August 31, 2024 • 21 mins
While Salem's usually known this time of year for getting a bit spooky, there's a lot of excitement for another big festival, and this one's all for the lovers of the written word! This year's Salem Literary Festival runs from September 4-8, both online and in-person, with all sorts of fun and informative events for bibliophiles and aspiring writers. Nichole speaks with Jean Marie Procious, Executive Director of the Salem Athenaeum, author Betty Cayouette, and WBZ-AM alum/Salem Lit Fest Committee Member Diane Stern about this family-friendly event!
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
From WBZ News Radio in Boston. This is New England Weekend.
Each week we come together right here we talk about
all the topics important to you and the place where
you live. Great to be back with you again on
this Labor Day weekend. I'm Nicole Davis. This time of year,
Salem is usually known for starting to get a bit
spooky as fall moves in, but there's actually a lot
(00:29):
of excitement for another big event that's happening well before that.
In just a matter of days. For a week or so,
the which city will become a haven for book lovers
and aspiring writers. The Salem Litfest is really a citywide
celebration of the written word. They are all kinds of
fun events planned online and in person. We are talking workshops,
(00:50):
panel discussions, author meet and greets, author readings. Joining us
now we have Jean Marie Procius, the executive director of
the Salem Atheneum, romance author Betty Ka and WBZ News
Radio alum and Litfest committee member Diane Stern. It is
great to be with you, ladies. Thank you for being here.
And Jean Marie, let's start with you. The festival is
(01:11):
nothing new. It's been going on for some time for
those of us who might just be learning about it now, though,
give us a backstory here about how this all came together.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Absolutely and be happy to This year is the fifteenth
Salem Literary Festival. But it was actually founded in two
thousand and eight by Cornerstone Books, which was an indie
bookstore in Salem, unfortunately no longer with us. It was
always very much a community collaboration, though the Atheneum had
been involved with it since the beginning. Right now we're
(01:40):
working closely with another independent bookstore, Wicked Good Books here
in Salem, so we keep that tradition alive. But it
really needed a leadership and author Bernonia Berry has a
foundation called Readers and Writers, Inc. And she kind of
took it on for a couple of years, and she
was on the board of the Salem Atheneum at the
(02:01):
time and said, this is really the best fit for
you guys, and we agreed with her obviously, and we
have been running it since twenty seventeen. So it's still
very much a community collaboration with other organizations and some businesses,
but the Atheneum takes on the responsibility for making sure
it happens every year and giving it the funding to
(02:23):
launch it every year until we get those sponsor dollars
and in grants. So that's pretty much where we are now.
We survived through the pandemic. We moved online for two years,
and now we're doing a hybrid, some programs online some
in person because we did gain an audience outside of
(02:44):
Salem during the pandemic, and also it's convenient for some
authors to just join us that way. We have some
international authors that we couldn't afford otherwise to bring in
or didn't have a whole weekend to come just to
Salem even though they want to. They all say they
were going to come visit, and we're like, okay, come
next time.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
Sure.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
We love that because Salem is fun all year round,
even more so for the Literary of Festival for you know,
those of us who love books, reading and writing.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
This year we.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Have more venues and more partners than ever. We have
the Salem State University, we'll be hosting our young adult panels,
and we have a collaborative program called Enduring Hawthorne that's
going to be at the Seven Gables this year. House
the Seven Gables on Friday evening and that program, Enduring
Hawthorne originally started as a marathon reading of the Scarlett
(03:38):
Letter and has now involved evolved into a few other
types of ways to celebrate the writing and legacy of
Nathaniel Hawthorne. And this year we're going to have writers
come and look at the House of Seven Gables and
be inspired and then share their new work and an
open mic on Friday, and then we have sing Dan
(04:00):
Blakesley is going to be presenting a story about young
Goodman Brown, a song excuse me that goes with a
cranky theatrical production. So they'll be visual and music, and
we'll have the open mic. So we're celebrating the traditional
classic literature as well as the brand new because generally
our sessions focus on brand new books that were released
(04:23):
in the last year and a half.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Yeah, speaking of new, this year, you've got that brand
new panel about romance. Now, this is again new to
the Litfest, but romance novels have become super big these days,
it seems, Betty. I'll talk to you about that, because
you're the expert here. I'll talk to you about that
in a second. But jee Marie, why did you choose
to bring that panel on this time around?
