GREATER NEWBURYPORT – For the last 20 years, spring here has been a time to celebrate books and readers. From Friday, April 25 through Sunday April 27, this year will be no different as the Newburyport Literary Festival celebrates “The Importance of Being a Reader.”
The festival that attracts hundreds of avid readers will feature a strong lineup of authors and poets appearing in-person on Friday night and all day Saturday, while steaming authors from here and around the world on-line on Sunday.
Vicki Hendrickson, the genius who started and built the festival, is handing the torch to the next generation, which includes her children.
Leslie Hendrickson, the chair of the programming committee who will interview her historian/journalist father Dyke Hendrickson for his memoir, Fading Ink. Drew Hendrickson, an excellent tennis player himself, will interview Christopher Clarey, the West Newbury biographer of tennis greats Roger Federer and Raphael Nadal.
Jill Gross and Paula Breger have stepped up to be co-chairs of the festival, bringing new ideas as well as celebrating the past two decades of organizers and sponsors.
To honor Vicki Hendrickson, the festival has created a contest to award a $1,000 college scholarship.
In its first year, 16 students have applied for the scholarship, writing essays about becoming a reader, Jill Gross said. Vicki Hendrickson is reading the essays and will select the winner that will be announced at the high school’s Scholarship Night on May 21.
In addition, Sue Little, founder and owner of Jabberwocky Book Store in the Tannery, will be honored for her years of promoting books, in general, and the festival in particular. This year, she is handing the reins of her iconic store to Eric Hoel, her son, who is an author himself and a neuroscientist.
The festival also plans to expand beyond one weekend. It has started hosting events, designed to raise funds for the festival and keep the excitement about books and reading going all year, Gross said.
Its first event on March 16 drew 60 people to the second floor of the Joy Nest restaurant in the Tannery to listen to Catherine Newman, the New York Times bestselling author of the memoirs Catastrophic Happiness and Waiting for Birdy and other books for a variety of ages.
Gross said she expects to offer several similar events in the coming year, providing space for enthusiastic readers to gather in “a beautiful place” to talk about books and writing.
The 20th festival will open at 6 p.m. on Friday night at the Firehouse Theater with Dawn Tripp discussing her book, Jackie, A Novel with Kate Clifford Larson. Dinner will be at The Grog, 13 Middle St., for $25, the only event that is not free.
Tripp, who writes from a first-person perspective about Jackie Kennedy Onassis’ many lives, public and private, will be joined in conversation by historian Kate Clifford Larson, the author of Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter and an upcoming biography of Ethel Skakel Kennedy, Jackie’s sister-in-law and Bobby Kennedy’s wife.
Saturday opens at 8:30 a.m. in the Central Congregational Church with the annual Breakfast with the Poets, featuring the Powow River Poets, Al Basile, Mary Hills Kuck and Anton Yakovlev reading their works with Owen X. Grey moderating.
Six venues in downtown will host the authors who include Robin Bernstein, Freeman’s Challenge: The Murder that Shook America’s Original Prison for Profit; Alison Espach, The Wedding People; Courtney Sullivan, The Cliffs; Alan Lightman, The Miraculous from the Material: Understanding the Wonders of Nature; Joan Wickersham, No Ship Sets Out To Be A Shipwreck; Martin Espada, Jailbreak of Sparrows; and Rachel Hadas, Ghost House.
The festival takes on several far-reaching topics, including the roles black and white women have played in society. There will be a rousing panel discussion about banning books at 2;30 p.m. at Jabberwocky Book Store, moderated by Sue Little. Authors Dana Alison Levy, Not Another Banned Book, and Kirsten Miller, Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books, look at the issues around free speech and who can read what.
Women as entrepreneurs will be the topic of discussion led by Debra Michals, an associate professor and chair of the Department of Humanities at Merrimack College. A 20th century women’s historian, her published work includes She’s the Boss: The Rise of Women’s Entrepreneurship Since World War II.
The award-winning Newburyport Black History Initiative will conduct a walking tour of the interpretive signs installed downtown that tell the stories of Black Americans, including domestic servants, mariners, barbers, soldiers, lawyers and activists in Newburyport from the pre-Revolutionary War era to the early 20th century. The tour, led by Geordie Vining and Cyd Raschke, two of the three co-founders of the Initiative, will begin at 3 p.m. at Brown Square, across from City Hall.
Close out Saturday at the Firehouse at 7 p.m. to Celebrate the Importance of Being a Reader.
“Join us for an evening of readings and conversation to celebrate two decades of bringing authors and book talks to Newburyport. Festival founder Vicki Hendrickson and Sue Little will be honored for their years of community service, and we will hear readings from local authors and by the late short-story master Andre Dubus,” the web site states.
After a long day walking on Saturday, kick up your feet on Sunday and enjoy more stimulating presentations that can only be accessed on Zoom. Be sure to register at the festival website.
A complete list of events and authors can be found on the festival website: http://newburyportliteraryfestival.org.
