WE PROTEST: Fighting for What We Believe In — An Essential Conversation About Activism. 

In the last few years we have seen a wave of activism wash across our nation and inspire unprecedented protest and civic engagement. Author and photojournalist Tish Lampert’s new book We Protest captures the spirit of the heroes and ordinary citizens on their journey to defend their American values during the most conflicted era in our recent history. Joining Tish Lampert to discuss activism in America are Enrique Morones, founder of Border Angels and human rights border coalition, Gente Unida, who has been saving migrants lives along the US/Mexican border for 33 years, and Kathi Lynn Austin, former UN expert on arms trafficking and founder and director of the Conflict Awareness Project, which tracks illegal weapon flows fueling mass harm at home and abroad. Join them to discuss what ordinary Americans can do on the front lines of activism. Moderated by Budd Mishkin, Anchor & Correspondent, CBS News Radio Network. A book signing will follow the panel.

Presented by arrangement with George Greenfield, CreativeWell, Inc. & Temple Ner Tamid.

Venue: Temple Ner Tamid, 936 Broad St, Bloomfield, 07003 

Admission is free, but reservations are requested at succeed2gether.org

Nicholas Kristof & Sheryl WuDunn – Tightrope: Americans Reaching for Hope.

We are delighted to welcome Pulitzer Prize-winning authors Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn to Montclair for the opening event of Succeed2gether’s Montclair Literary Festival 2020. They will discuss their latest book, Tightrope: Americans Reaching for Hope, with former NJ gubernatorial candidate and Montclair resident, Jim Johnson.

In Tightrope, the authors of the acclaimed, best-selling Half the Sky issue a plea—deeply personal and told through the lives of real Americans—to address the crisis in working-class America, while focusing on solutions to mend a half century of governmental failure. With their superb, nuanced reportage, Kristof and WuDunn have written a book that is both riveting and impossible to ignore.

Tickets ($40) will include a copy of Tightrope. The VIP admission ($100) includes a post-event cocktail party, priority entry and reserved seating.

Venue: The Sanctuary, St James Episcopal Church, 581 Valley Rd, Montclair, 07043

Find Your Voice! Montclair Poetry Slam. 

Succeed2gether presents the 4th annual Montclair Poetry Slam, with students from Montclair High School and three middle schools competing in a high-energy spoken word competition. With guest performances from hosts Joanne Ashe and Elijah M. Brown and judges Sharon Dennis Wyeth, Jessica de Koninck, Theresa Burns, Marcia LeBeau and Saúl Grullon.  

Venue: The Sanctuary, St James Episcopal Church, 581 Valley Rd, Montclair, 07043

Poetry Cafe 

We all need more poetry in our lives! What better way to end your week and launch a literary weekend? Stop by Montclair’s much-loved independent bookstore and festival partner, Watchung Booksellers, for a coffee or a glass of wine and readings by some of New Jersey’s finest poets. Expect to be illuminated. Hosted by Chris Adams.

Featuring Sharon Dennis Wyeth, Deborah Garrison, Claudia Serea, David Wohl, Carole Stone, Tina Kelley, Elinor Mattern, Helen Mazarakis, Frank Rubino, Saúl Grullon, and David Burr.

Venue: Watchung Booksellers, 54 Fairfield St, Montclair, 07042

Halfway There Lit Crawl – Halfway Through the Festival Week, join us for a literary walk around downtown Montclair, hosted by Halfway There. 

Now in our fourth year of providing literary programming in Montclair, Halfway There is thrilled to present a new addition to this year’s Montclair Literary Festival: the LIT CRAWL! Taking place the evening before Festival Day, the Lit Crawl will feature a series of five events beginning with wine and ending with a party. What could be more literary than that?

5:00-5:45 pm – Wine Tasting

We will assemble at Amanti Vino to start the evening right with a glass of wine. Venue: Amanti Vino, 30 Church St, Montclair 07042

6:00-6:45 pm – Good Stories About Bad People

Writers Thomas Pluck, Livia Llewellyn, Scott Alderberg, and Z. Williams, MD will read their work and discuss writing "unlikeable” characters, as well as likeable characters who do terrible things. Venue: Java Love, 49 Church St, Montclair 07042

7:00-7:45 pm – Dreams and Visions: Writing the Music of New Jersey

New Jersey has a unique and rich musical heritage from hip-hop to jazz, and of course, rock and roll. This panel will examine what makes it so special and resonant by way of Bruce Springsteen and other important New Jersey musicians and scenes. Tobias Carroll will moderate this reading and discussion featuring Dewar MacLeod, author of Making the Scene in the Garden State: Popular Music in New Jersey from Edison to Springsteen and Beyond, Ronen Kauffman, author of New Brunswick, New Jersey, Goodbye: Bands, Dirty Basements, and the Search for Self, and Naomi Gordon-Loebl, writer of a piece in The Nation entitled “Things that Can Only Be Found in the Darkness on the Edge of Town: The Queerness of Bruce Springsteen.” Venue: Clerestory Fine Arts, 40 Church St, Montclair 07042

8:00-8:45 pm – Fun & Games + The Halfway There 6X6 

Halfway There 6x6—six writers, six minutes each! Halfway There, a quarterly literary reading series in Montclair, is pleased to present our annual Montclair Literary Festival panel at the Lit Crawl this year. Hosted by series co-founder, Apryl Lee, our panel of local New Jersey writers Victor Alcindor, Marina Carreira, Martha Moffet, Doreen Oliver, Abby Sher, and Shelby Vittek will read from their work. Venue: Legacy Coffee, 41 Glenridge Ave, Montclair, 07042. 

9:00 pm till late – Party

Abby Sher leads a literary party game before we celebrate the lit fest and community at our after party! Enjoy a NJ-centered playlist programmed by DREAMS AND VISIONS panelist and local Montclair business owner, Dewar MacLeod. Venue: Legacy Coffee, 41 Glenridge Ave, Montclair, 07042. 

Susan Rice – Tough Love: My Story of the Things Worth Fighting For. 

Succeed2gether’s Montclair Literary Festival presents an evening with Ambassador Susan Rice, recalling pivotal moments from her dynamic career on the front lines of American diplomacy and foreign policy.

In Tough Love, Susan E. Rice—National Security Advisor to President Barack Obama and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations—reveals her surprising story with unflinching candor. Mother, wife, scholar, diplomat, and fierce champion of American interests and values, Rice powerfully connects the personal and the professional. Ambassador Rice will be in conversation with Jeh Johnson, former Secretary of Homeland Security.

Tickets ($40) include a copy of Tough Love. The talk will take place from 7-8pm. The VIP admission ($100) includes a pre-event reception (6-7pm), free parking at the Red Hawk parking deck, priority entry and reserved seating. $10 Student/Senior tickets available – no book with this ticket, valid ID required.

Venue: Alexander Kasser Theater, Montclair State University, 1 Normal Ave, Montclair, 07043.