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Well, again, we're responding to what our audience is interested in,
and also the quality is there. Like so the Sale
Midfest is really concerned with fine writing and you know,
literature that is relatable and anything any author we bring.
It's kind of like a stamp of approval for the
(05:04):
festival to say, we want everybody to read this because
it's a good read. And we really felt not that
there wasn't romance meeting that criteria before, but this year
it was just overwhelming. We have hyper local authors like
Betty and Jilly Gagnan and Ariana Mather who are right
in our neighborhood, either in Salem or right in the
(05:27):
surrounding towns, with these big major publishing house modern romance
books that are wonderful. So we're like, let's get them together.
And then we have Mary McNabb coming up from the
Cape again another book on that same subject. It just
was kiss meant it worked out. We started thinking about
a few years ago because we had Emily Henry during
(05:47):
the pandemic, right before she got huge, like her romance
books are just enormously popular. So we have this kind
of history of kind of being right on the cutting
edge of what's going on because we make that our
business to know what's going on in the book world.
And we're all huge readers, so that helps. We're following
(06:07):
the trends. We're following the trends. So this year it
was just because Matt like we're doing it. We have
had YA romance panels in the past, but there have
been some really good authors and books trending in the
YA category for quite a while now, so that's always
very popular. And I think also, like with the way
the times are, a lot of escapist reading has been
(06:29):
like spy fiction and murder mysteries, and like romance is
the drama and a little bit of the tension without
the life and death consequences that we have like in
our daily lives we're so worked on. Yes, kind of
like the romance, Like we all need.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
A little love, we need a little love everywhere, Yeah,
we do. I mean, Betty, let's kind of expand on that,
because I think romance sometimes kind of gets a bad rap,
like oh, there's the books you get at the grocery
store check out line, and oh they're just smutty and
this and that and the other thing. But I don't
think it's just that. I think it's so much more
than that. Tell me about how you have watched the
genre essentially evolve to become so popular, and how you've
(07:07):
played a part in that.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
Yeah, so I totally agree. I think the view of
romance books as you know, trashy, smutty grocery store books,
is a thing of the past because the quality is
just so strong now, Like the books are so well
written and they have these complex, smart, funny female characters,
which I think people are really hungry for. What technically
(07:31):
makes something a romance is that it has a happy ending,
and I think people are really hungry for happy endings
right now. I think reading a book knowing you're going
to get that happy ending is comforting, Like you know,
no matter what trials and tribulations happen along the way,
you're going to end up feeling good about the end result.
(07:51):
And I think that's really reassuring, like it mirrors what
we look for in romcom movies. But I think that
these books are just so well written now. They're really
like high quality pieces of literature, and there are so
many of them that it makes sense that the genre
is expanding. I think people are really excited about the offerings.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Yeah, and you're an author, of course, and you're also
kind of an influencer here in the same space as well.
What's that like being a creator in so many different realms.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
In a way?
Speaker 4 (08:21):
Yeah, So before I was an author, I went viral
on TikTok and Instagram, and because of that have been
able to build a really strong bookish community, which I'm
just so grateful for. It's amazing to be connected with
so many readers who are so passionate about reading and
about romance books specifically, and to take them along on
my journey to become an author because it's such a
(08:44):
it's a process people don't know that much about, so
it was fun to take everyone along for the ride.
But the best part is really connecting with people who
are just so passionate about books and stories and the characters.
Like I think the passion for reading is something that
came out of the pandemic because people had a little
more time to read, and it's definitely a huge silver lining.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Diane, I know you're on the committee putting all of
this together. What's it like trying to choose the people
who are going to take part, the writers, the panelists,
so on and so forth.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
It is a lot of fun to begin with, and
as Jean Marie alluded to a moment ago, we're all
avid readers, so we have our antenna up for new
authors different genres, whether it be romance or historical fiction
or fantasy. We really have something for everyone. So we
recommend new books that we've read or heard about. Sometimes
(09:37):
a book will have a lot of buzz and we'll
check that out because we want, as Jean Marie said,
we want to have the latest and the buzziest books
represented at the festival. One example when we put together pianels.
And this is very self serving, but a panel that
I'll be moderating is called found in Translation as opposed
(10:01):
to lost in Translation, And what's exciting about it is
that books in translation bring you to another culture. They
remind readers that people all around the world have these commonalities, feelings, experiences,
and it's so enriching. I'm thinking about Elena Ferranti, who
(10:24):
wrote My Brilliant Friend, who was I think it was
on TV as a series. She's just one example, but
you could go way back to Victor Hugo, who was French,
and you know, if that wasn't translated, hey, you know
it's opening new worlds and just enriching our lives. Another
one I'm thinking of is Hirouki Mirakami, the great Japanese writer.
