Exeter Literary Festival

The Exeter Literary Festival returns April 4 for a daylong celebration of New England’s rich literary history. The free event brings together authors, poets, and readers for public events throughout the day at Exeter Town Hall in downtown Exeter from 12 - 5 pm. The Festival opens with a commissioned poem by Boston poet Durane West and features keynote talks by physicist and author Chanda Prescod-Weinstein and novelist and memoirist Catherine Newman.

The festival highlights writers from Exeter and across the region through readings, conversations, and panel discussions that explore literature’s power to illuminate—from the cosmos to the complexities of everyday life.

“The Exeter Literary Festival celebrates the long literary tradition of Exeter and the New England region,” says Katie Adams, chair of the Exeter Literary Festival committee. “By bringing together established and emerging writers and poets, we hope to create a space where people can experience the power of language, ideas, and storytelling.”

The schedule of events includes:

·10 am: Reading with picture book author and Illustrator E.B. Goodale at the Exeter Public Library, 4 Chestnut St.

·Noon: Poetry reading by Durane West, poet and descendant of Exeter abolitionist poet James Monroe Whitfield, at Exeter Town Hall. West’s poem was commissioned in honor of America 250.

·Noon: Keynote by Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, author of The Edge of Space-Time: Particles, Poetry, and the Cosmic Dream Boogie, in conversation with Dr. Summer Merrill.

·1:30 pm: Writing the American Story: Historians Brooke Barbier, Kabria Baumgartner, and Caleb Gayle.

·1:30 pm: Conversation with Poets Sara Deniz Akant and Myles Taylor, hosted by Diannely Antigua, featuring poets from Exeter High School. Held upstairs in Exeter Town Hall.

·2:45 pm: Worlds on Fire: Climate and Fiction with Julie Carrick Dalton, Nick Fuller Googins and Andrew Krivak.

·4 pm: Keynote by Catherine Newman, author of Sandwich and Wreck, in conversation with novelist Lara Prescott.