The episode hits highlights of the upcoming Brattleboro Literary Festival -- Friday October 13 to Sunday the 15th, 2023 -- with our guest, festival director Sandy Rouse who helps host Lissa Weinmann sort through more than 60 writers and various festival events. They discuss how heavy-hitting authors like Tracy Kidder with his new masterpiece 'Rough Sleepers.' We discuss fiction from celebrated authors such as Andre Dubus III, Mary Beth Keane, Jean Kwok, Angie Kim, Holly Black, Kelly Link, Kathleen Alcott, Alejandro Varela, Jennifer McMahon, Margot Douaihy and non-fiction gems from Chloe Cooper-Jones, Ann Hood, Patrick Bringsley, Angela Saini, Neil King Jr. We talk about poetry from Brian Turner, Vermont Governor Madeline Kunin and Diana Whitney, and share news about the Green Writers Press 10 year anniversary party Saturday night, 5pm at 118 Elliot, the two Write Action local writers' group public readings, new bookstores in Brattleboro, address this year's festival theme -- being human in challenging times -- and how 'Rough Sleepers' is the subject of a community read, among other observations.
This episode was produced and hosted by Lissa Weinmann with guest Sandy Rouse. It was edited, composed and mastered by Alec Pombriant and taped at BCTV with help from Van Wiles.
Highlights from the 2023 Brattleboro Literary Festival with Festival Director Sandy Rouse
Host: My name is Lissa Weinman and this is the Brattleboro Words Trail Podcast. It's a special day because we're doing our first interview for the podcast with Sandy Rouse. She is the director of the Brattleboro Literary Festival. The Brattleboro Literary Festival from the very beginning has been an important partner in the Brattleboro Words Project which produces this podcast and the audio tours of places and people important in the history of words in the Brattleboro area. The Brattleboro Literary Festival is running this year from October 13 to October 15, Friday through Sunday. All events are free and open to the public. And this year's festival theme is the story of us, of what it means to be human, the importance of family and friends, and how we're dealing with the issues that we're faced with today. So I'd like to introduce Sandy Rouse. Hi, Sandy.
Sandy: Hi Lissa It's lovely to be here.
Lissa: It's great to have you. Could you tell us a little bit more about how you came to the theme of this year's festival?
Sandy: Well, life today is really overwhelming. And we find comfort in books that almost always make us realize that we're not alone. We're every day confronted with poverty and racial inequality, intolerance and unpredictable violence, urban dehumanization, climate catastrophes and existential uncertainty. And so it's really important that we come together through books, to realize what binds us together and what tears us apart, how books help us sort out our messy imperfect lives. And to remember that we're all in this together.
Lissa: Great. So can you talk about some of the writers who strike you as particularly evocative of this theme of this year's festival. Tracy Kidder obviously comes to mind. He's one of your key writers this year, but there's over 60 writers and they're all incredible. Of course, Tracy’s written 11 books, Mountains Beyond Mountains. And it's interesting that we have him at the center of this theme because his recent book, Rough Sleepers is, is pretty intense. Can you talk about that?
Sandy: Tracy Kidder’s novel Rough Sleepers is about Dr. Jim McConnell, who is a physician out of Boston. He started working with the homeless right after he graduated from medical school. And he never looked back.
Lissa: And what is it about Tracy Kidder’s writing? Mountains Beyond Mountains’ portrait of Dr. Paul Farmer was just so memorable and really transformed, I think, people's thinking about public health. Do you see Rough Sleepers playing a similar role in how we think about the unhoused - the temporarily unhoused?
Sandy: Absolutely. I think that Tracy, really, when he writes about something, he lives it. He spent five years with Dr. O'Connor, five years working with him. And he would go out on the streets with him. So he lived it firsthand. He didn't just sit in his chair and look it up online or whatever, that's what makes his books so exceptional.
Lissa: Tracy Kidder will be speaking on Saturday at 12:30 at the center Congregational Church in Brattleboro and Robbie Gamble is going to be injured.