(10:47):
And if we didn't have translators, we just wouldn't have
these wonderful books. So that's on Thursday, September fifth at
seven o'clock, and we invite everyone to join all of
the panel, but I'd especially like you to join this one.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Please go see Diane and support my friend. Again self
serving that I don't care. It's our show. We can
do what we want. So also I wanted to mention too, Diane.
The online keynote this year is author Geraldine Brooks. I'm
not too familiar with her works, so give us a
bit of insight into who she is, what she's done,
and why you chose her.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Sure, she is a poet surprise winning author. We have
another polit surprise winner for twenty twenty four in biography.
We can get to that later when we talk about
community read. Geraldine Brooks has written. Her recent book is
Horse and it spans from the nineteenth century right to
the present time. It's historical fiction, it's a love story.
(11:47):
It talks about slavery and yes, There are a few
horses in the book Horse, but it's not a book
about horses. It has so much in it. It's just
a fabulous book. So we reached out to her and
she said, sure, you know, I will join you on
Wednesday night. That's our kickoff September fourth, and Bernonia Barry,
(12:10):
Salem's own Bernonia Barry, who's a best selling international author.
She will be in conversation with Geraldine books Brooks. So
we'll hear about the book course, and we'll hear about
her other works and just about the process of writing.
Getting two writers together I think will be fabulous.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Let's talk about the community read for a moment. Jean
Marie Diane just mentioned the community read. This is fascinating
to me. It's been going on for a couple of months.
At this point. You chose a specific book and people
all over Salem and really probably the north Shore even Massachusetts.
Who knows, I've been reading this one book. Which book
has been the choice? And how does this all work?
Speaker 2 (12:50):
So we're calling this program One Book on Salem, and
we're trying to encourage as many people as possible to
read the same book and have the shared ex experience
of reading it together and then coming to join us
on the last day of the festival September eighth, with
the author and Ilion Wu. The book is Master Slave,
(13:11):
Husband Wife. As Diane mentioned, it won the twenty twenty
four Politicer Prize for Biography, and it's excellent. It is
an actual nonfiction book, but it is the narrative nonfiction,
so it's not difficult to read. It's lovely to read.
But all the citations are there if you want to
follow up and do your you know, more investigations after
(13:32):
you read the book. But the idea is we put
these books all over town the public Library, the Sale Methaneum,
and then in the little free libraries all over town
so people have a place to get them. We gave
them a few months to get through the book. We
started launched on juneteenth this year in June, and we've
gone through over one hundred and fifty books free copies
(13:54):
that we gave out, and then we encourage people to
share with their friends after they finished with their copies,
so we know that's happened and we've seen some come
back to the little free libraries and get back in
rec circulation. So the idea is really to just have
this shared cultural moment looking at this one book, So
whether people can actually or want to actually come to
(14:14):
the discussion with the author or not. Like you're in
the coffee shop and you have the book, it has
a sticker on it that says it's part of the community.
Read and someone in the coffee shop probably read it.
Maybe you'll strike up a conversation and talk about it.
That's what we want. We just want to build a
community who want to have people share life experiences because
base of it, we are all human and we can
(14:35):
all relate to each other on some level. That's happening
in a book like these are universal experiences conversation starter.
So that's pretty much the idea. And Diane, did you
have anything to add to that.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
Yes, I'd like to add that we do have a
Spanish interpreter. So Salem has a thriving Dominican population and
other Spanish speakers, and this is a way to open
the tent to more people in the city and around
the north Shore. And we had this same translator last year,
Elsabel Rincon, and she was wonderful. So she'll be joining
(15:10):
us to help facilitate the conversation. And we're very happy
about that.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
I appreciate the accessibility there. That's really important to note.
If you want to bring the community in as a
whole and speaking about the whole community, you need kids
because kids are a big part of the litfest as well.
Tell us about the reading that you've got planned at
the Community Life Center, who's going to be there and
if families want to stop by, what will be there
for them.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
So this year we're adding a new program that will
be at ten o'clock. It's a sensory sensitive story time,
so it's going to be in a smaller room normally
when the Community Life Center are in the Great Hall
and there's lots of kids and lots of families, so
this will be a little bit before for kids that
need us a quieter environment. So Kathy Balloo Mealy is
(15:54):
the author who will be reading her book Make More Snores.
