• Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to secondary sidebar

New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

  • Email
  • RSS
  • Adirondacks & NNY
  • Capital-Saratoga
  • Mohawk Valley
  • Hudson Valley & Catskills
  • NYC & Long Island
  • Western NY
  • History
  • Nature & Environment
  • Arts & Culture
  • Outdoor Recreation
  • Food & Farms
  • Subscribe
  • Support
  • Submit
  • About
  • New Books
  • Events
  • Podcasts

Adirondack Festivals Celebrate Writers and Readers

August 14, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Kickass Writers FestivalThe Tri-Lakes region of the Adirondacks will celebrate writers, readers, and storytellers of all ages in two concurrent festivals on August 19th and 20th in the neighboring communities of Lake Placid and Saranac Lake.

On August 19th and 20th, the Adirondack Center for Writing will present the first annual Kickass Writers Festival in locations all over Saranac Lake. Sponsored by over a dozen local organizations and businesses, this festival will include readings, workshops, talks, publishing programs, special performances, a book fair, attendee speed dating, and more. Featured speakers include Pulitzer-prize winning playwright/novelist Ayad Akhtar, and Silvia Vasquez-Lavado, the first openly gay woman to climb the world’s seven highest summits, whose story is being turned into a film staring Selena Gomez.

The Kickass Writers Festival will kick-off Friday at Pendragon Theater with the 2021 New York State Poet, Willie Perdomo. He is expected to be introduced by former New York State Writer Russell Banks along with the award-winning poet Chase Twitchell. This program is a partnership with the NY State Writers Institute in Albany and is free and open to the public.

On Saturday, August 20th, John Brown Lives! and numerous community partners will host the first Adirondack Family Book Festival at the John Brown Farm State Historic Site in Lake Placid. Among the dozen invited authors and artists are several Newbery and Caldecott honorees and New York Times bestsellers who will meet their fans, read aloud, and talk about their work.

Saturday’s events include an author bookfair at the SL Free Library from 11 am to 4 pm, and a keynote talk at 4:30 pm, at BluSeed Studios, by author, mountaineer, and social entrepreneur, Silvia Vasquez-Lavado whose debut memoir, In The Shadow of the Mountain tells her story of being the first climbing the world’s 7 highest peaks in her quest to overcome childhood sexual abuse and addiction. The book is being turned into a film starring Selena Gomez. The festival will conclude with the popular Howl Story Slam, held at the Waterhole at 7:30 pm, hosted by LA-based comedia, Greg Barris. Tickets are $25.

The daylong Adirondack Family Book Festival will be held outdoors, under tents and open skies, at the John Brown Farm from 10 am to 4 pm, and is free and open to all.

Adirondack authors Kate Messnew, Maxwell Eaton, Amy Guglielmo, and Benjamin Giroux will be joined by, among others, Kekla Magoon, whose YA nonfiction book Revolution in Our Time about the Black Panther Party was a 2021 National Book Award finalist; Jason Chin, winner of the 2022 Caldecott Medal for his illustrations in Watercress by Andrea Wang; Rajani Larocca, whose Red, White, and Whole for middle-grade readers was the winner of the runner-up Newbery Honor; and Lina Sue Park is the author of many books for young readers, including the 2002 Newbery Medal winner A Single Shard and the NY Times bestseller A Long Walk to Water. For A full list of authors and illustrators click here.

For more information visit the Adirondack Center for Writing website.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Arts, Events Tagged With: Adirondack Center for Writing, Lake Placid, Saranac Lake

About Editorial Staff

Stories written under the Editorial Staff byline are drawn from press releases and other notices. Submit your news to New York Almanack here.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Help Support The Almanack

Subscribe to New York Almanack

Subscribe! Follow the New York Almanack each day via E-mail, RSS, Twitter or Facebook updates.

Recent Comments

  • Anthony St Phillips on War of 1812: Carrying the Great Rope
  • Kenneth Boede on When Sullivan County Was A Sportsman’s Paradise
  • Robert Hunt on Westchester County’s Katharine Harrison, Accused Witch
  • Lisa Nevins on Westchester County’s Katharine Harrison, Accused Witch
  • Nancy Begley Pennell on Irish Immigrant, Medal of Honor Winner Terrence Begley Being Honored in Albany
  • arc skuta on MicroHistory and Migration: From Moltrasio to London, New York and Montreal
  • Nancy Robinson on Former Saratoga and North Creek Railway Purchased
  • Bernard McCann on Zoar Valley Improvements Update
  • Arlene Steinberg on Record Broken for Oldest Bear Hunter
  • Pam Malcolm on Raines Law, Loopholes and Prohibition

Recent New York Books

The Motorcycle Industry in New York State
Unfriendly to Liberty
weeds of the northeast
Putting Out the Planetary Fire: An Introduction to Climate Action and Advocacy
Seneca Ray Stoddard An Intimate Portrait of an Adirondack Legend
rebels at sea
The Great New York Fire of 1776
politics of trash
Indivisible
Virginia Venture Misha Ewen

Secondary Sidebar

Mohawk Valley Trading Company Honey, Honey Comb, Buckwheat Honey, Beeswax Candles, Maple Syrup, Maple Sugar
preservation league