Read the participating author biographies here.

Thursday, September 8

7:00 p.m. Alix Harrow & Olivie Blake in Conversation with Introduction by Brunonia Barry—Livestream from Cinema Salem

8:15 p.m. 5 Minute Lit—Live at Cinema Salem

 

Friday, September 9—In person

6:00 p.m. Book and Barks with Jenna Blum and Alena Dillon—Salem Common
Register

Saturday September 10—In person

Children’s Lit Fest—Starts at 10:00 a.m.
Community Life Center
401 Bridge Street, Salem, MA
Register

 

Adult Author Panels and Conversations
Salem Five Community Room
208 Essex Street, Salem, MA
Register

9:00 a.m. A Grand Adventure: Taking your Tabletop RPG Story to the Written Page
John Owen, The Ravenfolly Institute Presents podcast
Matt Phillion, Generation Wonder: An Anthology of YA Superhero Stories

In this workshop, we will help you build a toolbox to get started with writing fiction. Drawing on the presenters’ decades of experience in story-based gaming, you will come away with prompts and processes drawn from tabletop role-playing games to help you escape the tyranny of the blank page, avoid perfectionism, and get past roadblocks that prevent you from writing. Audience participation (and cosplay) strongly encouraged.

10:00 a.m. Keynote—Katherine Howe, The Art of Co-writing and Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty
Watch Katherine Howe’s keynote here

11:00 a.m. In Conversation: Deliberate Evil
Edward Renehan, Deliberate Evil: Nathaniel Hawthorne, Daniel Webster, and
the 1830  Murder of a Salem Slave Trader
Mark Stevick, Goodnight, Captain White

12:00 p.m. Pop-Up Cantab
Join us for a one-of-a-kind performance poetry event as members of the “Poetry Night at the Cantab” slam team share their poems out of the lounge, and in the middle of the day.

1:00 p.m. Heroes vs. Villains in YA
Cristina Fernandez, How to Date a Superhero (And Not Die Trying)
Amanda Foody, All of Us Villains
Christine Lynn Herman, All of Us Villains
Barry Lyga, Generation Wonder: An Anthology of YA Superhero Stories
Moderator: Matthew Phillion, Generation Wonder: An Anthology of YA Superhero Stories

2:00 p.m. Listening In: Audiobooks & Storytelling
LaNecia Edmonds, Voice Artist
Walter Dixon, Voice Artist
Moderator: Sara Sheckells, Voice Artist

3:00 p.m. Twists & Turns: Thrillers & Mysteries
Lynne Reeves Griffin, The Dangers of An Ordinary Night
Karen Winn, Our Little World

4:00 p.m. Readings Presented by MassPoetry
Dara Barrois/Dixon (formerly Dara Wier), Tolstoy Killed Anna Karenina
Bianca Stone, What is Otherwise Infinite

 

Sunday September 11—Virtual Day

All Sunday panels will be virtual. Pre-registration is required so you may receive Zoom credentials to join these events. Some panels are simultaneous. All will be recorded with author permission, so fret not!

Register

9:00 a.m. In Conversation:  The Treeline: The Last Forest and the Future of Life on Earth
Ben Rawlence, The Treeline: The Last Forest and the Future of Life on Earth
Barbara Moran, WBUR reporter

10:00 a.m. Everyone Is Reading LGBTQ+ Novels
Kacen Callender, Lark & Kasim Start a Revolution
Lev AC Rosen, Lavender House

10:00 a.m. Addressing Racial Tension in Historical Fiction
Jabari Asim, Yonder
Emmanuel Dongala, Bridgetower Sonata: Sonata Mulattica
Moderator: Lisa Braxton, The Talking Drum

11:00 a.m. #ScreamingCryingThrowingup : YA Romance
Alex Aster, Lightlark
Jenna Evans Welch, Spells for Lost Things
Moderator: Kristin Dwyer, Some Mistakes Were Made

11:00 a.m. Conversation: World Building in Science Fiction
Ken Liu, The Veiled Throne (Book 3 of 4 in Dandelion Dynasty series)
Adrian Tchaikovsky, Elder Race

12:00 p.m. Fantastic Women of Fantasy Fiction
Liz Michalski, Darling Girl
Jennifer Saint, Ariadne
Moderator: Veronica G. Henry, Bacchanal

1:00 p.m. Monster Mash: Monstrosities in YA Fiction
Tanvi Berwah, Monsters Born and Made
Traci Chee, A Thousand Steps into Night
Deborah Falaye, Blood Scion
Catherine Yu, Direwood
Moderator: Kendall Kulper, Murder and the Modern Girl

1:00 p.m.  So you want to be a mother?
Jessamine Chan, The School for Good Mothers
Alexis Schaitkin, Elsewhere
Moderator: Ashley Audrain, The Push

2:00 p.m. Cozy Up: Comfort Reads
Gina Sorell, The Wise Woman
Weike Wang, Joan Is Okay
Moderator: Caroline Leavitt, With or Without You

3:00 p.m. An Author, at the Festival, with the… : YA Developing Mystery
Jennifer Lynn Barnes, The Final Gambit
Kathleen Glasgow, The Agathas
Kate Alice Marshall, These Fleeting Shadows
Moderator: Liz Lawson, The Agathas

3:00 p.m. It’s Complicated: Animals and Humans
Kira Jane Buxton, Feral Creatures
Nick McDonell, The Council of Animals
Lynda Rutledge, West with Giraffes
Moderator: S. Kirk Walsh, The Elephant of Belfast

4:00 p.m. The Forest for the Trees: Climate Change and Fiction
Jessie Greengrass, The High House
Allegra Hyde, Eleutheria
Moderator: Erica Ferencik, Girl in Ice

5:00 p.m. Seriously Funny: Humor in Fiction
Mona Awad, All’s Well
Annie Hartnett, Unlikely Animals
Sanjena Sathian, Gold Diggers
Moderator: Laura Zigman, Separation Anxiety