Brattleboro Literary Festival
Brattleboro Literary Festival
By Arlene Distler
The literary arts have played an important part in Brattleboro’s history. Royall Tyler, writer of the first comedy written and produced in the New World, lived and worked in Brattleboro during the late eighteenth century. The first literary societies in the community were formed in his day, the forerunners of the reading and writing groups that abound here today. In the eighteen-nineties, Rudyard Kipling married one of its daughters and resided at Naulakha in the hills on the edge of town. He wrote several of his classic works while living in Brattleboro.
Printing has been an important part of the town’s economy since early in the nineteenth century when William Fessenden brought a printing press from Cambridge, Mass. He printed the first book here in 1805. According to the Vermont Historical Magazine of 1850, “…the publishing business, more than all other causes in that day put together, enlarged and built up this village.” It has been home to several important printers and book presses since: Stephen Greene Press, Griswold Printing, The Book Press, Howard Printing, and Stratford Publishing, the last two of which continue to operate today.
Since its first year, the Brattleboro Literary Festival has hosted the best writers of our day. The festival was born when Nobel Prize winning author Saul Bellow decided he wanted to give something back to the town where he resided. He was already in failing health, but his reading, held at an oriental rug store on Main Street, was filled to overflowing. He held an audience rapt for over an hour. This was to be Bellow’s last public reading. Since then the festival has gone on to present nearly 300 authors, including winners of the Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, National Book Critics Circle Award, Newbery Medal, and the Caldecott Medal.
It has also featured writers whose stars are ascending. Back in 2004 festival organizers invited Monique Truong to read from her novel, The Book of Salt. By the time the festival rolled around she had been nominated for the Barbara Gittings Book Award (which ultimately she won) and the 2004 PEN/Robbert Bingham Award (which she also won).
Organizers say each year there are attendees who report their favorite reading was not the “big name” but the discovery of an author whose books were previously unknown to them. With the Authors’ Committee made up of published writers, the town’s head librarian, and led by a former bookstore owner, invitations are made on the strength of writing, not pressure from an agent or “buzz.” Surprises and discoveries have been a much lauded hallmark of the festival.
Sandy Rouse, who has been either festival chair or co-chair since its inception, speaks of the respect she has found among authors for the festival and the status it has attained. She attributes this to the impressive support the festival receives from the town and its citizens, as well as visitors from afar, with full houses at almost every venue. Authors give kudos for the ardent attentiveness and lively participation of their audiences.
Attendees and authors alike praise the festival for being a well-run event. Brattleboro resident Benson Bobrick, an acclaimed historian, and new this year on the Author’s Committee, says he has been impressed by the “unanimous and democratic process.” He adds, “There is a lot of creative thinking going on to come up with different kinds of events.” Says Rouse, “We want to keep the festival fresh, so we do something new each year.” Among the special events “keeping things fresh” for 2012 are “Flash Fiction,” “Literary Death Match,” a “Writer-Video Collaboration,” and “Blue Cat Performance of Jazz and Poetry.” Rouse also explains that the festival is produced, that is, it is not simply a collection of writers but a carefully thought out roster. “We try to cover many genres each year. And we always think about how things will work together, to keep a good flow to it.”
Brattleboro itself is replete with writers. Twelve years ago the non-profit organization Write Action was formed. Acting as a writers’ networking and advocacy group for Brattlebporo and the adjacent tri-state region, it has over 500 members that receive its weekly e-newsletter listing local literary events and opportunities. The organization has played a key role in the festival from its beginning, as the link to the local writing community. Its membership roll is the source for most of the festival volunteers. On Saturday evening Write Action sponsors an open reading; at the Spotlight on Local Authors event, writers in its network who have published a book within the past year are invited to give ten-minute readings and promote their book at the festival.
Write Action also runs the Literary Festival Cafe as a fundraiser for its programs, scholarships, writing awards, and the Lyn Harris-Seares Writer’s Emergency Fund. Food and coffee from local bakeries and restaurants as well as home-baked items are offered at the cafe. Since it is apple season the local orchards can be counted on for a supply of fresh apples and cider.
Poetry has been a mainstay of the festival line-up since the beginning, tapping into a rich vein of Vermont poets that has included Ellen Bryant-Voigt, Ruth Stone, Chard deNiord, Grace Paley, and Galway Kinnell, as well as featuring an A-list of poets from all points beyond. Robert Pinsky, James Tate, Sharon Olds, Chase Twitchell, Mark Doty, and Philip Levine are among the poets who have graced festival venues. This year will feature Carl Dennis, Major Jackson, Martha Collins, Joan Houlihan, Rachel Hadas, Jane Yolen, Syd Lea, and Chard DeNiord.
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The 2012 Festival roster looks to be as exciting as it’s ever been. Some of the authors reading for the 2012 Brattleboro Literary Festival are: Steve Almond, Deni Y. Béchard, April Bernard, Carl Dennis, Tony DiTerlizzi, Vivian Gornick, Kathryn Harrison, Victor LaValle, Stewart O’Nan, and Isabel Wilkerson.
Vermont is well represented at this year’s festival with readings given by authors whose reputation goes well beyond Vermont’s borders: Karen Hesse, the author of many books for young people including Out of the Dust, winner of the Newbery Medal, who has a new book, Safekeeping, that envisions a dystopian near-future America; Major Jackson, author of three collections of poetry: Holding Company and Hoops, both finalists for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literature-Poetry and Leaving Saturn, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award; Eileen Christelow, creator of numerous fun and funny picture books including the Five Little Monkeys series, Author, and most recently, Letters from a Desperate Dog; Howard Frank Mosher, the author of ten fiction books and one non-fiction, has new book, The Great Northern Express which chronicles his 100-city book tour across America and reflects on his development as a writer in the Northeast Kingdom; and Reeve Lindbergh, the daughter of Charles Lindbergh and Anne Morrow Lindbergh and author of many books for adults and children, whose has recently written the introduction to her mother’s final volume, Against Wind and Tide: Letters and Journals, 1947-1986.
As the lifeblood of trees––its sap––flows down during the shortening days and lengthening nights, into the tree’s roots to sustain it over the winter, so does the Brattleboro Literary Festival offer nourishment for heart and mind, presenting an opportunity to expand literary horizons while imbibing the crisp Vermont autumn and experiencing Brattleboro at its best.
