New literary festival coming to Norfolk

NORFOLK — A new literary festival is coming to Norfolk. Founded by local culture lovers with generous support from the Norfolk Foundation, the inaugural session of the Haystack Book Talks Festival will take place from Oct. 12 to Oct. 14, according to a news release from the foundation.

The weekend-long program will consist of five literary conversations among the 10 writers, critics and environmentalists that will be in attendance. Festival goers won’t want to miss the famed translators Mark Eisner and Jessica Powell discussing the work of Pablo Neruda; bestselling novelist and Special Book Projects Editor for the New York Times Rumaan Alam in conversation with the novelist Angelica Baker about race and class divisions in their latest works; or a panel on global warming with Jeff Goodell, the author of “The Water Will Come: Rising Seas, Sinking Cities, and the Remaking of the Civilized World” and National Magazine Award nominee Julian Brave Noisecat. The full schedule of Book Talks available at www.norfolkfoundation.net /thefestival.

The Festival will also include a Norfolk Historical Society exhibit on one of the earliest publishers of paperback books in the United States, Modern Age Books, founded by Norfolk’s Dick Childs in 1936, and a literary hike on Sunday around scenic Tobey Pond where Laughlin’s iconic independent press was founded in the 1930s.

Attendees can either purchase a full festival pass for $22.50, a Saturday-only pass for $17.50, or they can pay $5 for each individual talk. Most events will take place in the Norfolk town center in the recently opened communal workspace, The Norfolk Hub, or the historic Norfolk Library.

An exciting literary complement to a town whose Chamber Music Festival and Yale School of Art has long supported visual arts and music, The Haystack Book Talks Festival is a wonderful way for visitors and locals alike to celebrate the literary arts during peak leaf season.

For information visit www.norfolk-foundation.net/#hay-stack-book-talks.