Haystack Book festival

Haystack Book Festival in Norfolk, CT brings together in unmoderated conversation writers and thinkers who have something to talk about. Talks are as varied as Pulitzer Prize finalist Janice Nimura and Dorothy Wickenden on the women who helped spark the first American civil rights movement. Cookbook authors, Sam Sifton and Melissa Clark on the world of New York Times Cooking, leading journalists George Packer and Elizabeth Becker on how coverage of wars has changed, Allen Ellenzweig and Jarrett Earnest of the life of photographer George Platt Lynes and Neil King Jr and Rinker Buck on traveling through history in contemporary America. The festival also hosted a talk about wisdom and memory with bestselling authors Michael Korda and Simon Winchester as well as an exploration of institutions and ideas with Sam Moyn and Bill Egginton. The Brendan Gill Lecture in honor of the late critic and writer who was a local patron and resident of Norfolk usually kicks off the festival.

"As a writer of environmental types of books, I've had the pleasure and fun of appearing at book festivals around the country, but I sincerely think my favorite was the Haystack Book Festival in Norfolk, CT. There are bigger festivals with more writers and bigger crowds. But Norfolk's festival, leading with that small town, autumn in New England charm, outdoes Tucson's or San Antonio's or Missoula's by a wide margin. And the lit-savvy audience of book lovers there is second to none. I'd go back at the drop of a hat."

      Dan Flores, NYT Bestselling author of Coyote America: A Natural and Supernatural History