Sandy: Yeah. Robbie. Interestingly enough, Robbie worked in the same clinic for 20 years as a nurse practitioner. He knew Dr. Jim and he's great. So he's going to be talking to Tracy because he knows the background. He knows the whole story. He knows everything about it. He was there, he lived it.
Lissa: I want to just touch on this some community book event that, you know, around Tracy Kidder’s Rough Sleepers. Could you tell us a little bit about this ‘community read’ that I believe is new this year?
Sandy: It is.
Lissa: And our community, of course, is dealing with its own crisis in terms of the unhoused population, and how we all cope with it. So I think it's a terrific public service that the Literary Festival is doing a community read with this book.
Sandy: Well, the Downtown Brattleboro Alliance has been just such a great partner with this and it was really them that got it sort of off the ground. And we're inviting the public, of course, to come to these events in October and then one in November.
Lissa: But that's apart from the Literary Festival…?
Sandy: …Yes… after the festival, they will be at the library. But there the caveat is, of course, we're not going to try to solve the problem of homelessness.
Lissa: If only you could.
Sandy: If only we could … What we want to do is change the conversation.
Lissa: Well, I would say that's one of the truly delicious things about the Brattleboro Literary Festival is your ability to sort of pair up writers and to create each each talk is like its own event because it's never just, or rarely just one writer, you usually create this alchemy between writers and I wanted you to ask to ask you about the opening night Friday, Friday evenings opening now there's some poetry and Epsilon Spires. But there's also the Friday night event at 22 High Street at Tom Bodett's new space.
Sandy: Friday opening night is fun. We usually have beer and wine for sale there and people come in. It's all a bit lighter not that we don't have a lot of light events, but that one has kind of a party field to it, I guess.
Lissa: And what time does that start? seven o'clock?
Sandy: Yeah.
Lissa: 22 High Street – that's a space that's been developed by another local author Tom Bodett. And he's also involved with the Literary Festival. What's Tom doing with the Literary Festival this year?
Sandy: Tom will be in conversation with Neil King, Jr, who wrote a book called American Ramble. The author was a Wall Street journalist. And during COVID, well, right before COVID, he had cancer. And then COVID came, and he had planned to walk from DC to New York and so…
Lissa: It's probably better than driving. It might take about the same amount of time…
Sandy: Probably so. So he walked from DC to New York, and it took him 28 days. He talked to a lot of people along the way. And he was trying to figure out, like the festival, what's wrong with America right now? Why? Why are we having such a hard time?
Lissa: So that’s two o'clock on Saturday Tom Bodett talking with the writer Neil King Jr. who's walked from Washington to New York. So interesting. Also, in this theme is a book that I've been reading, which is Easy Beauty.
Sandy: Yeah. Why don't you talk about that a little bit? Because that's such a great book.
Lissa: I've been extremely impressed with the writer Chloe Cooper Jones. She deals with the subject of beauty, but she also talks about disability from the point of view of someone who is physically different, and her experience moving through the world with a physical difference. That really provokes some outrageous behavior from the people that she encounters. So it's really an incredible window into how people who aren't perceived as quote unquote normal perceive the world and other people, right. But maybe you could tell us what struck you about Easy Beauty and why you sought to include Chloe Cooper Jones in the literary festival this year?
Sandy: I had seen an interview with her and I was just impressed with her whole story, her, composure, her straightforwardness about everything and she doesn't try to use her disability for any reason she’s just ‘here it is and I can do anything I want to because I have and I did.’ And so that's the story she did all these things, she went to Vietnam, she went to all these crazy places while being in extreme pain all the time. It had to have been really a challenge for her.
Lissa: She describes the importance of attending a Beyonce concert in Italy at one point, and it's just incredible what she goes through there, what she endures. I think her writing is some of the best writing that I've read in a long time, frankly. She's a New York Times magazine writer, and she's also philosophy professor and the philosophical bent is evident, but the writing is so fresh, so straightforward. So moving, I highly recommend that and I'm really looking forward to actually introducing her on Saturday, at the center, Congregational Church at I believe 3:30pm. So that's, that's something that we're looking forward to
Sandy: There’s another hot topic this year. I invited this author a while back, before ‘Barbineimer.’ I invited her a long time ago. I was interested in her book, which is called Patriarchy. What she does is she looks at the history of patriarchy, and how it came about and why, basically, why are men in charge? And it's really fascinating, because when you go back into ancient history, there were a lot of women in charge. And then somewhere along the way that got westernized and moved away from and women suddenly became, you know, housekeepers.
