Peter Sís is an internationally acclaimed author-illustrator of books for children and adults. He will discuss his latest title, and how it fits in with his overall work, with Carl Atkins, Festival Committee member. Nicky and Vera is true story of the Holocaust written for children but with a message of decency, action and courage …

Peter Sís. Nicky and Vera: A Quiet Hero of the Holocaust and the Children He Rescued Read More »

Ayad Akhtar, Pulitzer Prize-winning author for his play Disgraced, and recently named New Your State Author, blends fact and fiction in his latest work, the story of a Pakistani immigrant and his American-born son in post-Trump America. Homeland Elegies is a deeply personal narrative that explores fault lines that occur in families and countries, and …

Ayad Akhtar. Homeland Elegies Read More »

Russell Shorto, historian and author of Amsterdam and The Island at the Center of the World, turned his research and writing inward with his latest book. In Smalltime: A Story of My Family and the Mob, the author reveals how his grandfather and great-uncle ran the mob in his hometown in Pennsylvania. It’s a story …

Russell Shorto. Smalltime: A Story of My Family and the Mob Read More »

THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELED. Nancy Castaldo turns her own fascination with the natural world into science-themed books that inform and engage children, sometimes calling them to action. Her topics range from saving animals from extinction to the biology of their brains, and from how farms feed us to the vital need to save seeds. …

Children’s Program: Nancy Castaldo. Sniffer Dogs: How Dogs (and Their Noses) Save the World Read More »

Ann Gainer, storyteller and librarian at New Lebanon and Altamont Libraries, will read and discuss with children Peter Sís’s Nicky and Vera: A Quiet Hero of the Holocaust and the Children He Rescued. Nicky was a young Englishman who went to Prague to help refugees from the Nazis; Vera, one of the children he saved. …

Children’s Program: Reading and Discussion of Peter Sis’s Nicky and Vera, with Ann Gainer Read More »

Two historians and authors whose books focus on remarkable women and their roles in WWII will discuss their works with David Highfill, Festival co-chair. A Woman of No Importance tells of an American heiress, injured in an accident, who broke disability and gender barriers to spy for the British and help lead a core unit …

Sonia Purnell. A Woman of No Importance and Clare Mulley. The Spy Who Loved Read More »

A comic artist-author turned serious for the first time with his All the Answers, also the Festival’s first graphic book. It’s a son’s search to understand his father, a child prodigy-turned reserved professor, before dementia robbed the memories. Joel Kupperman was the most celebrated “Quiz Kid,” appearing on the radio and TV series weekly in …

Michael Kupperman. All the Answers Read More »

This event was originally scheduled for Saturday, March 12, but due to the unpleasant weather forecast, we have rescheduled it for the following day, Sunday, March 13. The time is still 2:00pm, Saturday's tickets will be honored on Sunday. Spencertown Academy Arts Center, in collaboration with Chatham Bookstore, presents Dorothy Wickenden, author of The Agitators: …

Dorothy Wickenden in Conversation with Winifred Gallagher: Rescheduled Read More »

Spencertown Academy Arts Center, in collaboration with Chatham Bookstore, presents Dinitia Smith in an event celebrating her new book, The Prince: a Novel. She will be joined in conversation with author Ruth Reichl. In this retelling of The Golden Bowl by Henry James, Smith uses the modern equivalent of the glittering high society setting of the …

Dinitia Smith in conversation with Ruth Reichl on her newly released historical novel The Prince Read More »

Online ticket sales have closed.  Tickets will be available at the  door. The Spencertown Academy in collaboration with The Chatham Bookstore presents Jana Laiz and Alex Portillo for a reading and discussion of their new book, Thirty-Five Days To Baltimore. In 2004, seventeen-year-old Alexis Portillo embarked on a harrowing journey from Honduras to Baltimore in …

35 Days to Baltimore Read More »