Mingle with authors, editors and publishers

The inaugural Connecticut Literary Festival will be Oct. 5

The inaugural Connecticut Literary Festival — a gathering of editors and publishers mingling with the state’s poets, authors and readers — will be Oct. 5 at

Real Art Ways in Hartford.

Some of the state’s best-known writers — Amy Bloom, Margaret Gibson, Frederick-Douglass Knowles II, Okey Ndibe, Marilyn Nelson — will be among the literary crowd at the day of community, networking, panel discussions and readings.

Jotham Burrello, assistant professor of English at Central Connecticut State University and director of Yale Writers’ Workshop, organized the event with CCSU student volunteers.

“We have a lot of siloed communities, everyone doing things in their own town, like schools or boards. I want everyone to get together from all over the state,” Burrello says. “We have a vibrant literary community, from Woodstock to Fairfield, getting together in a central place, to enjoy the day and discover each other.”

Literary festivals in Boston and New York are in multiple large venues and go on for multiple days, Burrello says, calling this festival “Connecticut-sized.”

He also emphasized the festival, which is free and open to the public, is meant to be fun.

“There’s not a keynote speaker or anything like that. It’s a fun festival day, more of a carnival. It’s not to idol-worship one writer. It’s to interact with a lot of them. There will be a commotion of activity.”

Hopeful writers can meet publishers, but Burrello advises against bringing manuscripts.

“Come and meet the people to get a sense of what they publish and see if it is a good fit for you,” Burrello says.

Each room at Real Art Ways will house a different activity:

A Reader’s Marketplace will be in the main gallery, where publishers will set up tables.

In the cinema, there will be two “Theater Talks” held, at which Sloane Crosley (noon) and Amy Bloom (1:30 p.m.) will do talks and sell and sign books.

The video gallery will be a “Tiny Reading Gallery,” with a series of 10-minutelong readings by writers, editors and publishers, as well as representatives from the Friends and Enemies of Wallace Stevens, Hill-Stead Museum, Harriet Beecher Stowe House, Mark Twain House and Museum, Poetry on the Streets and Rockville High School.