Welcome to the second full day of events for the ninth annual Succeed2gether's Montclair Literary Festival.
All of these events take place in downtown Montclair on May 3 in the First Congregational Church (FCC; two venues), the Montclair Public Library (MPL) Auditorium, and in Mills Auditorium (in the former United Way Building).
All events are FREE, except for the Connie Chung talk at 11:00am (tickets here) and the Festival Party (tickets here). Registration is not required for all other events.
Parking is available for free in front of the FCC on South Fullerton (see signs) or on surrounding streets. Paid parking can be found at the Crescent, 1 Seymour Street and Glenridge Ave parking decks. See this map for more parking information.
We have an incredible line-up this year and hope you can join us!
SATURDAY MAY 3, 9:00 A.M. – 10:50 A.M.
POETRY CAFÉ
We all need more poetry in our lives! Start your day with coffee, bagels and poetry! Hear from some of New Jersey’s finest poets. Hosted by Christine Adams and John J. Trause, and featuring Elijah Brown, Denise La Neve, paulA neves, Frank Rubino, and Anton Yakovlev.
Venue: Mills Auditorium (in former United Way Building).
SATURDAY MAY 3, 10:00 A.M. – 11:00 A.M.
NON-FICTION
The Future of the Left
Join professors Michael Paris and Eric Heinze to discuss Heinze’s new book: Coming Clean: The Rise of Critical Theory and the Future of the Left. Leftists have long taught that people in the West must take responsibility for centuries of classism, racism, colonialism, patriarchy, and other gross injustices. Of course, right-wingers constantly ridicule this claim for its “wokeness”. Criticisms of Western wrongdoing are certainly important, yet Heinze explains that leftists have rarely engaged in the kinds of open and public self-scrutiny that they demand from others. Citing examples as different as the Ukraine war, LGBTQ+ people in Cuba and the problem of leftwing antisemitism, Heinze explains why and how the left must change its memory politics if it is to claim any ethical high ground.
Venue: First Congregational Church, The Guild Room.
SATURDAY MAY 3, 10:00 A.M. – 11:00 A.M.
FICTION
Historical Fiction: Hidden Pasts
Maisy Card (These Ghosts Are Family) introduces three novels that engage us in deeply human stories and shed light on previous eras. In Helena Rho’s Stone Angels, a newly divorced woman travels to Seoul to connect with her roots and uncover the truth about a family secret buried for over sixty years. Set in part in 1980s South Korea, The Stone Home by Crystal Hana Kim captures a shameful period of history, exploring the legacy of violence and the psychology of power. A love story, mystery, and philosophical puzzle, Alice Austen’s 33 Place Brugmann tells the story of the residents of an apartment building during World War II. Lives of ordinary people caught in the crosshairs of history, a testament to the resilience of the human spirit.
Venue: Montclair Public Library Auditorium.
SATURDAY MAY 3, 11:00 A.M. – 12:15 P.M.
NON-FICTION
Connie Chung: A Memoir
Join us in welcoming the legendary Connie Chung in conversation with fellow pioneering journalist Mary Alice Williams about her book, Connie: A Memoir.
In this sharp, witty, and frank memoir, iconic trailblazer Connie Chung pulls no punches in detailing her storied career as the first Asian woman to break into an overwhelmingly white, male-dominated television news industry. Connie made history as the first woman to co-anchor the CBS Evening News. Profoundly influenced by her family’s cultural traditions, yet growing up completely Americanized, she dealt with overt sexism and racism. Despite this, her tenacity led her to become a household name.
Venue: First Congregational Church, The Sanctuary.
SATURDAY MAY 3, 11:15 A.M. – 12:15 P.M.
FICTION
Second Chances
Everyone deserves a second chance. John Kenney’s I See You’ve Called in Dead is a funny, touching coming-of-middle-age tale with a quirky cast of characters all trying to find the meaning of life, while dealing with loss, divorce, workplace stress, and health issues. Angela Brown’s Some Other Time is a hopeful, funny and untraditional love story about second chances, the ripple effects of love and the myriad ways in which the simplest lives have the power to change the world. Moderated by Judith Lindbergh (Akmaral).
