GarbanzoFest: The Launch of a Literary Journal in Bethel

Marc Moorash, 36, is often seen around town sporting dark Victorian clothing and a top hat.  He seems to have a flair for the dramatic, and it is carried out in his many activities, most of which seem to revolve around paper and words.  

Through his company Seraphemera, he and his long time love Ava Heydt, 32, are the purveyor of their passion: paper and the words that illustrate it.  Their recent product, a literary journal called, “Garbanzo,” is making it’s debut at a celebration called the GarbanzoFest, to be held this weekend at Molten Java.

The neat little book contains the writings of 43 authors from varying parts of the country.  Unlike most traditionally mass produced books, this custom book might be compared to a carefully bound treasure chest. The book jacket cover is heavy and leathery.  The writings diverse.  

“It’s a book you want to hold; you want to get lost in it,” Moorash said. “The textured paper, you want to run your hands over it.  You cannot get that tactile experience on the internet.”

His partner Heydt is a book designer and an illustrator.  “He does the writing and I do the art. We met in 1995 when I was 15, and we are now a family in Bethel.”

“The book is our chat book design,” Heydt said, referring to their publishing business. “We publish chat books for other authors and artists as far away as Texas and Seattle, and we have a format where everything is hand made.  From the art, to cutting and folding the pages, silkscreening the cover, to the actual assembly, we touch each book about 10 to 15 times throughout the printing process,” she said.

Michelle Bruhn, one of the authors in the book, said, “It’s a really cool book.  It’s interesting to look at.”

This is Bruhn’s first published work, and she said, “I couldn’t have picked a better book for my first publication;  and the editors were so great to work with.  I hope this doesn’t set the bar too high for others as I get further into publishing.”

A handful of authors come from this area, including Danielle Crowell from Bethel,  Malcolm Tent and Michael McSherry are from Danbury, and Larry Simpson from Bridgeport. However, most of the authors, like Bruhn, came from the website, www.NewPages.com. 

“It’s a hub for literary writers,” Moorash said.  “We did a free ad and as soon as we did, we were flooded with submissions. We had about 200 submissions and we chose about 43 different writers.”

“It’s a celebration of words,” Moorash said. 

“It is a labor of love,” Heydt replied.

For details about performers, speakers, and wordsmiths who will take part in the event, times and place information, click on