Literary Festival Events
Author Talks
Tui Sutherland
Inside the Writer’s Mind: How to Write for Children
Saturday, July 1, 3pm
Unitarian Universalist Church
In an interview format, award-winning children’s author Tui T. Sutherland discusses what it takes to write compelling stories for children. In the process, she shares the thoughts, ideas, and feelings she experienced while writing her #1 New York Times bestselling Wings of Fire series. Join us for this special discussion with Tui as we explore children’s literature, and how to write realistic characters, compelling storylines, and fantastical adventures that carry kids away into new worlds of imagination.
Tui Sutherland has written some fortybooks for children and teens, ranging from sticker and easy-to-read books for beginning readers to middle-grade and YA novels. Her bestselling series, Wings of Fire, is set in a well-developed world that features dragons and other fanciful figures. Sutherland writes under multiple pen names, including Erin Hunter, Rob Kidd, Heather Williams, and Tamara Summers.
Moderator: Erin Underwood
Erin Underwood is the senior event content producer for MIT Technology Review’s emerging technology events. She also reads, writes, and edits science fiction and helps to produce long-lived and well-loved SF conventions. In addition, Erin also also reviews books, movies, and a variety of other things. She lives in Marblehead with her husband, dachshund Mabel, and her tortoiseshell cat Kensington.
Table Talk with Tui T. Sutherland
Saturday, July 1, 4pm
Unitarian Universalist Church
Children 18 and under are invited to join a special interactive table talk with New York Times bestselling author Tui T. Sutherland. Participating youngsters will have a unique opportunity to chat with Tui, ask her their questions, and find out what books and series they can look forward to in the future.
Space is limited for this table talk, which is for young people only (sorry, adults not allowed!). Those 18 and under may sign up beginning at noon on Saturday, July 1, at the Unitarian Church.
Tui Sutherland is an American children's book author who has written more than 50 books under her own name and many others under several pen names. Her #1 New York Times and USA Today Wings of Fire series of dragon fantasy novels have amassed a substantial cult following and have sold over 14 million copies internationally.
Rich Rubino
A Funny Thing Happened on the Presidential Campaign Trail
Saturday, July 1, 12 noon
Unitarian Universalist Church of Marblehead
Rich Rubino, author of five political books, has a keen interest and enchantment with entertaining stories involving Presidential candidates. In this presentation, he will regale you with stories of bloopers, dirty tricks, and candidates being humbled by voters.
Marblehead resident Rich Rubino is the author of five political books. His most recent is The Great American Political Trivia Challenge: Political Trivia on Steroids. He has appeared as a guest on national TV, including MSNBC and C-SPAN2, and is a frequent guest on radio stations around the country. Rich appears weekly for an hour on the Jay Talking telecast with Bradley Jay. Additionally, he speaks to various organizations about politics, with a unique historical perspective. He has contributed more than a hundred political analysis pieces to the Huffington Post. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and communications (media track) from Assumption University, and a master’s degree in broadcast journalism from Emerson College. Copies of Rich’s books will be available for purchase.
Harry Christensen and Richard Santeusanio
Murder in Marblehead, Who Killed Beryl Atherton?
Sunday, July 2, 1-2 p.m.
Unitarian Universalist Church of Marblehead
For over forty years, on the anniversary of the night of the most notorious unsolved murder in Marblehead’s history, local resident and attorney Harry Christensen has returned to the scene of the crime, hoping the psychotic killer might also. He parks across from the small, clapboard house where mild-mannered, unmarried, and well-liked elementary school teacher Beryl Atherton was brutally murdered on a stormy night in 1950, causing the townspeople of Marblehead to plummet into a state of fear and shock in the days following. Who would be next, everyone asked, and why Beryl?
Christensen has pored over the evidence for 55 years, seeking the killer. In 2022, he and friend Richard Santeusanio gathered Christensen’s notes, and—along with details from published sources, interviews with those who might have information, and state and local police files—published Murder in Marblehead, Who Killed Beryl Atherton? in October 2022.
They’ve proposed three possible killers. Was it one of these people or someone else? Join us for their riveting account. Copies of their book will be available for purchase.
Rich Rubino
Political Trivia with Rich Rubino
Sunday, July 2, 3-4 p.m.
Unitarian Universalist Church of Marblehead
In this audience participation event, local author Rich Rubino will pose questions from his most recent book, The Great American Political Trivia Challenge: Political Trivia on Steroids. This will not simply be a pedestrian question-and-answer session. Mr. Rubino will include amusing stories about the answers to each question.
Rubino is the author of five political books. His most recent is The Great American Political Trivia Challenge: Political Trivia on Steroids. He has appeared as a guest on national TV, including MSNBC and C-SPAN2, and is a frequent guest on radio stations around the country. Rich appears weekly for an hour on the Jay Talking telecast with Bradley Jay. Additionally, he speaks to various organizations about politics, with a unique historical perspective. He has contributed more than a hundred political analysis pieces to the Huffington Post. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and communications (media track) from Assumption University, and a master’s degree in broadcast journalism from Emerson College.
