A literary festival in western Massachusetts is turning ten.
Each March for the past decade, students, professors and the public have been convening at Amherst College for LitFest - several days of readings, screenings and talks, featuring the work of students, faculty and guests.
Jen Acker, LitFest’s director and Editor-in-Chief of The Common, a literary magazine based at the college, tells WAMC the festival has only grown as it features speakers and authors across genres – part of a partnership with the National Book Foundation
“It's the celebration of the written word. It's a multi-genre festival that is meant to include writers and writing of all kinds, from fiction to nonfiction - as well as poetry,” she said in a phone interview. “We're really just trying to build community around literature. This is what we are excited about, we want to bring people together who love books.”
Past notable guests include Carmen Maria Machado, Zadie Smith and Michael Chabon.
This year, Pulitzer-prize winning poet Brandon Som, author Teju Cole and poet Paisley Rekdal are among the guest speakers.
One of the big ticket events: a panel discussing the making of the 2023 film “American Fiction,” featuring writer and director Cord Jefferson, Percival Everett, whose 2001 novel “Erasure” was adapted for the film, and Amherst College grad Jeffrey Wright – the film’s lead actor.
The panel is scheduled for Friday at 5, with film screenings throughout the weekend.
There’s also another special guest, appearing Sunday – the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Tony Fauci will appear at one of the festival’s final events, featuring another Amherst College alum, Cullen Murphy, editor-at-large for “The Atlantic.”
“… we'll be talking about his memoir ‘On Call,’ which he published recently, which is a story of his life as a physician in public service, and of course, running the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, not least during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Acker added.
That’s on top of a spoken word poetry slam for students on Thursday night, special screenings of “Basquiat” at nearby Amherst Cinema – Wright’s first leading role in which he portrays the famous underground artist - and other events.
Acker says as a community staple, the festival aims to serve all of those who attend, both town and gown.
“Reading is so often a solitary activity, and I think so many of us who love to read and love books - especially this time of year the dead of winter - are sort of eager to crawl out of our shells and talk to other people about the things that we love, the things that we're excited about,” she said. “And so, LitFest is really conceived as a bright light in the middle of winter for people to come and express their inner nerds and to be curious people who love the life of letters and just want to talk about works of literature.
While a number of events are already sold out, the public can still register for LitFest events on Amherst College's website.
