About the Festival

History of the Brattleboro Literary Festival

The Brattleboro Literary Festival is a multi-day annual festival founded in 2002. The festival has grown to become one of the region’s most significant annual events and has presented over 900 authors, including winners of the Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, National Book Critics Circle Award, Women’s Prize, Newbery Medal and Caldecott Medal. Saul Bellow appeared at the very first festival in 2002 — it was to be his last public appearance.

We have featured authors such as Julia Alvarez, Russell Banks, Ken Burns, Teju Cole, Anthony Doerr, Mark Doty, Joseph Ellis, Julia Glass, John Irving, Tracy Kidder, Paul Krugman, Min Jin Lee, Ada Limón, Colum McCann, Claire Messud, Dinaw Mengestu, Paul Muldoon, Sigrid Nunez, Grace Paley, Gregory Pardlo, Tom Perrotta, Robert Pinsky, Richard Russo, Dani Shapiro, Elizabeth Strout, and Isabel Wilkerson. In 2020, we added a monthly virtual event called Literary Cocktail Hour which has featured writers such as Jay Parini, Ruth Ozeki, Tess Gunty, David Maraniss, and Maud Newton, among others.

The Brattleboro area has a strong history of writing and publishing. In addition to Saul Bellow, authors Rudyard Kipling, John Irving, Mary Wilkins Freeman, Lucy Terry Prince, and others have called the area home. We look forward to the Festival’s continued growth as we celebrate the area’s rich literary history.

To view recordings from past Festivals and Literary Cocktail Hours, please visit our YouTube Channel.