Writerly Happenings: October Edition

Beloveds, it’s been a long, long time since we last met here; I hope you are all well and surviving if not all the way to thriving.  So there’s much to catch up on. What did you read and love this summer? My summer reading favorites were:  Office of Historical Corrections by Danielle Evans (who is an extremely talented writer), Interior, Chinatown by Charles Yu (innovative structure for a novel-as-screenplay), and The Porpoise by Mark Haddon (trigger warning in an Ancient Greek kind of way). 

I just finished The Matrix by Lauren Groff, which, oh my goodness, knocked my socks off and also made me feel slightly self-conscious that I was reading about nun sex in a public place. Currently reading Fault Lines by Emily Itami which may veer too far into the sad mommy genre, but also delivers whoppers like “It’s hard to remember who you are without people who know you that way.”

I took an amazing field trip over the summer to Hobart, NY – the used bookstore lover’s dream. Made me incredibly grateful we have Binnacle Books here in Beacon with their used book selection, but how great would it be if there were, say seven more used bookstores?

So what’s happening this month in the world of literary pursuits? 

The Howland Library has a great program set up for October: Stop by at any time starting Friday, October 15th to pick up a cookbook titled, "Vietnamese Food Any Day: Simple Recipes for True, Fresh Flavors" by famed chef and author, Andrea Nguyen. FREE! 2021 Big Read's chosen title is the graphic novel memoir "The Best We Could Do" by Thi Bui. The memoir follows a family's journey from Vietnam to America and is being discussed on October 20th outside in Memorial Park. 

Split Rock Books in Cold Spring has a couple of great events lined up this fall, as well as their graphic novel and fiction book clubs which meet at the end of the month. Their fiction pick is one that has been on my list: Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead: A Novel by Olga Tokarczuk, and translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones.

Over the bridge in our sister city is the Newburgh Literary Festival at the end of the month. I’m so happy to see this event return, it was so fantastic the first year it happened. The festival will begin Saturday, October 30 at 11am with a full day of readings, interviews, and conversations with eight featured writers. Sunday, October 31, will feature a series of in-person writing workshops with award-winning, Hudson Valley-based authors and artists. The Saturday event, which has been curated by writers Ruth Danon and Belinda McKeon, will include paired readings and moderated conversations and will feature an in-conversation event with Joe Donahue, host of The Book Show and The Round Table on WAMC, Northeast Public Radio. We stan for Joe Donahue!

Here in Beacon, our very own Donna Minkowitz is putting on Lit Lit, a monthly writer’s salon at Homespun Foods on Main Street. This month the reading is October 7th, from 7-9pm, and going forward will meet the first Thursday of every month, with Friday as the rain date. Writers can read their own writing of any genre, up to five minutes in length.

Zoom Readings?!

If you want to attend some killer zoom readings with famous authors, may I suggest The Writing Institute at Sarah Lawrence, who has some heavy hitters booked for later this month and November. If you want to take a workshop, The Poetry Project in NYC has some really far-out offerings coming up. The Hudson Valley Writer’s Center has a number of readings and workshops, including a Legend of Sleepy Hollow family storytelling workshop on October 17th that looks like a lot of fun.

Here’s to cozy reading and blue skies and bright leaves for the next little longer, friends. I promise not to let it be so long before we meet again.

Writerly Happenings: An Ode To Autumn Reading And Safe Harbors' Newburgh Literary Festival

Nicole Homer

Whatcha reading?

My daughter, 8, is sitting next to me at Trax on a beautiful Sunday morning reading McMummy by Betsy Byars for a book report and it’s really pretty deep. I’m feeling the sweet and sad parallels between the vegetable mummy disintegrating into green scraps and the main character’s feelings of loss around the inherited box he has of his dad’s things. Deep!

I’m reading a new book of poetry I special ordered from Binnacle Books. It’s called Pecking Order by Nicole Homer and it’s about race and motherhood and I’m loving it. The book is published by Write Bloody, which seems like a pretty rad, scrappy press and I’d like to read more of their authors. 

Also, Homer’s poem “Underbelly” is deeply affecting and totally worth a read on poets.org: 

“Let me say it 
another way: I like to call myself wound

but I will answer to knife. “

Well, dang. 

