Our schedule includes a reception and poetry slam on Friday, July 29, and a full day of events on Saturday.

In addition, there will be a TWO-DAY second hand and rare book sale on Friday and Saturday on the Green and in the Norman Williams Public Library.

The Festival Program will be available starting Wednesday July 28 at locations around Woodstock.

FRIDAY, JULY 29 EVENTS

Reception and Book Art Opening, ArtisTree Gallery  5:30 – 7 PM

Discover the world of Book Art and mingle with artists and literary enthusiasts!

Poetry Jam, private dining room above Bentley’s   8 PM

Strut your stuff.

SATURDAY, JULY 30 EVENTS

Keynote address by Thomas Powers:  A Moving Story about The American West    10 – 10:45 AM Town Hall Theater

Pulitzer Prize Winner Thomas Powers is the recent author of The Killing of Crazy Horse, which Larry McMurty (Lonesome Dove) calls “One of the finest books yet written about the American West.”    This April, his book won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for history.  “Powers has woven together a cast of characters who help us understand the century-old, controversial killing of the Sioux leader… Never before has this story been told so masterfully” writes one reviewer. Another wrote,  it “is one of the most moving and compassionate books on the Indian wars published in some time, imbuing not only native peoples but whites, too, with motives, passions, weaknesses, and dignity.”

Biting the Snake: Ecological Conscience   11 – 11:45 AM Town Hall Theater

This fast paced, multi-dimensional session will speak to the stranglehold that power and progress have created on our future. Bob Cavnar:  Disaster on the Horizon—High Stakes, High Risks and the Story Behind the Deepwater Well Blowout; Jason Czarnezki : Everyday Environmentalism; Wendy Call :No Word for Welcome, on traditional Mexican Indian culture and environmental pressure; and poet David Budbill:  Litany For Today.

“Unicorns” and Camelids (All ages!!!!)  10 – 10:45 AM Woodstock History Center

Join author Leona Grearson Bizzozero for a reading of her children’s story The Unicorn with No Horn, and meet two camelids from HespeGarden, Leona’s camelid ranch and rescue sanctuary. Leona will talk about both alpacas and llamas and what makes each species unique. If you want your (or your child’s) picture taken with one of Leona’s furry friends, please bring along a camera! Leona’s book The Unicorn with No Horn will be available at the program for purchase and signing.

BookArt with Purple Crayon (young children)  11AM – 2 PM The Green

Join Purple Crayon on the Green for fun and creative ways to explore the art of books.

Read, Play, Love Books  (for children)  11 – 11:45 AM Woodstock History Center

Children’s author John Stadler will read, draw, show how a book is made, do annoying magic tricks and, if in the mood, jump through a fiery hoop (or perhaps not). Drawings will be given away to the children.

Passion Fuels the Author’s Fire: How an Award-Winning Author Chooses Her Topics (children – young adults) 12 – 12:45 PM Woodstock History Center

Award-Winning author Tanya Lee Stone writes for kids and teens in several different children’s literature genres: picture book, narrative nonfiction, and YA fiction. She will discuss how passion drives her writing–why and how she chooses her topics, how she brings them to life, and what life is like as an author.

Poetry:  Peter Money 11:45 AM – 12 PM Windsor County Courthouse

Peter warms up the poetry room with some of his own poetry, and then goes on to introduce the poets.  Peter is Director of Harbor Mountain Press,  teaches locally at the Center For Cartoon Studies and at Lebanon College, and has written numerous books of poetry.

Poetry:  David Budbill 12 – 12:45 PM Windsor County Courthouse

A prolific polymath, Budbill is the author of seven books of poems, eight plays, a novel, a collection of short stories, a picture book for children, dozens of essays, introductions, speeches and book reviews, the libretto for an opera and is a performance poet on two CDs. Garrison Keillor reads frequently from David’s poems on his National Public Radio program The Writer’s Almanac

Archer Mayor:  Vermont’s Favorite Detective Novelist 12 – 12:45 PM Norman Williams Library Mezzanine

Archer Mayor is the 2004 winner of the New England Booksellers Association award for best fiction—the first time a writer of crime literature has been so honored. He is the author of the highly acclaimed, Vermont-based series featuring detective Joe Gunther, which the Chicago Tribune describes as “the best police procedurals being written in America.”  Archer will talk about his life in writing, Joe Gunther, and the detective story.

Naturally Curious: A Nature Lover’s Delight 12 – 12:45 PM Town Hall Conference Room

Accompanied by artifacts from her natural history collection and poster-size blow-ups of some of the 976 photographs in her book, Naturally Curious, Valley News contributor Mary Holland will share the story of how her book came to be, its month-by-month format as well as its potential use as an interpretive tool for the curious layman, teachers, parents and naturalists of all ages.  Mary will read about her unforgettable encounter with a black bear.