Elizabeth de Veer
The Power of Persistence: Paths to Publication
Monday, July 3, 12 noon- 1 pm
Unitarian Universalist Church of Marblehead
Author Elizabeth de Veer’s first novel, The Ocean in Winter, is set in northeastern Massachusetts, and debuted in 2021 to rave reviews. Its publication, however, was anything but an easy ride for its author. Today, she’ll share with us the journey from idea to public acclaim—and everything that lay between, including ups and downs, the encouragement of others, realistic expectations, the role of luck and persistence, the writing process, and knowing she wasn’t the only scribe struggling with the daily craft of writing, the occasional discouragements, the moments of joy, and more.
de Veer’s presentation will be a topic of interest to both novice and advanced writers.
Elisabeth de Veer holds a master’s degree in theological studies from Harvard Divinity School, and has been admitted to writing residencies at the Jentel Artist Residency, the Hambidge Center for Creative Arts and Sciences, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. She is a member of several writing groups, including Grub Street Writers’ Collective of Boston, the Newburyport Writers’ Group, Sisters in Crime New England, and the New Hampshire Writers’ Group. She lives in a small town in northeast Massachusetts with her family. Copies of The Ocean in Winter will be available for purchase.
Panels
What Endures: Finding the Next Great Poem
What makes a poem great? What qualities do poets and readers of poetry look for in a poem? Readers and writers continue to sift through the poems of the last fifty years, trying to identify and preserve those of lasting value, those that will endure. Join four members of the Thursday Poets as they share favorite contemporary poems and discuss what they hope for and appreciate in poetry.
Monday, July 3, 10-11 a.m.
Unitarian Universalist Church of Marblehead
Moderator:
J.D. Scrimgeour’s most recent book of poetry is the bilingual collection, 香蕉面包Banana Bread. He’s also the author of two books of nonfiction, including Themes for English B, which won the Association of Writers and Writing Program’s award for non-fiction. He’s a professor of English at Salem State University.
Panelists:
Kathleen Aguero’s most recent book of poetry is World Happiness Index from Tiger Bark Press. She teaches in the Solstice low-residency Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing Program at Lasell University in Newton, Mass., and in Changing Lives through Literature, an alternative sentencing program for criminal offenders on probation for the Salem District Court. She is a contributing editor at Kenyon Review.
Jennifer Martelli is the author of The Queen of Queens and My Tarantella, named a “must read” by the Massachusetts Center for the Book. Her work has appeared in The Academy of American Poets Poem-A-Day, Poetry, and elsewhere. She has twice been awarded grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council for poetry and is the co-poetry editor of Mom Egg Review.
Elisabeth Weiss teaches writing. She’s published poems in London’s Poetry Review, Crazyhorse, the Birmingham Poetry Review, and many other journals. Her chapbook, The Caretaker’s Lament, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2016.
The Changing Face of News in Marblehead
From having basically no vehicle covering local news and activities for some time, Marblehead is now blessed with three—all very excellent—weekly news vehicles, each providing an array of town news, sports, profiles, local town meeting notes, and a great deal more.
Can all three survive? What are the goals of each, and how do they hope to achieve them? Will any of them eventually become subscription news? Are three too many? Are they all covering the same news, albeit in different ways? What has feedback been?
Each of our panelists represents one of Marblehead’s new weekly newspapers, and will address these questions and more.
Monday, July 3, 2-3 pm
Unitarian Universalist Church of Marblehead
Moderator: Rhod Sharp
Sharp is a Scottish broadcaster, best known as the creator and former presenter of Up All Night on BBC Radio 5 Live. The show—which ran 16 years and made him a BBC Radio institution—aired through the night in the United Kingdom; Sharp, however, presented the show from the attic of his Franklin Street home in Marblehead.
Panelist:
Kris Olson, Marblehead Current
Jenifer Lederman, Marblehead Beacon
Ted Grant, Marblehead Weekly News
Workshops
Is There a Memoir in You?
Julianna Thibodeaux
Saturday, July 1, 1-2:30 pm
Unitarian Universalist Church of Marblehead
What distinguishes memoir from autobiography, personal essay, and other forms of creative writing? Why do we write memoirs in the first place? In this brief workshop we'll explore these questions and more, and we'll even do a little writing. Beginning and seasoned writers alike are welcome.
Julianna Thibodeaux is a Boston-area writer and assistant professor at Montserrat College of Art. She shares her passion for writing through her work as a creative writing teacher, writing coach, tutor, and editor. Learn more at juliannathibodeaux.com and marbleheadwriters.com.
Winners Read Their Works
Tuesday July 4, 11am
Unitarian Universalist Church of Marblehead
Come hear this year’s Literary Festival winners read their essays, fiction, non-fiction, and poems and support their—and others’— writing endeavors!
Where Do I Start? How Do I Keep Going?
Laurie Stolarz
Tuesday, July 4, 1pm
Unitarian Universalist Church of Marblehead
In this creative writing workshop, we will practice various story-starter techniques geared to get you writing. We will also discuss “what happens next” in our work, and how to take our initial ideas to finished manuscripts (be it a short story or novel). Lastly, we will explore various methods used by writers to keep them from—or get them out of—“writers’ block.” Come ready to work.
Laurie Stolz’s biography can be found under judges.