Exeter LitFest 2024: Here’s the full lineup of authors and special events

EXETER — Exeter LitFest returns to the downtown with local literary talent and New York Times bestselling authors like Andre Dubus III, Ilyon Woo and Katherine Howe.

This year’s event kicks off on Friday, April 5, with a live jazz concert by Seacoast legend Sharon Jones at the Exeter Public Library from 7 to 8:30 p.m. This after-hours event at the library will feature mocktails by Shelby, snacks, and themed party rooms by literary genre. The concert is free and open to all.

Saturday, April 6, festivities will begin with a Crime and Mystery Writer’s Brunch at Sea Dog Brewing from 10 until 11:30 a.m. This event requires tickets, which can be purchased on the Exeter LitFest website.

LitFest is hosting its first family event this year at 11 a.m. at the Exeter Public Library with children's book authors Matt Tavares and Suzanne Slade in an exploration of children's non-fiction, curiosity, and learning about the world around us. Recommended for ages 5 and up, but the whole family is welcome.

The main slate of author and poet appearances begins in the Exeter Town Hall at 1 p.m. and goes through 5 p.m., with events both upstairs and downstairs. The full schedule with times is available at the Exeter LitFest website and social media.

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Authors Ilyon Woo and Andre Dubus III headline Exeter LitFest

Featured author Ilyon Woo, the New York Times best-selling author of “Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom” will kick off the author events at 1 p.m. The book was one of the New York Times’s “10 Best Books of 2023” and People Magazine’s “Top Ten Books of 2023.” It was also named the best book of the year by The New Yorker, Time, NPR, Smithsonian Magazine, Boston, Chicago Public Library and Oprah Daily.

Keynote author Andre Dubus III will take the stage at 4 p.m. His nine books include the New York Times bestsellers “House of Sand and Fog,” “The Garden of Last Days,” and his memoir, “Townie.” His most recent novel, “Such Kindness,” was published in June 2023, and a collection of personal essays, “Ghost Dogs: On Killers and Kin,” was published this month.

Some of the sessions planned for this year include local poets Michael Brosnan, Kristen Lindquist, and Chelsea Woodard in discussion about their work as well as student poets from Exeter High School. Brosnan’s most recent collection of poetry, “Emu Blis, Bums Lie, Blue-ism,” is a finalist for the Wandering Aengus Book Award. Lindquist’s most recent books are “Tourists in the Known World: New & Selected Poems” (2017) and “Island” (2023), a haiku collection. Woodard’s third collection, “At the Lepidopterist’s House,” won the 2022 Michael Waters Poetry Prize and was released from Southern Indiana Review Press in October 2023.

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Hear from the experts on writing

Curious about what it takes to write a children’s book? Check out the panel discussion with authors Wickie Rowland and Marie Miller, who will discuss the process of writing a children’s book. Rowland is the author and illustrator of three books: NEMA award winner “Good Morning, Strawbery Banke,” “Good Morning, Piscataqua,” and Mom’s Choice gold medal award winner “Finding Forget-Me-Nots: the Story of a Mindful Elephant.” Miller, a music therapist, envisioned turning songs she wrote into “singable” picture books to use in her practice. Her first book — “Where Do You Sleep?” — invites young children to read, sing along or listen to the included MP3 recording.

Amy Grace Lloyd will moderate New England and Fiction it Inspires, a panel featuring Katherine Howe, Caitlin Shetterly, and Adam White. Howe is the author of the New York Times bestsellers “The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane,” “The House of Velvet and Glass,” and “Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty with Anderson Cooper,” as well as several young adult novels. Shetterly is the author of “Modified,” “Made for You and Me,” and the bestselling “Fault Lines: Stories of Divorce.” White’s first novel, “The Midcoast,” was a national bestseller, a New York Times Editors’ Choice, and a CrimeReads Best Book of the Year.

The Boston Globe New Hampshire’s Amanda Gokee will moderate America Today non-fiction panel with authors Sara Petersen and Matt Hongoltz-Hetling. Peterson’s book, “Momfluenced: Inside the Maddening, Picture-Perfect World of Mommy Influencer Culture,” was published by Beacon Press in 2023. Hongoltz-Hetling is the author of “A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear” and “If It Sounds Like A Quack…”

Exeter LitFest puts the spotlight on literary talent

The Exeter LitFest aims to shine a spotlight on the wealth of local talent in the Exeter area as well as bringing in featured authors and poets from the region. Events at the literary festival, held in the historic Exeter Town Hall, are always free and open to all.

Held for the first time in 2019, the Exeter LitFest is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that hosts an annual event the first weekend of April. The inaugural festival included a keynote by “Da Vinci Code” author Dan Brown, as well as events with Joe Hill, Brendan Dubois, and NH Teen Poet Laureate Cate Dixon.

For updates on the 2024 Exeter LitFest, including the schedule, follow Exeter LitFest on Facebook and Instagram or visit exeterlitfest.com.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Exeter LitFest 2024: Here’s the full lineup of authors, special events