Where Did the Pencils Go? Cartooning as Easy as A-B-C Workshop 12 – 1:30 PM Nornan Williams Library History Center

Brought to Bookstock by Jen Vaughn and the Center for Cartoon Studies in White River Junction.  Easy and fun cartooning for beginner to advanced. Workshop, attendees will learn the power of a one-sheet comic. In addition to drawing comics, we’ll explore the power of packaging that screams read me. Young adult and older. Enrollment limited to 10!  Pre-enroll by writing pfr@rousmaniere.com .

U.S. – European Relations: Death of an Alliance? 1 – 1:45 PM Norman Williams Library Mezzanine

Author and VPR commentator Sarwar Kashmeri explains why NATO is a shadow of what it used to be — the world’s most formidable military alliance. Its original reason for existence — the Soviet Union — disintegrated years ago, and its dreams of being the word’s cop are withering in the mountains of Afghanistan. Sarwar lays our the plan he was described in he new book, NATO 2.0, a new version to fit the realities of today’s geopolitics and U.S. budget pressures.

Poetry:  Cleopatra Mathis 1 – 1:45 PM Windsor County Courthouse

Dartmouth faculty member Cleopatra Mathis will read from her works. Mathis is the author of numerous collections of poetry, including What to Tip the Boatman? (2001), which won the Jane Kenyon Award for Outstanding Book of Poems.

The Hale Street Gang: in Cahoots on Memoir Writing 1 – 1:45 PM  Town Hall Conference Room

Sara Tucker has met weekly with Hale Street Gang, twelve senior citizens who read aloud from their memoirs-in-progress. Their clubhouse is the Greater Randolph Senior Center, an elderly mansion in a neighborhood south of the railroad tracks. Together they weave a “collective memoir” of life in twentieth-century America. They write about everything: learning to fish, skate, drive, and kiss. Falling in love. Getting old. Sara will share their stories and describe the collaborative process.

Unbound:  A new vision of book creation 1 – 1:45 PM Woodstock History Center

There is something profound about making a book – a product of a technology that has remained unchanged for centuries, the book as a container of ideas, especially in light of our rapidly changing media technology. How has and how will the rapidly evolving phenomenon of digital technologies affect the future of the book – both physically and philosophically? Deborah Davidson will present the field of artist books including her own and her interest in organizing exhibits – particularly those related to books, a way of responding to current issues that abound vis a vis technological changes to the book and how that affects the culture at large.

Family Nature Walk to the Ottauquechee River  2 – 4 PM Meet At the Exhibitor Tent’s Hospitality Table on the Green

Author, ecologist and storyteller Michael J. Caduto will present a dynamic family program to introduce his two new books, Catch the Wind, Harness the Sun: 22 Super-Charged Science Projects for Kids and Riparia’s River. Through the auspices of the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park, Michael will then lead a guided nature walk to the Ottauquechee River, exploring riparian habitats as well as the folklore and uses of wild edible and medicinal plants.

A Box of Darkness: Memoir Writing at its Best  2 – 2:45 PM Norman Williams Library Mezzanine

Awash in grief three weeks after the sudden death of the love-of-her-life, Sally Brady stumbled on a tangle of secrets. Her  husband had had another life. A Box of Darkness is the bittersweet journey of Sally’s forty-six year marriage to editor Upton Brady, a valentine and testament to the universal challenges and joys of enduring love.

A Spiritual Quest, a Minister, a Community   2 – 2:45 PM Town Hall Conference Room

Nancy Kilgore lives in Vermont and is an author, ordained minister, and pastoral psychotherapist. Her new novel, Sea Level, tells the story of a small town in 1980 on the southern seacoast and two women, one a minister, one an artist, who seek spiritual wholeness but encounter inner and outer turmoil.  C. Michael Curtis, Fiction editor of The Atlantic writes, “Sea Level brings to life the tensions that inevitably arise when a new minister is taken on by a congregation mired in its traditions…”

Color Plates: Sixty-Three Little Stories in 45 Minutes   2 – 2:45 PM Woodstock History Center

“Flash” writer Adam Golaski’s Color Plates is a museum of tiny stories curated by a sort-of Mary Cassatt. Four rooms of Mary’s museum are open to the public, and they are named Éduoard Manet, Edgar Degas, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and Mary Cassatt. This isn’t just a short story collec­tion, and it isn’t a novel, but something else entirely.  Flash fiction is a new wave in writing: catch it!

