Please check back for updates of locations & times.
The schedule is not final.
* Indicates session moderator
Wednesday, September 3
North Shore CDC, 97 Lafayette Street, Second Floor, Salem, MA
7:00 p.m. Kickoff with Allegra Goodman
Allegra Goodman, Isola
Thursday, September 5—Online only
7:00 p.m. A Fireside Chat with Lev Grossman
Join us to hear best-selling author Lev Grossman speak about his most recent book, The Bright Sword: A Novel of King Arthur, and the process of adapting legends with the present moment.
Friday, September 5
Open Mic Location TBA
6:00–8:00 p.m. Enduring Hawthorne
Salem Lit Fest is excited to bring back Enduring Hawthorne: Ekphrastic Writing. This Open Mic inspired by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Customs House, and The House of the Seven Gables will include a special performance of Hawthorne’s short story “The Great Champion,” adapted to folksong by local musician, Dan Blakeslee, and accompanied by a crankie created by local artist, Ben Wickey.
Find out more here!
Saturday, September 6
Children’s Lit Fest*
Community Life Center, 401 Bridge Street, Salem, MA
Sensory Friendly Story Time, 9:00–9:30 a.m. — CLC, Room 201 (2nd floor)
Story Time 10:00 – 11:00 a.m.
Samara Cole Doyon, Next Level
Kalee Gwarjanski, Miss MacDonald Has a Farm
Nicole Wong (Illustrator), The Beat of the Dragon Boat
Crafts, snacks & book signings 11:00–noon—CLC Great Room
*Self-guided Story Walk in the Peabody Essex Museum’s Ropes Mansion garden will be open from September 4 – 7.
Adult Author Panels and Conversations
Ames Hall, 290 Essex Street
10:00 a.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!
11:30 AM: Cooking the Books: Cookbook Authors from Concept to Cookbook
Adam Kowitt, Senior Editor of all the America’s Test Kitchen cookbooks
Maggie Mulvena Pearson, The Feast & Fettle Cookbook
Dan Pashman, Anything’s Pastable
Tammy Donroe Inman, New England Brunch
1:00 PM: Conflict, Camaraderie, & Comedy: Mothers & Daughters in Contemporary Fiction
Authors: Barbara Davis, Every Precious and Fragile Thing
Marilyn Simon Rothstein, Who Loves You Best
Domenica Ruta, All the Mothers
Narrators: Patricia Santomasso & *Sara Sheckells
2:30 PM: Top Secret: Mid-century Historical Fiction
Juliette Fay, The Harvey Girls
*Jane Healey, The Women of Arlington Hall
Galina Vromen, Hill of Secrets
4:00 p.m. In Conversation: Catherine Newman and Weike Wang
Catherine Newman, Sandwich
Weike Wang, Rental House
Evening Young Adult Sessions
5:30 p.m. Get Swoony in Salem with YA Romance
@Cinema Salem, 1 E India Square Mall
Ali Novak, My Return to the Walter Boys
Aashna Avachat, Love Craves Cardamom
Rebecca Podos, Furious
7:00 p.m. Fantasy with Teeth (and Romance!)
@ TBA
Skyla Arndt, House of Hearts
*Rory Power, Kill Creatures
Shveta Thakrar, Divining the Leaves
Sunday, September 7
Salem Academy Charter School, 45 Congress Street, Salem, MA
1:00 p.m. Saving Civilization: True World War II Stories with Michelle Young and Doug Most
Doug Most, Launching Liberty: The Epic Race to Build the Ships That Took America to War
Michelle Young, The Art Spy: The Extraordinary Untold Tale of WWII Resistance Hero Rose Valland
3:00 p.m. One Book, One Salem The Cemetery of Untold Stories
In conversation: Julia Alvarez and Dr. Keja Valens
Julia Alvarez, The Cemetery of Untold Stories
Dr. Keja Valens, Culinary Colonialism, Caribbean Cookbooks, and Recipes for National Independence
Reception and book signing to follow.