Check back often for schedule updates!
Wednesday, September 4—Online only
7:00 p.m. In Conversation: Geraldine Brooks and Brunonia Barry
Geraldine Brooks, Horse
Brunonia Barry, The Fifth Petal
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Thursday, September 5—Online only
7:00 p.m. Found in Translation
Jennifer Croft, The Extinction of Irena Rey
Hannah Weber, member of National Book Critics Circle’s Gregg Barrios Book in Translation Prize committee
Moderator: Diane Stern
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Friday, September 6—In-person
House of Seven Gables, 115 Derby Street, Salem, MA
6:00–8:00 p.m. Enduring Hawthorne
Salem Lit Fest is excited to introduce a new and exciting adaptation of Enduring Hawthorne. An Open Mic inspired by Nathaniel Hawthorne and The House of the Seven Gables followed by a special performance of Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown,” adapted to folksong by local musician, Dan Blakeslee, and accompanied by a crankie created by local artist, Ben Wickey.
Find out more here!
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Saturday, September 7—In-person
Children’s Lit Fest*
Community Life Center, 401 Bridge Street, Salem, MA
Sensory Friendly Story Time, 10:00–10:20 a.m. — CLC, Room 201 (2nd floor)
Story time, 10:30–11:30 a.m. — CLC Great Room
Cathy Ballou Mealey, Make More S’mores
Lori Haskins Hourhan, Jane Goodall: A Little Golden Biography
Scott Magoon, Illustrator of Rocket Ship, Solo Trip
Crafts, snacks, & book signings, 11:30– noon — CLC Great Room
*Self-guided Story Walk in the Peabody Essex Museum’s Ropes Mansion garden with Rocket Ship, Solo Trip will be open from September 5 – 8.
Register
Young Adult Sessions
Salem State University, Berry Library, 4 College Drive, Salem, MA
2:30 p.m. Here there be… A YA Fantasy Panel
Kylie Lee Baker, The Scarlet Alchemist
Kristen Ciccarelli, Heartless Hunter
Kamilah Cole, So Let Them Burn
Sophie Kim, Wrath of the Talon
3:30 p.m. Up All Night: A YA Horror Panel
Kelly Andrew, Your Blood, My Bones
Ashia Monet, All These Sunken Souls
Erica Waters, All That Consumes Us
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Adult Author Panels and Conversations
Salem Five Community Room, 208 Essex Street, Salem, MA
10:00 In Conversation: Margot Livesey and Suzanne Berne
Margot Livesey, The Road from Belhaven
Suzanne Berne, The Blue Window
11:30 a.m. Romance: Rekindling the Flame
Betty Cayouette, One Last Shot
Jilly Gagnon, Love You, Mean It
Moderator: Adriana Mather, Mom Com
Marion McNabb, Some Doubt About It
1:00 p.m. Micro Marvels: Thirty Tiny Works of Literary Art from Molecule and Five Minutes
Molecule and Five Minutes are two journals dedicated to short pieces of writing. Very short. Molecule, out of Salem State University, publishes everything from poetry to plays … all 50 words or less. Five Minutes, also based in Salem, gives writers twice that, 100 words, but they have to focus on very short moments of time. Writers for both journals will gather at Lit Fest to share their tiny pieces with you. Don’t miss this fast-moving, high-energy, word-nerdy event!
2:00 p.m. Life in Small Doses: Short Stories Reflecting Change
Moderator: JoeAnn Hart, High Wire Act
Daphne Kalotay, The Archivists
Ken Liu, The Hidden Girl and Other Stories
Shubha Sunder, Boomtown Girl
3:30 p.m. A Suspenseful Conversation: Peter Swanson and Karen Dionne
Karen Dionne, The Marsh King’s Daughter
Peter Swanson, A Talent for Murder
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Evening Session
Gulu-Gulu Café, 247 Essex Street, Salem, MA
5:30 p.m. The Play’s the Thing: Acting, Authenticity, & Audiobooks —How Human Narrators Bring Stories to Life
See and hear what goes into the crafting of an audiobook performance. Join us for live readings directed by Carol Monda, narrator of over 400 audiobooks and winner of multiple Audie and Earphones Awards. Performing will be award-winning New England-based narrators including: Chris Andrew Ciulla, LaNecia Edmonds, E.J. Lavery and Sara Sheckells.
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Sunday, September 8—Online only
10:00 a.m. Writing Lives Touched by Prison
Andre Dubus III, Ghost Dogs: On Killers and Kin
Moderator: Diane Stern
Caroline Leavitt, Days of Wonder
Jean Trounstine, Motherlove
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Sunday, September 8—In-person
Salem Academy Charter School, 45 Congress Street, Salem, MA
1:30 p.m. Susan Solomon, Solvable: How We Healed the Earth, and How We Can Do It Again
3:00 p.m. One Book, One Salem Master, Slave, Husband, Wife
In conversation: Ilyon Woo and Dr. Elizabeth Herbin-Triant
Ilyon Woo, Pulitzer-Prize winning author of Master, Slave, Husband, Wife
Dr. Elizabeth Herbin-Triant, author of Threatening Property: Race, Class, and Campaigns to Legislate Jim Crow Neighborhoods
Reception and book signing to follow.