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Authors at this year’s Montclair Literary Festival will include Joyce Carol Oates, Colm Tóibín and Tom Perrotta.
The 10th annual Montclair Literary Festival, taking place from May 2 to May 11, will feature an exciting selection of more than 60 authors, including Joyce Carol Oates, Colm Tóibín, Eugene Robinson, Maria Semple, Tom Perrotta, John Fugelsang and Christina Baker Kline. Additional authors will be announced later.
“The Montclair Literary Festival’s unique contribution to readers is that we present a multi-day, multi-event literary celebration,” said festival chair Marcia Marley in a press release. ”Festivalgoers have the opportunity to overload on books and ideas, discover new voices across genres, and engage directly with authors.”
Launched in 2017, the festival creates an environment of civil discussion and community connection that is needed more than ever in these turbulent days.
It also raises funds and awareness for Succeed2gether, the Montclair-based nonprofit organization that addresses unequal access to educational resources by providing free enrichment and academic programs and a post-high-school pathway to children in need from Montclair and other Essex County towns. Marley and her staff offer one-one-one tutoring; after-school enrichment programs and workshops; and summer programs.
Eugene Robinson will discuss his “Freedom Lost, Freedom Won: A Personal History of America” at The Montclair Literary Festival, May 2.
The festival will feature two Festival Days — May 2 in downtown Montclair, and May 9 at Montclair State University — plus special events on May 5 and 11.
Some of the festival’s events are ticketed, but others are free. For information, visit succeed2gether.org/mlf26.
Here are some of the ticketed events:
May 2, 11 a.m.: Joyce Carol Oates will discuss her latest book “Double Trouble,” which pairs her novels “Starr Bright Will Be With You Soon” and “Soul/Mate” with her short stories “The Murderess” and “An Unsolved Crime.” The book features serial killers, suspense and murder. Jonathan Santlofer will moderate the event; he penned “The Lost Van Gogh” and “The Last Mona Lisa.” Venue TBA.
May 2, 12:15 p.m.: Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist Eugene Robinson will discuss his book “Freedom Lost, Freedom Won: A Personal History of America” at First Congregational Church. He has worked as a columnist, political commentator and associate editor of The Washington Post and has appeared as a political analyst on MSNBC. His other books include “Last Dance in Havana” and “Disintegration: The Splintering of Black America.”
May 2, 3 p.m.: Colm Tóibín, author of “Long Island” and “Brooklyn,” will discuss his book “The News from Dublin: Stories” with Garth Risk Hallberg, author of “City on Fire,” at First Congregational Church.
May 2, 5:30 p.m.: Tom Perrotta, author of “The Leftovers” will discuss his latest book “Ghost Town” with Warren Zanes at First Congregational Church. Zanes, a musician with the rock band The Del Fuegos, has written books including “Petty: The Biography,” about Tom Petty; and “Deliver Me From Nowhere: The Making of Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska,” which inspired the film “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere.”
May 2: Jim Windolf will discuss “The Music Had to Go: How Bob Dylan and the Beatles Changed Each Other — and the World” with Warren Zanes. Venue and time TBA.
May 2: Comedian, political commentator and broadcaster John Fugelsang will discuss his book “The Separation of Church and Hate.” Venue and time TBA.
May 9, 4:15 p.m.: Journalist and author Anand Gopal will discuss “Day of Love and Rage.” Venue TBA.
May 9: Montclair State University will partner with the Montclair Literary Festival to host “Express Yourself!,” consisting of workshops and creative exploration in writing, visual art, music, dance, photography and theater. Activities and times TBA.
May 9, 5:30 p.m.: Maria Semple, author of “Where’d You Go, Bernadette,” will discuss her book “Go Gentle” with Marcy Dermansky, author of “Hot Air.” Venue TBA.
The cover of Christina Baker Kline’s “The Foursome.”
May 11, 7 p.m.: Christina Baker Kline, bestselling author of “Orphan Train” and “The Exiles,” will discuss her book “The Foursome” with Alice Dark, author of “Fellowship Point,” at Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Montclair. “The Foursome” chronicles two sisters in 19th century North Carolina — distant relatives of Kline — who married world-famous conjoined twins from Siam.
Also coming up at the festival are these non-ticketed events, with venues and times TBA:
May 2: Reena Shah, writer, editor and teacher, will discuss her first novel “Every Happiness,” about the powerful ties that connect two women who meet as children.
May 2: Morgan Jerkins, author of “Caul Baby” and “This Will Be My Undoing,” will discuss “Zeal.”
May 2: Loubna Mrie, Syrian journalist, writer and photographer, will discuss “Defiance: A Memoir of Awakening, Rebellion, and Survival in Syria.”
May 2: Emily Nemens will discuss “Clutch.”
May 9: Luke Barr discuss “The Secret History of French Cooking: The Outlaw Chefs Who Made Food Modern.”
May 9: Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney, best-selling author of ‘The Nest” and “Good Company,” will discuss her latest book “Lake Effect.”
May 9: Natalie Guerrero will discuss “My Train Leaves at Three,” a coming-of-age story about grief, family, sexuality and love.
May 9: BJ Ward, Pushcart Prize winner for poetry.
May 9: Siri Hustvedt will discuss “Ghost Stories: A Memoir,” about the loss of her husband Paul Auster.
May 9: Tracy Clark, author of “Hide” and “Fall,” will discuss the latest book in her Detective Harriet Foster series, “Edge.”
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