It is a little bit smare reading her book during
that sensory sensitive story time from ten to ten thirty,
and then we're at ten thirty we're going to launch
in the Great Hall, which we'll have Kathy reading again.
We have Lorie Haskins, Howaran, who has a book that's
(16:15):
a biography of Jane Goodall okay, she'll be talking about
that and animals, and then the keynote will be Scott Magoon,
the illustrator and his book is rocket Ship Solo Trip.
He will be giving a presentation and live drawing, and
then after that, which is always very engaging with the kids,
after that they'll be crafts and snacks and it's just
(16:38):
a fun morning, you know, starts a ton. We're all
wrapped up by noon and everybody can go home and
have a nap and.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
So now necessary book.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
It's great, it's great, And a part of that program
is that since Scott is the featured Scott Mgoon is
the featured presenter, his book will be depicted in a
story walk, which is each page of the book will
be on a sign in the Ropes Garden Ropes Mansion Garden,
which is one of the pew of the Essex Museum
(17:08):
Historic properties on Essex Street. So that will be up
all weekend, so families, dog walkers whomever can go look
at every single page of the store, read the story
as they walk along.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
There is a lot happening in the litfest in just
a few days. What's it like putting all this together?
For you and for the rest of the crew.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
It's a lot of fun first of all. Yeah, but
it is the year long process. So we're already we
have our writers that we're looking at for twenty twenty five,
and it's actually pretty tricky to put together. We have
some sessions that we didn't really talk about so much,
but Diane touched on a little bit. Was that on
(17:49):
a theme, So then getting books authors that match on
that theme can be a little tricky. And sometimes we
have it all beautifully planned with four authors that we
want and then two of them can't make it, so
then you're starting over, right, So and sometimes we have
a big long list of people and we're like, oh, no,
how do we put them together?
Speaker 3 (18:12):
Then the lightbulb goes off.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Yes, yeah, and then we just keep referring back to
the books. Then it all works out eventually, but it
is tricky and we have to be strategic. And there
are about fifteen of us right now working on the
committee on all different parts of it. So part of
it is actually the program and then looking at the
different venues that we might be using. And one book,
(18:35):
One Salem, is its whole own animal, and because we
know that book has to be really accessible to a
wide number of people. So when we just left out
this year that it got the Pulitzer Prize and lots
and lots of people think that's a great book.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
So Betty is an author, what's it like for you
to know you're taking part in such a storied institution?
Pun not intended here.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
You know.
Speaker 4 (18:59):
I'm absolutely thrilled. I'm born and raised in Salem, so
I'm so excited to be at the Lit Festival. I
was honored to be asked and can't wait. They have
so many authors that I'm so excited to be able
to meet too, Like as a fan and as a reader,
I think it'll be such a fun time.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
Well, then, Diane, let's get all the important details out
of the way. How can people figure out what's happening?
And where do people have to pay to show up?
So on and so forth.
Speaker 3 (19:27):
Sure? The great thing, one of the many great things
about the Salem Litfest is that it is free. You
do have to register, especially if you're going to a
virtual event online event, because we have to send you
the zoom webinar link, but it's free. Of course. We
do encourage donations if you can. If you can't just
(19:51):
enjoy the festival, and of course you can just go
to Salemltfest dot org, which has all of the information
about the venues, the authors, about the time, you know,
just the nitty gritty. Speaking of time, we have an
evening event on Saturday night that I think is worth
mentioning at the Goolu Cafe and Salem. This is going
(20:13):
to be by a troop of real life audiobook narrators.
So it's going to be a play and I think
the not so subtle hint is the value of real
life narrators as opposed to AI generated narrators. And it's
headed up by Sarah Sheckels, who is an audiobook narrator
(20:33):
and has been for years. I think that's going to
be fantastic. So you can see the variety of our
offerings this year. We're so proud of it.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
Yes, you've got so much to offer, Salemlitfest dot Org
and Jean Marie, you've got some great sponsors helping out
as well to keep this accessible for everybody.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Yes, we do, and you can still become one.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
Oh again, it's Salem.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
Litfest dot org. Everybody's listed on the website and in
our emails and you have our enduring gratitude for supporting
the lip Fest. There's plenty of room for everyone to
get in on the action.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
Thank you all for your time and for being here.