Venue: First Congregational Church, The Guild Room.
SATURDAY MAY 3, 12:30 P.M. – 1:30 P.M.
FICTION
Women on the Verge
Alice Elliott Dark (Fellowship Point) introduces three timely novels, all featuring women at pivotal life moments. Nancy Johnson’s People of Means is the story of a mother and daughter, each seeking seeking justice and following their dreams in 1960s Nashville and 1990s Chicago. In the wake of their mother’s death and over the course of a sweltering Floridian summer, four adult siblings grapple with secrets, betrayal and climate change in The Float Test by Lynn Steger Strong. Marcy Dermansky’s Hot Air is one woman’s joyfully unhinged story of money, sex, and revenge that unspools when a billionaire crashes his hot-air balloon into the middle of a post-pandemic first date.
Venue: Mills Auditorium (in former United Way Building).
SATURDAY MAY 3, 12:30 P.M. – 1:30 P.M.
NON-FICTION
Stranger than Fiction
New York Times critic Alexandra Jacobs is in conversation with Edwin Frank, legendary editor of New York Review Books. In Stranger Than Fiction, Frank recounts the history of the 20th-century novel with the urgency and intimacy of a novel. He describes the monumental ambition of books such as Mrs. Dalloway and The Magic Mountain to rebuild a world of human possibility upon the ruins of World War I. Frank also explores how Japan’s Natsume Soseki and Nigeria’s Chinua Achebe broke open European models to reflect their own distinct histories and experience, offering a new vision of the novel and of a dark and dazzling time in whose light and shadow we still stand.
This event is co-presented with Montclair Public Library's Open Book, Open Mind program.
Venue: Montclair Public Library Auditorium.
SATURDAY MAY 3, 1:45 P.M. – 2:45 P.M.
FICTION/NON-FICTION
California Dreaming
Writer and book critic Kate Tuttle takes us on a tour of The Golden State. Brian Castleberry’s The Californians is an epic novel that spans 100 years of American history, from the early days of cinema to the rise of NFTs, about the drive to create even in times of crisis and the inheritance of grand western dreams. We Tell Ourselves Stories traces Joan Didion’s journey from New York to Hollywood as a screenwriter at the twilight of the old studio system. In this riveting cultural biography, New York Times film critic Alissa Wilkinson examines Didion’s influence through the lens of American mythmaking. These sharp observers of the human condition show us what went wrong with the American Dream.
Venue: Mills Auditorium (in former United Way Building).
SATURDAY MAY 3, 1:45 P.M. – 2:45 P.M.
NON-FICTION
John Lewis: A Life
Join Montclair State University professor Jason M. Williams in conversation with historian David Greenberg about his powerful biography of civil rights leader John Lewis, named as one of the New York Times Top 100 Books of 2024. Born into poverty in rural Alabama, Lewis rose to prominence in the civil rights movement, becoming second only to Martin Luther King, Jr. in his contributions. John Lewis: A Life highlights his leadership in the Voter Education Project, where he helped enroll millions of African-American voters, and his ascent in politics. Celebrated as “the conscience of Congress,” Lewis was admired on both sides of the aisle for his unwavering dedication to nonviolent integration and justice.
Venue: Montclair Public Library Auditorium.
SATURDAY MAY 3, 3:00 P.M. – 4:00 P.M.
NON-FICTION
Telling Our Stories
Leslie-Ann Murray delves into three deeply personal and insightful memoirs. In I Am Nobody’s Slave, Lee Hawkins tells the story of one Black family's pursuit of the American Dream through the impacts of systemic racism and racial violence. Omo Moses’ The White Peril is a coming-of-age story, an epic father-son road trip, a searing account of the Black male experience and a work that powerfully revives his great-grandfather’s demand for liberation. In Permission: The New Memoirist and the Courage to Create, award-winning memoirist Elissa Altman addresses how to give yourself permission to transcend the fear that keeps vital stories from being written.
