York Times best-selling author of some 30 novels and collections, including Mongrels, The Only Good Indians, My Heart is a Chainsaw, and Earthdivers.
Among his many honors include the Texas Institute of Letters Award for Fiction, the LA Times Ray Bradbury Prize, the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award, the Independent Publishers Award for Multicultural Fiction, the Western Literature Association’s Distinguished Achievement Award, the American Library Association’s RUSA Award and Alex Award, the 2023 American Indian Festival of Words Writers Award, the Locus Award, four Bram Stoker Awards, three Shirley Jackson Awards, and six This is Horror Awards. In addition, he’s been a finalist for the World Fantasy Award and the British Fantasy Award.
In September, The Westport Library staged the in-person return of StoryFest, and the excitement was palpable. Over two days — Friday evening and all day Saturday — roughly 800 participants poured into the Library to watch one of the 10 featured panels and converse with the 40-plus assembled authors, with many staying deep into the night on Friday and returning early Saturday morning.
StoryFest was held virtually in 2020 and as a hybrid event in 2021, due to the pandemic, before moving back to its in-person format this year. For those who couldn’t make it, all panels were recorded and are available here.
“StoryFest was amazing in 2020 and 2021, and we’re very proud of both those events,” said Alex Giannini, associate director of programming for The Westport Library and the organizer of StoryFest. “But there is something different about having everyone back in person, and we could feel that in the room. Fans queued up for book signings and had time to talk with the authors, and the authors loved being back together with each other to discuss their craft. The event was, without question, one of the highlights of our year.”
This year’s StoryFest kicked off Friday night with an often moving, often hilarious conversation between best-selling authors and longtime friends Isaac Fitzgerald (Dirtbag, Massachusetts) and Saeed Jones (How We Fight for Our Lives), both of whom stayed long past their scheduled time to sign autographs and interact with fans.
Saturday was a series of panels covering a range of topics, including an interactive program for kids and talks on activism, horror, dark fiction, working with editors, writing through the pandemic, and more. The day wrapped with a conversation with renowned fantasy writer Naomi Novik and a live recording of the Reading Glasses podcast with writer Mallory O’Meara and actress Brea Grant.
“I really love StoryFest because of the wide array of genres that are covered,” said O’Meara. “It’s so great to be in a place that’s passionate and thrilled about reading and writing. It’s just magic to me.”
Please watch the video below on this year’s event and visit the StoryFest landing page to learn more about StoryFest’s rich history in serving as a celebration of emerging authors, including Jason Reynolds, R.L. Stine, Nic Stone, Tiffany Jackson, and L.L. McKinney, as well as notable writers such as Mitch Albom and Michael Lewis.
The fifth edition of StoryFest 2022 starts today! To kick things off, we corresponded with a few of the 40-plus authors who will be in attendance to get their take on writing through the pandemic, the role of libraries in modern society, the power of books to transform lives, and why stories matter.
In the final installment of this four-part series, we asked Clay McLeod Chapman (Whisper Down the Lane, Ghost Eaters), Stephen Graham Jones (The Only Good Indians, Don’t Fear the Reaper), Alma Katsu (The Hunger, The Fervor), Mallory O’Meara (The Lady From The Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick, Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol), Gus Moreno (This Thing Between Us), Kate Racculia (This Must Be the Place, Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts), Paul Tremblay (The Cabin at the End of the World, The Pallbearers Club), and Libby Waterford (Can’t Help Falling in Love, Take Two) about the role of storytelling and why stories matter.
[Related: StoryFest 2022 Author Q&A: Writing During the Pandemic]
[Related: StoryFest 2022 Author Q&A: The Role of Libraries]
[Related: StoryFest 2022 Author Q&A: The Power of Books]
Here is what they had to say:
With so much happening in the world right now, what role can (and should) storytelling play in our lives? Why do stories matter?
Paul Tremblay: Stories hold a mirror to society and civilization and history. The best stories trade in truth, showing us at our best and at our worst and everywhere between. Stories help us to know and to remember and to reckon.
Stephen Graham Jones: First, stories provide escape, if escape is what we need for this next hour or two, or week or two, or however long — a series like Wheel of Time or The Dark Tower will give you a lot more than that. Second, stories are where we encode culture, to be passed down and down through the generations. Third, stories teach us empathy, which we all need to learn, and relearn, and then learn again. Fourth, stories passively instruct us how to manage narratives, which is something we can take into the narrative of our lives, foregrounding this, skipping over that, and thus reshape ourselves into something different over and over. It's kind of the only way to keep up with the changing world, yes? Fifth, a well-told story can leave us feeling less alone: Someone else has had this feeling, someone else has been in this situation. And not being alone, having someone there with you, even if they're 500 gone, and never spoke your language — is there anything better than that?