Lissa: Who is the author? And what is the name of her book,
Sandy: Angela Saini. She is a British author, but she lives in New York right now. She's paired with Carrie Baker. Carrie Baker teaches women's studies down at Smith. And she was part of the MS magazine crew. So she definitely knows history, women's history, and she's really knowledgeable. I think it's gonna be a really interesting discussion.
Lissa: Tell me about the alchemy that you've created now then with a former Governor of Vermont Madeline. Coonan who is also speaking, I believe, on Sunday in Latin. Can you tell me a little bit about why Madeline's here and who she's paired with at the festival?
Sandy: She is. She has a new book of poetry. And last time she was here, she was here once before, and she had a memoir. This time, it's poetry. She is a force of nature for sure. She is reading with Richard Michelson, who is a poet out of Northampton and owns Michelsons galleries. And he writes poetry. He also writes children's books.
Lissa: So that'll be exciting. That's new for her. And new for the literary festival to have a public figure like her doing poetry. Can you talk a little bit about, you know, the festival's commitment to highlighting poets, both local and nationally, internationally renowned poets you've had at the festival? Yeah, who's here doing poetry besides Madline this year that you are especially excited about?
Sandy: I would say, probably Brian Turner. He's best known for his book called Hero Bullet. He's a Gulf War veteran and his books are just amazing. So he's really well regarded in the poetry world. Then there's a poet, a poet named Chen Chen who is, as you might guess, Chinese American, and he lives in Rochester, New York. He's received several poetry awards and his poetry is really very funny, actually.
Lissa: Chen Chen – he's paired up with Brian Turner at one o'clock at Epsilon Spires on Saturday.
Lissa: You have an amazing lineup of fiction writers this year at the Brattleboro literary festival. And I'm wondering if you can just highlight a few of them for our listeners. Who were the real heavy hitters in the world of fiction that are going to be there this year?
Sandy: Well, on Saturday, it will be Kelly Link and Holly Black, there's no question about it.
Lissa: Tell us a little bit about them.
Sandy: Kelly writes sort of alternate universe short stories, and Holly is fully driven over to fantasy, but the interesting thing is that there are actual real life friends and they write together. They have a writing group. And then the other thing they have in common is they're both such huge book lovers. Holly has a hidden library in her house. It's like you push a door and it rotates. There's pictures of it. It's crazy. Yeah, I'll show you the pictures they’re amazing.
Lissa: I’ve only seen that in movies (laughter).
Sandy: I know. She has a real one. And then, not to be outdone, Kelly opened a bookstore in East Hampton Massachusetts.
Lissa: Yep. And when are they talking?
Sandy: At two o'clock on Saturday at 118? Eliot.
Lissa: That also sounds really intriguing. There's a lot happening all the time! I don't know how I am going to choose what to see! This is crazy. And who else from the world of fiction are you particularly interested in and what on Sunday for fiction writers
Sandy: Andre Dubus III and Mary Beth Keane. Their books are both about every day, they're about everyday lives. In Andre’s book called Such Kindness, his character loses his job, because he has an accident, a construction accident, and he can't work anymore. And so he's out of work and his marriage starts struggling and then he and his wife divorce. It's just all this stuff, his life, how he's trying to cope with being becoming disabled on the job, which, you know, people don't write about stuff like that. And nobody's better suited to tell that kind of story than Andre because he's an amazing writer and he tends to write about difficult things.
And then in Mary Beth Keane’s book, her husband is a kind of dreamer. He works as a bartender and he has an opportunity to buy the bar and he buys the bar. He's gonna make this huge success out of it. Of course immediately he starts losing money. And it's the whole thing, you know,real life stories. And then Angie Kim and Jean Kwok are also coming, they read right before Andre Dubus at one o’clock.