Venue: Mills Auditorium (in former United Way Building).
SATURDAY MAY 3, 3:00 P.M. – 4:00 P.M.
NON-FICTION
Battle of the Boroughs
The New Yorker’s D.T. Max serves up a double-header for New York history buffs. Russell Shorto’s Taking Manhattan tells the riveting story of the birth of New York City as a center of capitalism and pluralism. The paradox of New York’s origins—boundless opportunity coupled with subjugation and displacement—reflects America’s promise and failure to this day. Ian Frazier’s Paradise Bronx is a love song to New York’s most heterogeneous and alive borough. Frazier shows how the coming of the railroads and the subways drove the settling of the Bronx in successive waves of migration. His exploration of this singular cityscape is a richly textured, moving tour de force about the polyglot culture that is the United States today.
Venue: Montclair Public Library Auditorium.
SATURDAY MAY 3, 4:15 P.M. – 5:15 P.M.
FICTION
Debuts: New Voices, Fresh Talent
Three electrifying debut novels take us on a journey: from the streets of Santo Domingo to the 1990s Bronx in Alejandro Heredia’s Loca; on a road trip from Chicago to Arkansas with a nonbinary corporate burnout in search of their conspiracy-theorist father in Zee Carlstrom’s Make Sure You Die Screaming; and on the journey to adulthood with two best friends navigating their late twenties in Josh Duboff’s Early Thirties. Striving to hold on to their dreams in a world determined to grind them down, sometimes friendship can be its own love story. Moderated by Kim Coleman Foote (Coleman Hill).
Venue: Mills Auditorium (in former United Way Building).
SATURDAY MAY 3, 4:15 P.M. – 5:15 P.M.
NON-FICTION
Profiles in Courage
Writer and reporter Dale Russakoff introduces us to the untold stories of two remarkable individuals. In Dear Miss Perkins, Dr. Rebecca Brenner Graham provides a fascinating portrait of the progressive female trailblazer and U. S. Secretary of Labor who navigated the foreboding rise of Nazism in her battle to make America a safer place for refugees. A German Jew’s Triumph by Cindy Schweich Handler, and foreword by Harry Handler, tells the story of Fritz Oppenheimer, scion of a privileged German family, who fled the Nazis, joined the U.S. Army at 45, and quickly rose to help plan the post-invasion of Europe. These stories remind us that even in the darkest times, one individual’s efforts can help change the course of history and forge a more hopeful future.
Venue: Montclair Public Library Auditorium.
SATURDAY MAY 3, 5:30 P.M. – 6:30 P.M.
NON-FICTION
Culture Clash
Two books take us back to the culture clashes of the late twentieth century. Do Something, Guy Trebay’s evocative coming-of-age memoir, is the story of a wayward wild child and acidhead who, searching for meaning and purpose, found refuge in the ruined but magical metropolis that was New York City in the 1970s. In The Last Supper, Paul Elie traces the origins of our postsecular present, with an intriguing cast of artists including Andy Warhol, Prince, Sinéad O’Connor and Martin Scorsese all pushing back against the prevailing spirit of the times. Both books showcase the influence of artists, musicians, drag queens, sex workers and others amid the twin epidemics of crack and AIDS. Moderated by Mark Rotella (Amore).
Venue: Montclair Public Library Auditorium.
SATURDAY MAY 3, 6:45 P.M. – 9:00 P.M.
FESTIVAL PARTY
Meet the Authors!
Join festival authors and supporters for dazzling conversation, drinks, and light snacks to celebrate the ninth annual Montclair Literary Festival. Round off the day in style while supporting Succeed2gether’s important work to close the education achievement gap.
Venue: First Congregational Church, The Guild Room.