Mallory O’Meara: Stories help us figure ourselves out. In this age of fear and confusion and upheaval, having the ability to learn and discover more about yourself through storytelling and story reading is more important than ever.
Kate Racculia: Stories help us understand — who we are, really, and who we might still become, where we might go, and what kind of world we want to live in and build. They comfort; they challenge; they reveal. They let us speak and give us the chance to be heard. And they remind us that we're not alone.
Clay McLeod Chapman: The electricity is going to go out. ... The batteries will all eventually die. ... All we're going to be left with is a campfire and each other. What better way to connect than spinning a yarn? It was there at the very beginning of man, and it'll be there when circumstances return full circle. Gulp.
Libby Waterford: Stories have always been a way to change hearts and minds and share different ways of life. Their ability to bring different types of people closer to each other is tremendously valuable. Escaping into a book isn't burying your head in the sand, it's opening your mind to a different world. We should celebrate the freedom that stories give us to spend time in other, sometimes better, worlds.
Alma Katsu: The last few years have been particularly difficult ones. Thanks to COVID, it often hasn't been possible to escape from our daily stresses. We turn to stories — in their many formats and media — to quickly, easily, and often inexpensively escape from the pressures bearing down on us. You can pick up a book when you're ready, put it aside at your own pace. It's low tech and undemanding. Stories provide the escape valve so many of us need right now.
Gus Moreno: I think we navigate reality through stories, the stories we tell ourselves as well as the stories we experience. A story can provide someone respite from the world at large, or it can inform something that they're going through, or it can reveal to them something they've never considered before. Stories have an amazing way of taking something considered to be "known" and make it novel once again, reminding us that we don't have everything figured out and must proceed through life with a willingness to be open.
The fifth edition of StoryFest 2022 is just days away. To kick things off, we corresponded with a few of the 40-plus authors who will be in attendance to get their take on writing through the pandemic, the role of libraries in modern society, the power of books to transform lives, and why stories matter.
In the third installment of this four-part series, we asked Clay McLeod Chapman (Whisper Down the Lane, Ghost Eaters), Stephen Graham Jones (The Only Good Indians, Don’t Fear the Reaper), Gus Moreno (This Thing Between Us), Mallory O’Meara (The Lady From The Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick, Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol), Kate Racculia (This Must Be the Place, Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts), Paul Tremblay (The Cabin at the End of the World, The Pallbearers Club), and Libby Waterford (Can’t Help Falling in Love, Take Two) about the power of books.
[Related: StoryFest 2022 Author Q&A: Writing During the Pandemic]
[Related: StoryFest 2022 Author Q&A: The Role of Libraries]
Here is what they had to say:
StoryFest celebrates the power of books to transform people and communities. What book was a touchstone in your life? What books inspired your pursuit of writing?
Libby Waterford: Reading An Offer From a Gentleman by Julia Quinn (Bridgerton Book 3) as a teenager introduced me to the "modern" romance novel — a book set in the past in which the heroine was every bit as feisty and feminist as I considered myself to be. I realized that romance as a genre was changing, and I couldn't get enough of it from that point on.
Kate Racculia: Hoo boy, too many to list. Ellen Raskin's The Westing Game. Diana Wynne Jones' Witch Week. Anything and everything by Stephen King and Agatha Christie and Mary Higgins Clark. And most recently, for the very first time, I read D.H. Lawrence's Women in Love — checked out from my local public library.
Clay McLeod Chapman: Geek Love by Katherine Dunn has always been pretty fundamental. The poetry of Ai, particularly her collections Cruelty and Killing Floor. I cannot overstate how important Ai is to my personal literary upbringing. I don't know where I would be without her work.
Gus Moreno: A book that's a touchstone to my life is Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse. It's the novel that made me want to become a writer. Another book that inspired me to become a writer was Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk. Other books have helped inspire the shape of my writing or the lane that I'd find myself in, like The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, the collected short stories of Amy Hempel, and Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson.
Mallory O’Meara: Bonk by Mary Roach was a game-changer for me. I never realized how exciting and fun nonfiction could be until I read her work. She's still one of my favorite authors. Reading her books still creatively energizes me and inspires me to this day.
