20th Annual Newburyport Literary Festival

The Newburyport Literary Festival (NLF) will celebrate its 20^th year of bringing award-winning authors, engaging panel discussions and lively entertainment to Newburyport on April 25–27, 2025. The festival’s theme is “The Importance of Being a Reader.” The opening ceremony is on Friday, April 25, at 6 p.m., at the Firehouse Center for the Arts. Dawn Tripp, author of Jackie, A Novel, will be in conversation with historian and author Kate Clifford Larson (Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter). A light supper with cash bar will immediately follow at The Grog Restaurant, 13 Middle Street, Newburyport. Tickets for the supper are $25/person, available online at newburyportliteraryfestival.org or by check, made out to the Newburyport Literary Association, Box 268, Newburyport, MA 01950.
 
On Saturday, April 26, festival events will begin at 8:30 a.m. with Breakfast with the Poets and continue throughout the day. A wide range of distinguished biographers, poets, novelists, and other authors will read from and discuss their work, including many returning participants. Authors and poets include Alison Espach, The Wedding People; Courtney Sullivan, The Cliffs; Alan Lightman, The Miraculous from the Material: Understanding the Wonders of Nature; Joan Wickersham, No Ship Sets Out To Be A Shipwreck; Martin Espada, Jailbreak of Sparrows; Rachel Hadas, Ghost House; and Associate Professor Kellie Carter Jackson, Ph.D., We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance. Panel topics include mystery, debut, short-form, and book banning, as well as a session sponsored by the Massachusetts Center for the Book. Students from Newburyport High School’s Poetry Soup group will read original poems before introducing noted local poet and original festival member Rhina Espaillat.