So – here’s to super lovely Hudson Valley blue skies full of wispy clouds and crisp breezes that keep the sun from being too hot, and some stupendous upcoming events to make it all come together this fall like caramel and apples.

Safe Harbors’ Newburgh Literary Festival

This edition of Writerly Happenings is going to mostly focus on the Safe Harbors’ Newburgh Literary Festival this coming weekend, Friday to Sunday, October 18 to 20!

This is an amazing new festival coming to our area, and there’s so much to celebrate! The festival is organized by Safe Harbors board member Hannah Brooks and novelist and memoirist Danielle Trussoni - two Newburgh neighbors who wanted to build an event around all of the writers that have been more recently drawn to our neck of the woods, and draw some talent up from the city as well.

“The word was in the air,” said Hannah when I recently asked her about their motivation for creating this event. They reached out to Atlas Studios, who had recently started the Spring Street Reading Series with Ruth Danon, as well as the Newburgh Free Library, and the organic process moved very quickly from there. Always a good sign you are on the right track!

So - what does the literary festival have in store for us? 

Mitchell Jackson

Friday Night

Friday night at 6:30 pm at Atlas (11 Spring St., Newburgh) there’s a reading and reception featuring author Mitchell Jackson, winner of the Whiting Award and the PEN/Hemingway Award for debut fiction.

Also reading will be poet Gretchen Primack, whose work has been published in The Paris Review, Prairie Schooner, Ploughshares, The Antioch Review and many others. I’m going to miss this and I’m so sad about it I could cry. Please go in my stead, sweet readers.

Saturday Day

Safe Harbors will host the Festival’s Main Event on Saturday, October 19, from 2 to 6 pm at the Ritz (107 Broadway, Newburgh), with a robust, full-day program of readings, interviews, podcasts, film clips and Q&A with nationally-recognized authors and poets.

Among them will be Maria Dahvana Headley, creator of The Mere Wife, the celebrated and politically topical adaptation of Beowulf; Molly Ringwald (!!!), actor and author of the critically acclaimed story collection When it Happens to You; Bettina “Poet Gold” Wilkerson, Dutchess County poet laureate; Edwin Torres of Nuyorican Poets Café; and award-winning novelists Panio Gianopoulos, Danielle Trussoni, Crystal Hana Kim, and Elizabeth (Betsy) Crane. 

Saturday Night Cocktail Reception & Local Authors Fair

A cocktail reception and Local Authors Fair from 6 to 8 pm will follow the day’s events. Tickets are $20 available online and at the door the day of the event. Students, $10 at the door with valid ID.

Sunday Day

Sunday, October 20, will feature two live-writing workshops that are almost sold out already: First, How to Tell the Story of Your Life, led by novelist and memoirist Danielle Trussoni at Safe Harbors Ann Street Gallery, 104 Ann St., Newburgh, 10 am to noon; and Surprise Yourself; Surprise Your Reader, with poet Ruth Danon at Atlas Studios Gallery, 11 Spring St., Newburgh, 1 to 3 pm. Tickets are $25 per person, per workshop.

Special Note For Friday and Saturday

Also on Friday and Saturday, from 11 am to 5 pm, the Ann Street Gallery at 104 Ann St., will present TEXT, a group exhibition of text-based art. 

Safe Harbors is all about community engagement and blocks of tickets have been provided to area high school and college students. This is an inspiring program on so many levels.

“So I’ll see you there, babies, with bell jars on. ”

— Phoebe Zinman

AND if you needed any more motivation, local merchants and restaurants will be offering discounts throughout the weekend for Festival attendees.

So I’ll see you there, babies, with bell jars on. Let’s support this inaugural event in the hopes that not only does it become a regular thing, but the ongoing smaller and inclusive projects that the organizers hope to be able to fund throughout the year can come to fruition.

Speaking of fruition, let’s see these other notable happenings blossom! 

Happening At This Side Of The River

Hatched In The Drift, works by Mariam Aziza Stephan and poetry by Julia Johnson.
Photo Credit: No. 3 Reading Room and Photo Book Works

No. 3 Reading Room and Photo Book Works in Beacon has a pretty special exhibit up this month: Hatched In The Drift features works on paper by Mariam Aziza Stephan and poetry by Julia Johnson. 