Paul Tremblay: The story that shook me awake to the power of fiction of Joyce Carol Oates's Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been? I read it as a second semester mathematics major in college. I didn't know people wrote stories like that! That story and shortly thereafter being gifted a copy of Stephen King's The Stand turned me into a reader for life. The books I return to and re-read the most as a writer though are Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five and Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle.
Stephen Graham Jones: The first novel I ever read was Where the Red Fern Grows, by Wilson Rawls. And it's still the kernel of my writer DNA. Because of the adventure, sure, and because opening that book is peeling back a hatch into another era, but mostly because of the magical-perfect ending of that novel. Without having read that ending, I seriously doubt I ever pick up the pen myself. In fourth grade, I remember closing that book and thinking I could do this, I can stick an axe in a tree and let a lantern hang on it for a decade or two. Every ending I stage, the bar for me, it's still Where the Red Fern Grows.
The fifth edition of StoryFest 2022 is just days away. To kick things off, we corresponded with a few of the 40-plus authors who will be in attendance to get their take on writing through the pandemic, the role of libraries in modern society, the power of books to transform lives, and why stories matter.
In the second in this four-part series, we asked Clay McLeod Chapman (Whisper Down the Lane, Ghost Eaters), Stephen Graham Jones (The Only Good Indians, Don’t Fear the Reaper), Alma Katsu (The Hunger, The Fervor), Gus Moreno (This Thing Between Us), Mallory O’Meara (The Lady From The Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick, Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol), Kate Racculia (This Must Be the Place, Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts), Paul Tremblay (The Cabin at the End of the World, The Pallbearers Club), and Libby Waterford (Can’t Help Falling in Love, Take Two) about the role of libraries.
[Related: StoryFest 2022 Author Q&A: Writing During the Pandemic]
Here is what they had to say:
We have been thinking about the role libraries play in the health of communities and the world as a whole. What role have libraries played in your writing life, or life in general? Why do you think libraries matter now?
Mallory O’Meara: I'm not exaggerating when I say I couldn't write without libraries! As a nonfiction author, it would be impossible to do the research for my books without public libraries. There isn't enough pie or whiskey in the world to adequately thank the librarians and libraries that have helped me write my books. The pandemic made it very clear that libraries are not simply book dispensaries; they are vital community centers. Whether you're looking for a new job, wanting to learn a new language, finding books for your children, needing help with a project at home, or just looking to connect with your community and meet people, nothing beats the library.
Gus Moreno: Libraries have played an incredible resource in my writing career. When I couldn't afford to buy books, I could always check it out at the library. No matter the building, there's always this subtle reverence to the atmosphere. There is no dividing line or exclusivity in a library. The place feels committed to knowledge and growth, and I think that's a space that will always matter.
Stephen Graham Jones: Two of the best places in the world are libraries and bookstores. So, related, two of the best people in the world are booksellers and librarians. They have recommendations, they can connect you to resources. And talking resources already on the shelf, that are probably pretty pricey to buy for this or that project, libraries are so vital. I've used them to research a lot of books, and when my kids were young and all my dollars had to go to diapers and apple juice, they provided me with most of my reading, too. And I'm still there probably every other week. Every walk down an aisle, there's another treasure waiting, another book that I can live with for the check-out period. Nothing better.
Paul Tremblay: When my children were younger, we would go to our town's library weekly during the summers. Hunting and then finding books and the excitement of checking them out and bringing them home are cherished memories. More recently, libraries and librarians increasingly have had the burden of being the heroes/sentinels of free speech, free expression, and education thrust upon them under the assault of the right's renewed book banning fervor. In the spring of 2022, a Milbury librarian discovered a patron was checking out and destroying books celebrating LBGQT+ themes. Upon this discovery, the amazing library and its community rallied and quickly raised funds not only to replace the stolen books, but to purchase more and multiple copies to share with other libraries. Libraries like Milbury matter because they house and celebrate all voices.
Libby Waterford: Libraries are where I discovered most of my favorite books and authors, where I can escape to find a moment of quiet and where I now come with my children to share my own childhood favorites and help them discover theirs. As a writer, libraries offer a safe haven for work and research as well as inestimable distractions should those be required!
Alma Katsu: I've always loved being in libraries, being surrounded by so much diversity, knowing you have access to nearly any book you could ever need. I've been lucky to have served as author representative on an ALA (American Library Association) subcommittee the past two years and have been saddened to hear of the challenges libraries face with the surge in challenges, book banning, and intolerance in general. It's undeserved stress on a valuable resource: librarians who just want to serve their communities.
