Keynote Lecture -- Ruth R. Rogers: Layers of Perception: The Unwritten Language of Artists' Books

Her talk will focus on how we “read” artists’ books by deconstructing them to understand how they affect our perception.

Opening Reception

​

Book and Book Arts Fair is open

Book and Book Arts Fair is open

READERS AND WRITERS, LIVE!

A day-long series of readings, talks and book signings by fiction writers, graphic novelists, poets, children’s book writers & illustrators, publishing and culinary historians, and independent publishers.

There will be demonstrations of letter carving & displays of other books arts, including hand papermaking, custom bookbinding, letter press printing, artist bookmaking. 

Lettercarving Demonstration by Jesse Marsolais

Jesse Marsolais, of Marsolais Press & Lettercarving, of Millbury, Massachusetts,  will demonstrate the classic craft of lettercarving as he carves letters in slate and other stone with a mallet and chisel.

Children's book writers and Illustrators reading from and signing their new books

INCLUDING:

Mordicai Gerstein, The Sleeping Gypsy (Holiday House) and I Am Pan (Roaring Brook Press)

Richard Michelson, Fascinating: The Life of Leonard Nimoy (Knopf Books for Young Readers)

Leslea Newman, Ketzel, the Cat Who Composed (Candlewick Press)

Heidi Stemple, You Nest Here With Me, written with Jane Yolen (Boyds Mill Press)

Jane Yolen, On Bird Hill, illustrated by Bob Marstall (Cornell Laboratory Publishing Group)

Reading by John Crowley

Novelist John Crowley, of Conway, will read from Chemical Wedding by Chrstian Rosencrentz, a November release from Small Beer Press, of Easthampton.

Reading by Tom Nealon

Antiquarian bookseller and culinary historian Tom Nealon, of Roslindale, MA, will read from his first book: Food Fights and Culture Wars: A Secret History of Taste, published by the British Library and Overlook Press. Debauchery! Revolution! Tamales and class identity, carp and the crusades, chili stew and Aztec cannibalism. In this eclectic book of food history, Nealon suggests that hunger and taste are the twin forces that secretly defined the course of civilization. Nealon’s book is a gloriously illustrated history of food, including mythical origin stories, unusual recipes and more. Through war and plague, revolution and migration, people have always had to eat. What and how they ate provoked culinary upheaval around the world as ingredients were traded and fought over, and populations desperately walked the line between satiety and starvation.

Talk by Leonard Marcus and N.C.Christopher Couch

Children’s book historian Leonard Marcus, of Brooklyn, NY,  will talk about his new book: Comics Confidential: Thirteen Graphic Novelists Talk Story, Craft and Life Outside the Box, just published by Candlewick Press,  with N. C. Christopher Couch,  senior lecturer in Comparative Literature, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.  Couch is the author of numerous books and articles on graphic novels and comic art, including The Will Eisner Companion: The Pioneering Spirit of the Father of the Graphic Novel (with Stephen Weiner) published by DC Comics.

Readings by Jedediah Berry, Emily Houk and Holly Black

Nine Pin Press co-editors Jedediah Berry and Emily Houk, and writer Holly Black, will read from Nine Pin’s first three publications: The Family Arcana, a story published in the form of a poker deck;  Cosmogram, an anthology of horoscope stories; and. Zodiac B, by Travis Smith, a debut chapbook, in cards, featuring poems dedicated to constellations stricken from the official register in 1922, including Argo the Ship, Bufo the Toad, Felis the Cat, and a dozen others.

Music of the Heart. Poetry and Fiddle: A Call and Response

Paris Press publisher and poet Jan Freeman, of Ashfield and beloved fiddler Zoe Darrow, of Blandford, will create a musical medley of poetry and original compositions on the fiddle in this original "call & response." Jan will read poems from Blue Structure, just published by Calypso Editions, and other work, and Zoe will perform her original compositions on fiddle in this unique performance celebrating music of the heart. Zoe, longstanding member of The Fiddleheads and the Trio de Pumpkintown, plays the fiddle in her inimitable frenzied style that blends Celtic and old-time fiddling feels somewhat like punk music.