I hope you have a great festival. It sounds like
an incredible event. And again, salemlitfest dot org, thanks for
your time, thank you, thank you for you have a
safe and healthy weekend. Please join me again next week
for another edition of the show. I'm Nicole Davis from
WBZ News Radio on iHeartRadio.
From WBZ News Radio in Boston. This is New England Weekend.
Each week we come together right here we talk about
all the topics important to you and the place where
you live. Great to be back with you again on
this Labor Day weekend. I'm Nicole Davis. This time of year,
Salem is usually known for starting to get a bit
spooky as fall moves in, but there's actually a lot
(00:29):
of excitement for another big event that's happening well before that.
In just a matter of days. For a week or so,
the which city will become a haven for book lovers
and aspiring writers. The Salem Litfest is really a citywide
celebration of the written word. They are all kinds of
fun events planned online and in person. We are talking workshops,
(00:50):
panel discussions, author meet and greets, author readings. Joining us
now we have Jean Marie Procius, the executive director of
the Salem Atheneum, romance author Betty Ka and WBZ News
Radio alum and Litfest committee member Diane Stern. It is
great to be with you, ladies. Thank you for being here.
And Jean Marie, let's start with you. The festival is
(01:11):
nothing new. It's been going on for some time for
those of us who might just be learning about it now, though,
give us a backstory here about how this all came together.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Absolutely and be happy to This year is the fifteenth
Salem Literary Festival. But it was actually founded in two
thousand and eight by Cornerstone Books, which was an indie
bookstore in Salem, unfortunately no longer with us. It was
always very much a community collaboration, though the Atheneum had
been involved with it since the beginning. Right now we're
(01:40):
working closely with another independent bookstore, Wicked Good Books here
in Salem, so we keep that tradition alive. But it
really needed a leadership and author Bernonia Berry has a
foundation called Readers and Writers, Inc. And she kind of
took it on for a couple of years, and she
was on the board of the Salem Atheneum at the
(02:01):
time and said, this is really the best fit for
you guys, and we agreed with her obviously, and we
have been running it since twenty seventeen. So it's still
very much a community collaboration with other organizations and some businesses,
but the Atheneum takes on the responsibility for making sure
it happens every year and giving it the funding to
(02:23):
launch it every year until we get those sponsor dollars
and in grants. So that's pretty much where we are now.
We survived through the pandemic. We moved online for two years,
and now we're doing a hybrid, some programs online some
in person because we did gain an audience outside of
(02:44):
Salem during the pandemic, and also it's convenient for some
authors to just join us that way. We have some
international authors that we couldn't afford otherwise to bring in
or didn't have a whole weekend to come just to
Salem even though they want to. They all say they
were going to come visit, and we're like, okay, come
next time.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
Sure.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
We love that because Salem is fun all year round,
even more so for the Literary of Festival for you know,
those of us who love books, reading and writing.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
This year we.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Have more venues and more partners than ever. We have
the Salem State University, we'll be hosting our young adult panels,
and we have a collaborative program called Enduring Hawthorne that's
going to be at the Seven Gables this year. House
the Seven Gables on Friday evening and that program, Enduring
Hawthorne originally started as a marathon reading of the Scarlett
(03:38):
Letter and has now involved evolved into a few other
types of ways to celebrate the writing and legacy of
Nathaniel Hawthorne. And this year we're going to have writers
come and look at the House of Seven Gables and
be inspired and then share their new work and an
open mic on Friday, and then we have sing Dan
(04:00):
Blakesley is going to be presenting a story about young
Goodman Brown, a song excuse me that goes with a
cranky theatrical production. So they'll be visual and music, and
we'll have the open mic. So we're celebrating the traditional
classic literature as well as the brand new because generally
our sessions focus on brand new books that were released
(04:23):
in the last year and a half.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Yeah, speaking of new, this year, you've got that brand
new panel about romance. Now, this is again new to
the Litfest, but romance novels have become super big these days,
it seems, Betty. I'll talk to you about that, because
you're the expert here. I'll talk to you about that
in a second. But jee Marie, why did you choose
to bring that panel on this time around?
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Well, again, we're responding to what our audience is interested in,
and also the quality is there. Like so the Sale
Midfest is really concerned with fine writing and you know,
literature that is relatable and anything any author we bring.