Clay McLeod Chapman: I've been taking my kids to the library about once a week or every other week. It's blown their mind the have this exchange of books, where they check out and read, then return and check out more books. It's funny how the pandemic almost robbed them of the notion of what a library does. That said, when I was a kid, I have vivid memories of my grandmother taking me to the library and telling me I could check out any two books I wanted. She wouldn't curtail my choices. It could be whatever I wanted, which meant a lot of Stephen King and Gary Larson. One I had to read to myself and the other she'd read to me. To this day, I still have the most vivid memory of one particular book: North America's Greatest Monsters. I first learned about the Wendigo from that book, and it's haunted me ever since.
Kate Racculia: Libraries are one of the last great democratic institutions, a place where knowledge and information and literature and history are free and accessible. Like, think about that. They are free. Now, because of the collapse of various other parts of the social safety net, libraries are under pressure to be a social stopgap in many ways, but still: Libraries are the punk rock bastions of civic life, designed to support public welfare, public awareness, and to combat disinformation and ignorance. Epic.
I've loved them since I was a kid growing up in Syracuse — my local library hosted a stuffed animal sleepover — and let me tell you: I was beyond enchanted that my stuffies got to spend the night. I adored my elementary school librarian (hi Mrs. Griffin!). To be honest, I probably should have become a librarian myself, though I did work part-time for my beloved Bethlehem Area Public Library here in Pennsylvania (during the pandemic even), raising money and advertising programs and services. As a reader, libraries are where I've made some of my greatest book discoveries (Diana Wynne Jones!). As a writer, libraries are places to work, to research, to feel grateful to be a small part of a long tradition of thought and care, memory and truth and imagination. I freaking love libraries.
The fifth edition of StoryFest 2022 is just days away. To kick things off, we corresponded with a few of the 40-plus authors who will be in attendance to get their take on writing through the pandemic, the role of libraries in modern society, the power of books to transform lives, and why stories matter.
In the first in this four-part series, we asked Clay McLeod Chapman (Whisper Down the Lane, Ghost Eaters), Stephen Graham Jones (The Only Good Indians, Don’t Fear the Reaper), Alma Katsu (The Hunger, The Fervor), Kate Racculia (This Must Be the Place, Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts), and Libby Waterford (Can’t Help Falling in Love, Take Two) about writing during the pandemic. Here is what they had to say:
Westport Library: This is our first in-person festival in three years, and we're thinking a lot about how the pandemic has changed our way of life. How has the pandemic changed the way you think about or approach telling stories? How has it changed your process as a writer?
Clay McLeod Chapman: It's funny, but pandemic office hours were nearly the same as pre-pandemic office hours, only with more breaks in between childcare corralling. In the thick of the pandemic itself, my writing became increasingly interior, for better or worse. I was really scraping the headcheese from within my skull for a year or two. First drafts were far more introspective. Perhaps less plot driven. Definitely more focused on the mental and emotional states of my characters, which was really just a flimsy disguise for myself.
Kate Racculia: Weirdly — or perhaps not so weirdly — it has slowed me down. As in, I feel less urgency to write The Next Great Book and am more interested in taking my time and figuring out what it is I really want to say in [my] next book. I'm sure this is partially because of how the pandemic has changed my relationship to work and ambition, period. I went back to work full time — from home, at a very manageable day job — and now my writing doesn't have to be anything other than my own creative practice, how I notice and process the world. I'd like to share it, of course, but I'm less focused on producing for the sake of producing.
Alma Katsu: Especially early in the pandemic, people were thirsting for stories for a distraction, whether by binge-watching streaming television, or thankfully, turning to novels. I've [seen] a slight uptick in preferences for faster-paced stories, but there are still plenty of readers who want something slow and immersive. Trying to find the sweet spot between the two has been a bit of a challenge.
Stephen Graham Jones: Living in Colorado, there's trails and trails and trails. During the pandemic — not saying it's over, either — when it was all "isolate or pay the consequences," the trails were my refuge. On my mountain bike. Which I wore out and then wore out some more. But doing that, going back and forth from writing, writing, writing to riding, riding, riding, I think it kind of conditioned me to associate the two some. Meaning, now, I find myself writing a couple hours, then going out to slam up or down this trail for three or four hours. Rinse wash repeat. Not a bad cycle I’ve fallen into, really.
