Welcome to Succeed2gether's Montclair Literary Festival!

We are excited to announce our schedule for the ninth annual Montclair Literary Festival, which will take place from Saturday April 26 to Saturday May 3, 2025. We have TWO Festival Days with free events held at partner Montclair State University on Saturday April 26 and downtown Montclair on Saturday May 3. In addition to the many free event.

Schedule of the Event:

April 17, 2025

Scott Turow Presumed Guilty talk

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Time: 7:00pm

Location: Temple Ner Tamid, 936 Broad St, Bloomfield, NJ 07003

April 26, 2025

10:00 A.M. – 11:00 A.M.

NON-FICTION

To Create is Human?

Science journalist and author Fred Guterl investigates the role of Artificial Intelligence in the arts with David Hajdu and Fred Ritchin. Hajdu tells the story of art’s relation to machines, from the Baroque period to the age of AI in The Uncanny Muse: Music, Art and Machines from Automata to AI. Ritchin’s The Synthetic Eye: Photography Transformed in the Age of AI offers a revelatory glimpse into the future of photography, one where the very nature of how images are created is fundamentally transformed. What does it mean to be human in a world where machines, too, can be artists? These books examine new, increasingly urgent questions about technology’s role in culture.

Venue: Montclair State University, University Hall, Room #1010.

10:00 A.M. – 11:00 A.M.

FICTION

The Past is Prologue

Anastasia Rubis (Oriana) presents two exciting new works of historical fiction.  Lauren Francis-Sharma’s Casualties of Truth is a riveting literary novel about the abuses of history and the costs of revenge, set between Washington, D.C., and 1990s South Africa, during the Truth and Reconciliation hearings that uncovered many horrors of the Apartheid state.  Following one young woman’s journey through war-torn Italy, Georgia Hunter’s One Good Thing is a remarkable tale of friendship, motherhood, and survival. Both works deftly chronicle history and its intersections with humans struggling to find peace in unjust circumstances.

Venue: Montclair State University, University Hall, Room #1030.

11:15 A.M. – 12:15 P.M.

NON-FICTION

The Political is Personal

Acclaimed memoirist Dionne Ford (Go Back and Get It) is in conversation with Irvin Weathersby, Jr. about his literary debut, In Open Contempt: Confronting White Supremacy in Art and Public Space, a stirring journey into the soul of a fractured America. Amid the ongoing reckoning over America’s history of anti-Black racism, scores of monuments to slaveowners and Confederate soldiers still dot the country’s landscape. Weathersby offers a hopeful reimagining of the spaces we share in order to honor our nation’s true history, encouraging us to make room for love as a way to heal.

Venue: Montclair State University, University Hall, Room #1010.

11:15 A.M. – 12:15 P.M.

Family Drama

All happy families may be alike, but otherwise, it’s complicated. A psychiatric patient’s desperate search for answers in Lisa Williamson Rosenberg’s Mirror Me reveals peculiar memories in a twisty novel of love, race, family and identity.  In Fruit of the Dead, Rachel Lyon reimagines a Greek myth with alternating mother and daughter perspectives, exploring themes of addiction, sex, independence and control. Elizabeth Harris’ How to Sleep at Night is a witty novel for everyone struggling with political divides within families, keeping marriages alive, and deciding who you want to be. Moderated by Montclair Literary Festival's Elizabeth Riggs.

Venue: Montclair State University, University Hall, Room #1030.

12:30 P.M. – 1:30 P.M.

FICTION

Thrillers: Double Jeopardy

In the mood for a riveting page-tuner? Mark Rotella (Amore) introduces two thrillers that just may keep you up all night. Close Your Eyes and Count to 10 is Squid Game meets Survivor, a high-stakes game of extreme hide-and-seek and one woman’s fight to survive, from the bestselling queen of suspense, Lisa Unger. In Friends Helping Friends, a young man must infiltrate his own family’s white nationalist group or go to prison himself, from acclaimed author and private investigator Patrick Hoffman. Complicated, true-to-life characters, and timely themes make these entertaining and thought-provoking reads.

Venue: Montclair State University, University Hall, Room #1010.

12:30 P.M. – 1:30 P.M.

FICTION

Rooted in New Jersey

Join us to celebrate some of New Jersey’s finest authors who hail from the Garden State and their novels that take place here. Featuring The House on Cold Creek Lane, a thriller set in the North Jersey suburbs by Liz Alterman; Where I Went Wrong, David Galef’s dark comedy of mid-life reckoning and Lisa Russ Spaar’s Paradise Close, a poetic saga that is part coming-of-age, part thriller, part meditation and wholly unique. Whatever your interest, there is something for everyone on this panel.

Venue: Montclair State University, University Hall, Room #1030.

1:45 P.M. – 2:45 P.M.

Voices of Tomorrow: Creative Writing Readings from High School students

Students from the Montclair Kimberley Academy, Glen Ridge High School, Montclair High School and Nutley High School read short works of creative writing, as chosen by each school's review committee. Open to all.

Venue: Montclair State University, University Hall, Room #1020.
 
1:45 P.M. – 2:45 P.M.