It's kind of like a stamp of approval for the
(05:04):
festival to say, we want everybody to read this because
it's a good read. And we really felt not that
there wasn't romance meeting that criteria before, but this year
it was just overwhelming. We have hyper local authors like
Betty and Jilly Gagnan and Ariana Mather who are right
in our neighborhood, either in Salem or right in the
(05:27):
surrounding towns, with these big major publishing house modern romance
books that are wonderful. So we're like, let's get them together.
And then we have Mary McNabb coming up from the
Cape again another book on that same subject. It just
was kiss meant it worked out. We started thinking about
a few years ago because we had Emily Henry during
(05:47):
the pandemic, right before she got huge, like her romance
books are just enormously popular. So we have this kind
of history of kind of being right on the cutting
edge of what's going on because we make that our
business to know what's going on in the book world.
And we're all huge readers, so that helps. We're following
(06:07):
the trends. We're following the trends. So this year it
was just because Matt like we're doing it. We have
had YA romance panels in the past, but there have
been some really good authors and books trending in the
YA category for quite a while now, so that's always
very popular. And I think also, like with the way
the times are, a lot of escapist reading has been
(06:29):
like spy fiction and murder mysteries, and like romance is
the drama and a little bit of the tension without
the life and death consequences that we have like in
our daily lives we're so worked on. Yes, kind of
like the romance, Like we all need.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
A little love, we need a little love everywhere, Yeah,
we do. I mean, Betty, let's kind of expand on that,
because I think romance sometimes kind of gets a bad rap,
like oh, there's the books you get at the grocery
store check out line, and oh they're just smutty and
this and that and the other thing. But I don't
think it's just that. I think it's so much more
than that. Tell me about how you have watched the
genre essentially evolve to become so popular, and how you've
(07:07):
played a part in that.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
Yeah, so I totally agree. I think the view of
romance books as you know, trashy, smutty grocery store books,
is a thing of the past because the quality is
just so strong now, Like the books are so well
written and they have these complex, smart, funny female characters,
which I think people are really hungry for. What technically
(07:31):
makes something a romance is that it has a happy ending,
and I think people are really hungry for happy endings
right now. I think reading a book knowing you're going
to get that happy ending is comforting, Like you know,
no matter what trials and tribulations happen along the way,
you're going to end up feeling good about the end result.
(07:51):
And I think that's really reassuring, like it mirrors what
we look for in romcom movies. But I think that
these books are just so well written now. They're really
like high quality pieces of literature, and there are so
many of them that it makes sense that the genre
is expanding. I think people are really excited about the offerings.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Yeah, and you're an author, of course, and you're also
kind of an influencer here in the same space as well.
What's that like being a creator in so many different realms.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
In a way?
Speaker 4 (08:21):
Yeah, So before I was an author, I went viral
on TikTok and Instagram, and because of that have been
able to build a really strong bookish community, which I'm
just so grateful for. It's amazing to be connected with
so many readers who are so passionate about reading and
about romance books specifically, and to take them along on
my journey to become an author because it's such a
(08:44):
it's a process people don't know that much about, so
it was fun to take everyone along for the ride.
But the best part is really connecting with people who
are just so passionate about books and stories and the characters.
Like I think the passion for reading is something that
came out of the pandemic because people had a little
more time to read, and it's definitely a huge silver lining.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Diane, I know you're on the committee putting all of
this together. What's it like trying to choose the people
who are going to take part, the writers, the panelists,
so on and so forth.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
It is a lot of fun to begin with, and
as Jean Marie alluded to a moment ago, we're all
avid readers, so we have our antenna up for new
authors different genres, whether it be romance or historical fiction
or fantasy. We really have something for everyone. So we
recommend new books that we've read or heard about. Sometimes
(09:37):
a book will have a lot of buzz and we'll
check that out because we want, as Jean Marie said,
we want to have the latest and the buzziest books
represented at the festival. One example when we put together pianels.
And this is very self serving, but a panel that
I'll be moderating is called found in Translation as opposed
(10:01):
to lost in Translation, And what's exciting about it is
that books in translation bring you to another culture. They
remind readers that people all around the world have these commonalities, feelings, experiences,
and it's so enriching. I'm thinking about Elena Ferranti, who
(10:24):
wrote My Brilliant Friend, who was I think it was
on TV as a series. She's just one example, but
you could go way back to Victor Hugo, who was French,
and you know, if that wasn't translated, hey, you know
it's opening new worlds and just enriching our lives. Another
one I'm thinking of is Hirouki Mirakami, the great Japanese writer.