Libby Waterford: The pandemic enabled me to make new, stronger connections with writers via video sprints and virtual conferences, but I still miss meeting in person with my regional writing friends. I'm more disciplined as writer now, having had to juggle kids and partner at home and not being able to escape to a coffee shop for a relatively distraction-free writing session. I'm not sure the pandemic has changed my approach to storytelling, except to focus on the parts of storytelling that bring me and my readers joy.
Join Tessa Smith McGovern and Patricia Dunn for an in-depth conversation with NYT bestselling author Naomi Novik at StoryFest 2022! Be there as Tessa and Pat launch their brand-new podcast, Go Ahead, Write Something!
StoryFest is a multi-day, genre-spanning literary festival, now in its fifth year.
StoryFest is the largest literary festival in the state of Connecticut.
StoryFest is a celebration of the story in all its forms, and storytellers from across all media.
StoryFest is where you can hear award-winning and debut authors talk about their work and books they have coming out this fall.
StoryFest is returning to The Westport Library, live and in person, September 9-10, featuring a dazzling array of authors of all genres and for all ages.
Headlining this year’s festival are Isaac Fitzgerald, the IACP winner and How to Be a Pirate author whose debut memoir, Dirtbag, Massachusetts, is currently #2 on The New York Times best-seller list; and Saeed Jones, who was nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award for poetry in 2014 and won the Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction in 2019 for his memoir, How We Fight for Our Lives. A conversation between the two will be the featured Friday evening session.
A celebration of reading, writing, ideas, and community, StoryFest was organized in 2018 to draw together many of the region’s most accomplished, exciting, and up-and-coming authors in Westport for a two-day celebration of all things literary. It has since grown into a national event, attracting authors from across the U.S.
This year will make the first fully in-person festival since 2019, with StoryFest having gone virtual in 2020 and staged as a hybrid event a year ago.
“What a joy to be attending the largest literary festival in Connecticut,” said Fitzgerald. “[Saeed and I] both love libraries so, so much — which means the two of us reconnecting onstage at The Westport Library is going to be all the more special. Come party with us, Connecticut!”
StoryFest will wrap up Saturday evening with a special appearance by James Beard Book Award-winning author Mallory O’Meara and filmmaker/actress Brea Grant, the duo behind the popular Reading Glasses podcast, who will host a special live event that will double as an episode of their show. The Westport Library’s own Verso Studios will support the effort, which will feature StoryFest participants Sarah Gailey, Paul Tremblay, Stephen Graham Jones, Alexis Henderson, and Clay McLeod Chapman.
Other notable authors scheduled to appear at this year’s two-day event include May Cobb, Rachel Harrison, Gabino Iglesias, Alma Katsu, Eric LaRocca, Ellen Datlow, John Langan, Bracken MacLeod, Seanan McGuire, Gwendolyn Kiste, Hugh Ryan, Mondiant Dogon, Gus Moreno, Lorien Lawrence, Alexis Henderson, Isabel Canas, LaQuette, Julia Phillips, Greg Galloway, Coco Ma, Amanda Parrish Morgan, and Kate Racculia.
“StoryFest is unquestionably one of the highlights of our year and one of the crown jewels of the New England literary experience,” said Westport Library Executive Director Bill Harmer. “It is an opportunity for us to welcome back old friends and fan favorites, all while showcasing some of the country’s brightest rising talents. We couldn’t be more excited to celebrate five years of this remarkable event with readers from across New England and the tri-state area and to welcome everyone to explore all our space has to offer.”
Past StoryFest participants include New York Times best-selling authors Mitch Albom and Michael Lewis; National Book Award finalist Jason Reynolds; Pinkalicious author/illustrator Victoria Kann; Goosebumps author R.L. Stine; young adult superstars Nic Stone, Tiffany Jackson, and L.L. McKinney; and Emmy Award winner Sheila Nevins.
For a complete list of the events, panels, and authors participating in this year’s StoryFest, please visit the StoryFest 2022 homepage. And for a history of the event, check out our StoryFest landing page.
***
For more information on StoryFest 2022, contact Westport Library Marketing and Communications Director E.J. Crawford at [email protected].
Westport’s local authors and artists Sivan Hong, Lisa Cloherty, and Rosie Jon invite your families to a special StoryFest morning of creativity and inspiration! Featuring read-alouds by Sivan and Lisa and an interactive art project led by Rosie!
StoryFest is a multi-day, genre-spanning literary festival, now in its fifth year.
StoryFest is the largest literary festival in the state of Connecticut.
StoryFest is a celebration of the story in all its forms, and storytellers from across all media.
StoryFest is where you can hear award-winning and debut authors talk about their work and books they have coming out this fall.
