Bratt Lit Fest features award winning and emerging new artists | Entertainment

BRATTLEBORO — The 2025 Brattleboro Literary Festival will feature more than 40 award-winning and emerging writers, with free events open to the public from Oct. 17 to 19.

Location of events includes 118 Elliot Street, Centre Congregational Church, Mitchell-Giddings, Brooks Memorial Library, and the Stone Church.

Highlights include a discussion with authors Tim Weed, Allegra Hyde and Sally Wen Mao on Friday night, poetry with Chard deNiord and Carlene Kucharczyk on Saturday, and Tiya Miles, a winner of the National Book Award and a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award on Sunday.

Featured authors include Ocean Vuong, speaking about his new novel, “Emperor of Gladness”; Adam Higginbotham, a journalist who will discuss “Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space”; Heather Clark, a biographer, literary critic, and novelist, presenting her new novel, “The Scrapbook”; Jonas Hassen Khemiri, a Swedish novelist and playwright; Harry Bliss, nationally syndicated cartoonist and cover artist for The New Yorker; Marcy Dermansky, whose latest book is “Hot Air”; and Martín Espada, a poet with a new collection titled “Jailbreak of Sparrows.”

Sandy Rouse started the festival in 2002, shortly after moving to Southern Vermont from Dallas.

“This year we have a really fabulous lineup,” she said. 

Rouse and a committee of 14 people work all year lining up authors of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and history.

“Literature is a lasting thing,” said Rouse. “When I first started this the intent was to get people to read more and encourage them to think.”

She said good literature is “democratic” in that it allows for differing interpretations and lively discussions.

To see a complete schedule of authors, times and locations, visit brattleborolitfest.org.

Festival headquarters this year will be located in the Brooks House Lobby at 132 Main St. Inside the lobby, the Wild Book Company of Newfane will host a pop-up store with all festival titles, open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day, Coffee, refreshments and information about the festival will also be available in the lobby from Write Action, Brattleboro’s local writer support organization. The lobby also has seating, restrooms and an ATM machine.