Lissa: At one o'clock on Sunday. Yeah. Angie Kim and Jean Kwok? Tell us about them.
Sandy: Okay, Angie Kim’s book is… well, the first line in the book says, “We didn't call the police right away.”
Lissa: Oh, I love it already.
Sandy: So the character’s husband and her son go out for a walk. And the son has a neuro divergent disorder – he doesn't talk. So they go out for this walk, they do it every day or every twice a week. I don't know how often it is, but the son comes back without the father and they don't know what's happened to him. A lot of it is about the neurodivergent side of his problems, and then part of it is about what did happen to the father.
And then Jean Kwok's book is about how somebody kidnaps the character’s children and takes them to the US from China. And she comes over and she's trying to find this child. Jean Kwok is best known for her book Girl in Translation, which is an amazing story about immigration from Hong Kong. And that is regarded as one of the best books of that genre ever.
Lissa: I did want to ask you about a couple other writers, just so that we can get a few of these in – like Patrick Bringley…
Sandy: I was gonna bring him up.
Lissa: He's intriguing to me. Tell us a little bit about All the Beauty in the World?
Sandy: Yeah, he was working at the New Yorker. And his brother died unexpectedly. He wasn't prepared for it. So he decided he was going to take some time off to try to deal with his grief. And then he decided he was going to look for a job so that he could just go to work and come home just enough to make money. So he applied for a job as a guard at the Metropolitan Museum. And he would just turn it into an amazing thing. He wound up being there for 10 years. And he wrote a book about it. He wrote a book about working at the Met and and you know, all the ins and outs of the Met.
Lissa: at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Sandy: Yes. And he's going to be talking with Jill Bialosky. Jill is both a poet, a novelist and an editor. She's a senior editor at Norton. Her novel is about a woman who has all these things going on in her life. And the way she deals with it is to go to the Met and she spends hours there.
Lissa: In bed?
Sandy: No, the Met. She goes to the Met.
Lissa: Oh! (laughter)
Sandy: Now don't forget the connection there. (laughter) So yes, she goes to the Metropolitan Museum and she has a wing that she prefers. She spends hours and hours and hours looking at the Greek statues.
Lissa: It's a great atmosphere there, yes.
Lissa: So that's Jill Bialosky and Patrick Bringley, that's 12:30pm on Saturday at 22 High Street. And yeah, his work sounds absolutely fascinating. All the Beauty in the World.
So tell me a little bit about this pairing that you've done at 118 Elliot, with Alejandro Varela, and Kathleen Alcott. They're both fiction writers. That's 11 o'clock on Saturday morning. Tell me a little bit about them.
Sandy: Kathleen, is best known for her novel The Dangers of Proximal Alphabets, which was a huge book. And so this is her first collection of short stories. She's an amazing writer. One of those young writers that are coming up and she's written what – I guess, three novels.
Lissa: I think she wrote America was Hard to Find, which is a really sweeping historical novel of the Cold War and how people were personally impacted by it. I know that was extremely well received. So she's paired with Alejandro Varela and he's also got a short story collection, but was shortlisted for the National Book Award with his debut novel last year.
Sandy: Yeah, his short story collection is People who Report more Stress. And it's a really great collection of stories that are very edgy. A lot of his work deals with gay issues, because he's a gay man, and he is married and by day he's an administrator, by night he’s a writer.
Lissa: Tell me a little bit quickly now Ann Hood.
Sandy: So Ann has a memoir that came out last year called Fly Girl which was a big book. It was a big book. She was a TWA stewardess back in the day when stewardesses were called stewardesses and she talks about the whole process about how she got this glamorous job and she loves to travel, she still loves to travel. She’s with Michael Ruhlmann (her husband). Michael’s new book is called The Book of Cocktail Ratios. So he and Ann are going to be talking together about flying and drinking. I mean, what else is there? Right?
(laughter)
Lissa: That's awesome. That's also 3:30pm at 22 High Street. Yeah.
Lissa: I did want to just give a shout out to some of the local writers that have been participating in the literary festival. And of course, we know Brattleboro is home to many, many writers all year round, not just during the Literary Festival.