(10:47):
And if we didn't have translators, we just wouldn't have
these wonderful books. So that's on Thursday, September fifth at
seven o'clock, and we invite everyone to join all of
the panel, but I'd especially like you to join this one.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Please go see Diane and support my friend. Again self
serving that I don't care. It's our show. We can
do what we want. So also I wanted to mention too, Diane.
The online keynote this year is author Geraldine Brooks. I'm
not too familiar with her works, so give us a
bit of insight into who she is, what she's done,
and why you chose her.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Sure, she is a poet surprise winning author. We have
another polit surprise winner for twenty twenty four in biography.
We can get to that later when we talk about
community read. Geraldine Brooks has written. Her recent book is
Horse and it spans from the nineteenth century right to
the present time. It's historical fiction, it's a love story.
(11:47):
It talks about slavery and yes, There are a few
horses in the book Horse, but it's not a book
about horses. It has so much in it. It's just
a fabulous book. So we reached out to her and
she said, sure, you know, I will join you on
Wednesday night. That's our kickoff September fourth, and Bernonia Barry,
(12:10):
Salem's own Bernonia Barry, who's a best selling international author.
She will be in conversation with Geraldine books Brooks. So
we'll hear about the book course, and we'll hear about
her other works and just about the process of writing.
Getting two writers together I think will be fabulous.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Let's talk about the community read for a moment. Jean
Marie Diane just mentioned the community read. This is fascinating
to me. It's been going on for a couple of months.
At this point. You chose a specific book and people
all over Salem and really probably the north Shore even Massachusetts.
Who knows, I've been reading this one book. Which book
has been the choice? And how does this all work?
Speaker 2 (12:50):
So we're calling this program One Book on Salem, and
we're trying to encourage as many people as possible to
read the same book and have the shared ex experience
of reading it together and then coming to join us
on the last day of the festival September eighth, with
the author and Ilion Wu. The book is Master Slave,
(13:11):
Husband Wife. As Diane mentioned, it won the twenty twenty
four Politicer Prize for Biography, and it's excellent. It is
an actual nonfiction book, but it is the narrative nonfiction,
so it's not difficult to read. It's lovely to read.
But all the citations are there if you want to
follow up and do your you know, more investigations after
(13:32):
you read the book. But the idea is we put
these books all over town the public Library, the Sale Methaneum,
and then in the little free libraries all over town
so people have a place to get them. We gave
them a few months to get through the book. We
started launched on juneteenth this year in June, and we've
gone through over one hundred and fifty books free copies
(13:54):
that we gave out, and then we encourage people to
share with their friends after they finished with their copies,
so we know that's happened and we've seen some come
back to the little free libraries and get back in
rec circulation. So the idea is really to just have
this shared cultural moment looking at this one book, So
whether people can actually or want to actually come to
(14:14):
the discussion with the author or not. Like you're in
the coffee shop and you have the book, it has
a sticker on it that says it's part of the community.
Read and someone in the coffee shop probably read it.
Maybe you'll strike up a conversation and talk about it.
That's what we want. We just want to build a
community who want to have people share life experiences because
base of it, we are all human and we can
(14:35):
all relate to each other on some level. That's happening
in a book like these are universal experiences conversation starter.
So that's pretty much the idea. And Diane, did you
have anything to add to that.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
Yes, I'd like to add that we do have a
Spanish interpreter. So Salem has a thriving Dominican population and
other Spanish speakers, and this is a way to open
the tent to more people in the city and around
the north Shore. And we had this same translator last year,
Elsabel Rincon, and she was wonderful. So she'll be joining
(15:10):
us to help facilitate the conversation. And we're very happy
about that.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
I appreciate the accessibility there. That's really important to note.
If you want to bring the community in as a
whole and speaking about the whole community, you need kids
because kids are a big part of the litfest as well.
Tell us about the reading that you've got planned at
the Community Life Center, who's going to be there and
if families want to stop by, what will be there
for them.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
So this year we're adding a new program that will
be at ten o'clock. It's a sensory sensitive story time,
so it's going to be in a smaller room normally
when the Community Life Center are in the Great Hall
and there's lots of kids and lots of families, so
this will be a little bit before for kids that
need us a quieter environment. So Kathy Balloo Mealy is
(15:54):
the author who will be reading her book Make More Snores.
It is a little bit smare reading her book during
that sensory sensitive story time from ten to ten thirty,
and then we're at ten thirty we're going to launch
in the Great Hall, which we'll have Kathy reading again.