Local author Virginia Sole-Smith will be conversating with Nicki Sizemore on Friday, October 25, at Split Rock Books in Cold Spring about Sizemore’s new cookbook, Fresh Flavors for the Slow Cooker. My crock pot saves my family from starving on a fairly regular basis, so this seems not to miss.

On Saturday, October 26, the Desmond-Fish Library in Garrison has the Hudson Highlands Poetry Reading Series from 1:30 to 2:30 pm. 

Coming In November!

And just in case we don’t get back here before (Second) Saturday, November 9, from 3 to 5 pm the Beahive on Main Street in Beacon will present writers Ken Holland and Maceo J. Whitaker to celebrate the book launch of Maceo's debut collection of poems, Narco Farm.

Sigrid Nunez

Slightly farther afield, on November 11th Bard College presents a reading by National Book Award winner Sigrid Nunez. That’s a treat, not a trick.

Speaking of tricks, double check all your candy, hide all the wrappers, and soak up that glorious sun while you can. 

How To Ride The Newburgh-Beacon Ferry During The Special Trial Weekends In September and October

IMPORTANT FERRY INFO
DATES:
Saturday and Sunday, September 28 and 29
Saturday and Sunday, October 18 and 19
TIMES:
Saturday: 10 am to 5 pm
Sunday: 10 am 4 pm
DEPARTURE: Boat leaves Newburgh at the top of the hour. Boat leaves Beacon at the half hour.
BOAT DOCKS:
Newburgh: Newburgh Washington Street Boat Launch (2 Washington Street)
Beacon: Beacon Institute Dock, located on the Beacon waterfront by the Metro-North train station.
Note: this is not the regular MTA dock, but is next to it.
Pro-Tip! There is a free public bus called the G Loop that runs Monday to Saturday, and will whisk you up the hill to Main Street. It even passes Barb’s Butchery. It runs on a train arrival schedule, and does not run on Sundays.
COST: $2, cash only

A lifestyle experiment is in place, and you can be a part of it. The Cities of Beacon and Newburgh, as well as Dutchess and Orange County are thinking that the people of this area may benefit from increased ferry service between Beacon and Newburgh, so have set up ferry service for two weekends and you’re invited to try it.

According to the initiative’s press release: “This service will help determine whether there is enough interest and traffic for a more regular service. Other benefits of increased service are allowing both cities to attract more regional tourism, allow for easier exchange for local residents to access strong job markets and entertainment, and forge innovative relations between City of Beacon and Newburgh.”

Here’s how you can ferry across the Hudson River on September 28 and 29 for Beacon’s Spirit of Beacon Day and for Newburgh’s Open Studios, and then again on October 19 and 20 for Beacon’s Annual Car Show, and Newburgh’s Literary Festival:

The Ferry Boat and Dock Are Different Than The Usual MTA Ferry

Because this is an experiment, a relationship with the The Hudson River Maritime Museum was initiated so that they could charter the boat, and not go through the MTA. The Hudson River Maritime Museum designed and built a solar-powered tour boat called the Solaris, which is the only 100% solar-powered boat in operation on the Hudson River. It does not require fossil fuels to operate. According to the museum’s website: “This vessel can travel up to 50 miles at night without the use of her solar panels. Even on cloudy days, the solar panels are so efficient that they continue to power the batteries.”

The boat can carry 28 passengers at a time. Service is first-come, first-serve, and costs $2 exact change, one-way. Cash only, no credit can be accepted.

Who Made This Ferry Experiment Happen?

According to the press release: “This effort was a joint effort by the Cities of Newburgh and Beacon and Orange and Dutchess Counties, with costs shared between Orange County and Dutchess County under a tourism initiative.” A Little Beacon Blog did a deep-dive article to discover more about why this experiment is so important, and the factors considered in implementing it.

For more information, please contact:

City of Newburgh Department of Planning and Development, Alexandra Church, planning@cityofnewburgh-ny.gov or (845) 569-9400

City of Beacon City Administrator Anthony Ruggiero, MPA, at aruggiero@cityofbeacon.org or (845) 838-5009.

Orange County Planning Department, planning@orangecountygov.com or (845) 615.3840.