Poetry:  Wesley McNair.  2 – 2:45 PM Windsor County Courthouse

A New Hampshire native who has lived for many years in Mercer, Maine, McNair has authored more than half a dozen collections of poetry. Recipient of numerous awards and honorary degrees, McNair has taught for several decades and is currently professor emeritus and writer in residence at the University of Maine at Farmington.

Where’s Woodstock? — Exploring Journalwork Workshop 2:15 – 3:45 PM Norman Williams Library History Room

The spirit that inhabits a region or a community reveals itself in dramatic landscapes or minute details — horticultural, architectural, civic and commercial. This writing workshop with Judith Taylor will focus on images of Woodstock village and its surrounding vistas in order to discover where we find ourselves and what we can learn from this place.  Enrollment limited to 10!  Pre-enroll by writing pfr@rousmaniere.com

Our Own Backyard: A Photographer’s View of our Two States 3 – 3:45 PM Woodstock History Center

Photographer/author Jon Gilbert Fox presents a brief history of photography and discusses two of his works: New Hampshire Patterns offers a look at a state whose venerable history stands in lively contrast to its changing times: the charm of small town fairs, the uniqueness of  traditional places such as Strawberry Banke, and more recent cultural phenomena, including Laconia’s annual motorcycle week. Intimate Vermont captures private moments of personal introspection, humor or sadness, the hardships and glories of work, leisure, and daily life, bringing an unusual glimpse of a Vermont not easily accessible to outsiders

From Clay to iPads, Smart Phones, and Kindles: An exploration 3 – 3:45 PM Town Hall Conference Room

We are rapidly moving from reading books in the traditional way to a dazzling, confusing array of new technologies, the most dramatic change in publishing in 500 years!   This panel of experts discusses the evolution and future of communication from stone to information technology explosion. . Presenters include Charles Rattigan, producer of film and video, VP and apps designer of Green Mountain Digital in Woodstock, Chip Fleischer, publisher of Steerforth Press, an independent publishing house in Hanover, NH, and Lucinda Walker, director of the Norwich Public Library.

Embracing Slow Medicine for Our Aging Loved Ones 3 – 3:45 PM Norman Williams Library Mezzanine

Geriatrician Dennis McCullough MD has spent his life helping families cope with their parents’ aging and eventual final passage, experiences he too faced with his own mother.  He recommends a new approach: Slow Medicine, a measured treatment of “less is more.”  Over the past 3 years, Slow Medicine has (slowly) gained adherents around the country and around the world.  Join this discussion with Dr. McCullough, author of My Mother, Your Mother,Slow Medicine about the evolution of this newly articulated philosophy and practice for understanding and improving quality of life for elders, their families and communities.

Poetry:  Sharon Olds  3 – 3:45 PM  Windsor County Courthouse

Sharon Olds is one of contemporary poetry’s leading voices. Winner of several prestigious awards, including the National Book Critics Circle Award, Olds was New York State Poet from 1998 to 2000, and currently teaches in the graduate writing program at New York University.

Organic Gardening: A Hands-On Month-to-Month Guide 4 – 4:45 PM Norman Williams Library Mezzanine

Organic Gardening (Not Just) in the North East is a comprehensive collection of how-to’s for the ambitious home horticulturist both beginner and veteran.  From the construction of child-sized stone igloos to the proper way to grow a date palm from a pit, gardening guru and Valley News columnist Henry Homeyer will provide detailed explanations of gardening basics organized around the calendar year in language even the greenest green thumb can follow.

Don Mattingly’s hitting and other sports stories

Prolific sports writer Jim Rosenthal talks about his writing collaborations with top ranked sports stars, such as baseball players Don Mattingly, Randy Johnson, and Nolan Ryan.   Jim knows how the sport greats think when they go head to head against their peers.  He will share his insights on his subjects and on his life in writing about sports as well as food and travel.

Shakespeare’s Language Workshop 4 – 5:30 PM Town Hall Conference Room

Royal Shakespeare Company-trained Lisa Harrow did a wildly popular session at Bookstock 2010 on performing Shakespeare. This year she aims to help you enjoy reciting Shakespeare even more.  Bring your favorite passage! Lisa will try to accommodate every workshop participant.

Music

EEL in the Sink 10 – 11:30 AM the Green

A quartet playing American Old Time music tradition folk songs on banjo, fiddle, guitar and mandolin.

Panhandlers  11:30 AM – 2 PM the Green

Vermont’s steel drum band.

Gumbo Loco, performing 3 – 4 PM the Green

Playing a spicy mix of traditional Cajun, French Canadian and country music featuring fiddle, guitar, and harmony vocals in French, English and Spanish.

Old Sam Peabody Band 4 – 5 PM the Green

Specializing in dance tunes from Quebec to Appalachia.