We have Lorie Haskins, Howaran, who has a book that's
(16:15):
a biography of Jane Goodall okay, she'll be talking about
that and animals, and then the keynote will be Scott Magoon,
the illustrator and his book is rocket Ship Solo Trip.
He will be giving a presentation and live drawing, and
then after that, which is always very engaging with the kids,
after that they'll be crafts and snacks and it's just
(16:38):
a fun morning, you know, starts a ton. We're all
wrapped up by noon and everybody can go home and
have a nap and.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
So now necessary book.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
It's great, it's great, And a part of that program
is that since Scott is the featured Scott Mgoon is
the featured presenter, his book will be depicted in a
story walk, which is each page of the book will
be on a sign in the Ropes Garden Ropes Mansion Garden,
which is one of the pew of the Essex Museum
(17:08):
Historic properties on Essex Street. So that will be up
all weekend, so families, dog walkers whomever can go look
at every single page of the store, read the story
as they walk along.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
There is a lot happening in the litfest in just
a few days. What's it like putting all this together?
For you and for the rest of the crew.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
It's a lot of fun first of all. Yeah, but
it is the year long process. So we're already we
have our writers that we're looking at for twenty twenty five,
and it's actually pretty tricky to put together. We have
some sessions that we didn't really talk about so much,
but Diane touched on a little bit. Was that on
(17:49):
a theme, So then getting books authors that match on
that theme can be a little tricky. And sometimes we
have it all beautifully planned with four authors that we
want and then two of them can't make it, so
then you're starting over, right, So and sometimes we have
a big long list of people and we're like, oh, no,
how do we put them together?
Speaker 3 (18:12):
Then the lightbulb goes off.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Yes, yeah, and then we just keep referring back to
the books. Then it all works out eventually, but it
is tricky and we have to be strategic. And there
are about fifteen of us right now working on the
committee on all different parts of it. So part of
it is actually the program and then looking at the
different venues that we might be using. And one book,
(18:35):
One Salem, is its whole own animal, and because we
know that book has to be really accessible to a
wide number of people. So when we just left out
this year that it got the Pulitzer Prize and lots
and lots of people think that's a great book.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
So Betty is an author, what's it like for you
to know you're taking part in such a storied institution?
Pun not intended here.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
You know.
Speaker 4 (18:59):
I'm absolutely thrilled. I'm born and raised in Salem, so
I'm so excited to be at the Lit Festival. I
was honored to be asked and can't wait. They have
so many authors that I'm so excited to be able
to meet too, Like as a fan and as a reader,
I think it'll be such a fun time.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
Well, then, Diane, let's get all the important details out
of the way. How can people figure out what's happening?
And where do people have to pay to show up?
So on and so forth.
Speaker 3 (19:27):
Sure? The great thing, one of the many great things
about the Salem Litfest is that it is free. You
do have to register, especially if you're going to a
virtual event online event, because we have to send you
the zoom webinar link, but it's free. Of course. We
do encourage donations if you can. If you can't just
(19:51):
enjoy the festival, and of course you can just go
to Salemltfest dot org, which has all of the information
about the venues, the authors, about the time, you know,
just the nitty gritty. Speaking of time, we have an
evening event on Saturday night that I think is worth
mentioning at the Goolu Cafe and Salem. This is going
(20:13):
to be by a troop of real life audiobook narrators.
So it's going to be a play and I think
the not so subtle hint is the value of real
life narrators as opposed to AI generated narrators. And it's
headed up by Sarah Sheckels, who is an audiobook narrator
(20:33):
and has been for years. I think that's going to
be fantastic. So you can see the variety of our
offerings this year. We're so proud of it.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
Yes, you've got so much to offer, Salemlitfest dot Org
and Jean Marie, you've got some great sponsors helping out
as well to keep this accessible for everybody.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Yes, we do, and you can still become one.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
Oh again, it's Salem.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
Litfest dot org. Everybody's listed on the website and in
our emails and you have our enduring gratitude for supporting
the lip Fest. There's plenty of room for everyone to
get in on the action.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
Thank you all for your time and for being here.
I hope you have a great festival. It sounds like
an incredible event. And again, salemlitfest dot org, thanks for
your time, thank you, thank you for you have a
safe and healthy weekend. Please join me again next week
for another edition of the show. I'm Nicole Davis from
WBZ News Radio on iHeartRadio.
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