Sandy: Diana Whitney has her book launch on Friday night, and she's having a party afterwards and everybody's invited.
Lissa: That's great. What is the name of her book?
Sandy: It's Dark Beds. Dark Beds, Diana Whitney.
Lissa: And what about the Green Writers Press with Dede Cummings.
Sandy: Dede is celebrating her 10th anniversary of publishing for Green Writers Press. And that's going to be another party on Saturday night at five o'clock,
Lissa: Five o'clock at 118 Elliot the 10 year anniversary party of Green Writers Press. They've published a lot of different local writers and not so local writers. They've been very successful carrying on that tradition of publishing, printing and all things writing in Brattleboro. I noticed also that there's a couple of Write Action our local writers’ group Write Action is doing a couple of readings too at seven o'clock on Saturday night and seven o'clock on Saturday
Sandy: On Saturday It's an open reading. Anybody can come just register, anyone can read.
Lissa: Another Write Action event looks like it's going to happen at four o'clock on Sunday to close the festival. That's the right action Spotlight Reading at 118 Elliot. What is that about Sandy?
Sandy: Write Action selects authors in their group who have published something new within the last year. There are six of them I think.
Lissa; So if folks are in from out of town and want to hear some of the current local writing going on, they can close out the literary festival like that. Tell us about the other closing event. The other closing event for the festival closes at four o'clock on Sunday with Allegra Goodman and Daisy Alpert Florin. What are they about?
Sandy: Allegra Goodman is an award winning fiction author. She's written five or six books. She's been here once before. Her new book is called Sam. It's a coming of age book about a young girl who has family problems, like all teenagers do, and she gets involved with rock climbing. And there’s a kind of ‘me too’ thing going on there because her rock climbing coach is maybe not completely hands off…Daisy’s work is a pretty similar story. A college freshman goes away and the first male that she has anything to do with tries to take advantage, he rapes her and she is trying to recover from that. So four o'clock pm at Epsilon Spires to close the festival, two fiction authors that are all about ‘me too’ themes.
Lissa: This is great. Well, I'm really excited about the Literary Festival. It's my favorite weekend in Brattleboro I have to say. I invite friends to come and listen, and we're all excited to branch out and walk around town and to rub shoulders with all of these incredible writers and hear what they have to say. And I just want to say hats off to you, Sandy Rouse for putting this literary festival that’s so important to the local community together every year.
Sandy: Oh, it's not me. It's my whole team. You know, they're great.
Lissa: It's the whole team and we really appreciate it. It really has put Brattleboro on the map as a literary destination, as a literary phenomenon. In terms of the people who live here and the people who like to come here. People here like to read and people here appreciate books. So thank you so much. Is there anything else you wanted to add before we part?
Sandy: Well, my pipe dream is of course to keep the festival going and to do that we need to keep downtown alive and going.
Lissa: Yeah, well, we have a new bookstore coming.
Sandy: There's one on Flat Street that's been there for a year but there's one coming in on Canal Street.
Lissa: So that would make four local bookstores. Wow.
Sandy: Well we’ve had as many as six – we never have too many.
Lissa: Yeah, well, you can never have too many, but some towns don't have ANY, Sandy.
Sandy: That's okay. They can come here.
Lissa: We’ve got them covered, plenty of people and long winters for reading. We're a community of readers. We love books, all things associated with books and writing. And thank you so much to the Brattleboro Literary Festival for keeping that alive and kicking.
Sandy:You're welcome!
Lissa: And we look forward very much to the 2023 Brattleboro Literary Festival again from Friday, October 13 to Sunday, October 15. And you can get the whole lineup and full schedule at Brattleborolitfest.org Thank you so much Sandy, and take care.
END CREDITS: This episode was produced and hosted by me, Lissa Weinmann. It was edited, composed and mastered by Alec Pombriant. It was recorded at BCTV studios with help from Van Wiles. Our guest was Sandy Rouse, Director of the Brattleboro Literary Festival. Thanks for listening and we’ll see you on the Trail!