The two day festival, a collaboration of the Beacon LitFest Committee and Howland Cultural Center, will feature a stellar line up of award-winning writers, poets, and playwrights, workshops, and cameo appearances by NYT and NPR Puzzlemaster Will Shortz and accomplished actor and producer Emily Mortimer.

The Beacon LitFest Committee and the Howland Cultural Center (HCC) in Beacon, NY, announce the inaugural Beacon LitFest scheduled for the weekend of June 17 and 18. Saturday will feature an all-day program of exceptional writers, poets, and playwrights and include provocative literary conversation, staged performances, and guest appearances by NYT and NPR Puzzlemaster Will Shortz and accomplished actor and producer Emily Mortimer.

A book-signing, first edition book gifts, and cocktail hour will follow. On Sunday, the Beacon LitFest@HCC will offer writing workshops with master instructors.

On Saturday June 17th, the main program begins at 11am and will end at 5pm, with a midday lunch break. It will feature special guest New York Times and NPR puzzler Will Shortz in conversation with bestselling author Danielle Trussoni. They’ll discuss her hotly anticipated thriller, The Puzzle Master, which has already garnered the 2023 Prix Bete Noire des Libraires and American Booksellers Association Indie Next awards, which Booklist calls “a sure-fire hit.” 

Novelist Laura Sims will introduce her new, razor-sharp suspense novel How Can I Help You and discuss the development of her critically acclaimed novel, Looker, for television with her guest, the award-winning actor, screenwriter, and producer Emily Mortimer. 

Poet and editor Martine Bellen will read from her new release An Anatomy of Curiosity and cultural activist, educator and anthologist Patricia Spears Jones will share work from A Lucent -Fire, Pain Killer and others. 

Indran Amirthanayagam poet and translator will read from his latest Ten Thousand Steps Against the Tyrant. Nonfiction writers, Donna Minkowitz (Growing Up Golem, Ferocious Romance), Ginger Strand (The Brothers Vonnegut, Flight) and Jamie Price, PhD (The Call) will share sometimes subversive research methods when writing about major social and political topics.

Unique to the Beacon LitFest is the inclusion of playwriting as a literary art. Award-winning UK and US Playwrights Nigel Gearing and Charlotte Meehan will discuss the form and function of language in dramatic works. 

A book signing will include a free first edition copy of Trussoni’s The Puzzle Master with any book purchase, and a cocktail reception will follow Saturday’s activities to allow writers and audience members to mingle. 

June 18th Program for Beacon LitFest

On Sunday June 18, at 10am, 12pm, and 2pm, Beacon Litfest@HCC will offer three consecutive live writing and storytelling intensives, limited to 10 participants each. The workshops, led by notable Hudson Valley writers, include: Live Writing-A Poetry Project with poet and curator Ruth Danon, PhD; Is It Memoir? Is It Fiction? with journalist and memoirist Ken Foster; and From Stage to Page: Adding Drama to Narrative with Dramaturg, writer and producer, Shane Bly Killoran. “Our plan with this festival is to highlight Beacon’s growing literary community and expose audiences to fresh and thought-provoking work, says Dr Hannah Brooks, LitFest co-producer and Howland board member.

Lead-in LitFest programs have included sold out presentations of “The Vagina Monologues” staged in collaboration with Hit House Creative and “Hudson Valley Poets Present” produced with Live-Writing: A Project for Poetry.

Howland Cultural Center and BLF support diverse voices in panelists and audiences and are committed to inclusivity and access to cultural participation. American Sign Language translation is being provided for the main program and a percentage of tickets and workshop seats to community members of limited means. “Our goal,” says Howland President Theresa Kraft, “is building true community--the arts help us get there.”

The Howland Cultural Center, the city’s former library and known today as the ‘Jewel of Beacon,’ is located at 477 Main St in Beacon, NY. Tickets for the Saturday and Sunday events are available to the public at howlandculturalcenter.org or at the door.