NON-FICTION

Uncovering the Truth

Timothy L. O’Brien (TrumpNation) leads us on a deep dive into issues of free speech, online privacy, the origin of crypto and the impacts on democracy with three thought-provoking reads. In Murder the Truth: Fear, the First Amendment, and a Secret Campaign to Protect the Powerful, David Enrich produces an in-depth exposé of the broad campaign—orchestrated by elite Americans—to overturn sixty years of Supreme Court precedent, weaponize our speech laws, and silence dissent. Ray Brescia’s The Private is Political exposes threats to our personal and political identity in the age of surveillance. The Mysterious Mr. Nakamoto is Benjamin Wallace’s thrilling investigation into the identity of Bitcoin’s creator and crypto’s origin story.

This event is co-presented with Montclair Public Library's Open Book, Open Mind program.

Venue: Montclair State University, University Hall, Room #1010.

1:45 P.M. – 2:45 P.M.

FICTION

Next Generation Stars

Boo Trundle (The Daughter Ship) speaks with Montclair High School graduates, Daisy Garrison and Lily Braun-Arnold, about their debut young adult novels. Six More Months of June is a romantic debut about the exhilarating highs and messy lows that swirl together when high school comes to an end. In The Last Bookstore on Earth, two teen girls fall in love and fight for survival in an abandoned bookstore weeks before a cataclysmic storm threatens to bring about the end of the world.

Venue: Montclair State University, University Hall, Room #1030.

3:00 P.M. – 4:00 P.M.

Literature's Rising Stars: Montclair State University's Creative Writing Award Readings

Student recipients of the English Department's Creative Writing Awards at Montclair State University will read their poems, short stories, or works of creative nonfiction. Open to all.

Venue: Montclair State University, University Hall, Room #1020.

3:00 P.M. – 4:00 P.M.

NON-FICTION

The Nature of Illness

Science and technology writer Ivan Amato delves into two fascinating books at the intersection of science, medicine and public health. In Air-Borne, New York Times columnist Carl Zimmer leads us on an odyssey through the air we breathe, the hidden life it contains, and invisible dangers that can turn the world upside down, weaving together gripping history with the latest reporting on Covid. Science journalist Lina Zeldovich reveals the remarkable story behind a long-forgotten and life-saving cure—healing viruses that can conquer antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections—in The Living Medicine, an illustration of how our future may be saved by knowledge from the past.

Venue: Montclair State University, University Hall, Room #1010.

3:00 P.M. – 4:00 P.M.

FICTION

Lights, Camera, Drama

Two wildly entertaining new novels give an insider’s look at life behind the movie camera. In Sash Bischoff’s Sweet Fury, a movie star and her film director fiancé embark on a feminist adaptation of Fitzgerald’s Tender Is the Night, offering a fresh take on the aftermath of the #MeToo movement. As Hollywood prepares for its most glamorous evening in The Talent, from Variety chief correspondent Daniel D’Addario, five actresses compete to see who will claim the top prize and are forced to confront truths about themselves that they would rather ignore. Moderated by filmmaker, Wilhelm Kuhn.

Venue: Montclair State University, University Hall, Room #1030.

4:00 P.M. – 5:30 P.M.

NON-FICTION

Montclair Film's StorySLAM

Presented in partnership with Montclair Film, StorySLAM comes to campus to showcase the lived-experiences and identities of Montclair State University (MSU) students. This performance will include six-minute stories, written and performed by 10 MSU students. Raw, witty, and profound– listen to students’ stories of cultural diversity and identity. This new and exciting collaboration brings Montclair Film’s Duncan Miller to MSU as he coaches student storytellers and hosts the event.

Venue: Montclair State University, Dickson Hall, Brantl Hall/Room #177.

4:15 P.M. – 5:15 P.M.

NON-FICTION

Crime as History

True crime appeals to our most lurid sensibilities. But there's a genre within the true crime genre that transports readers to the past, infusing these page-turning sagas with rich historical context and cinematic period detail. This panel explores tales of murder and mayhem from top historical true crime writers: Gary Krist (Trespassers at the Golden Gate), Abbott Kahler (Eden Undone), and Michael Wolraich (The Bishop and the Butterfly). The discussion will be moderated by Joe Pompeo (Blood & Ink).

Venue: Montclair State University, University Hall, Room #1010.

4:15 P.M. – 5:15 P.M.

FICTION

Fairy Tales & Fantasy

Choose your own adventure! Delve into a steamy world of gladiators and Elven princesses in Cecy Robson’s Bloodguard. Prepare for the fright of your life in a pop horror twist on Little Red Riding Hood in When the Wolf Comes Home by Nat Cassidy. You won’t know whether to laugh or scream when the undead rise up in Lindy Ryan’s Another Fine Mess. Moderated by acclaimed fantasy author Henry Neff.   

Venue: Montclair State University, University Hall, Room #1030.

Time: 10:00am

April 28, 2025

Colum McCann Twist

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Time: 7:00pm

Location: Unitarian Universalist Congregation, 67 Church Street, Montclair, NJ 07042

April 29, 2025

Jean Hanff Korelitz The Sequel

Time: 12:30pm

Location: Zeugma Grill, 44 South Park Street, Montcair, NJ

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Anne & Claire Berest Gabriële

Time: 6:30pm

Location: Montclair Public Library, 50 South Fullerton Avenue, Montclair, NJ

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Christian Allaire From the Rez to the Runway

Time: 7:00pm

Location: Montclair Art Museum, 3 South Mountain Avenue, Montclair, NJ

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May 1, 2025

Pitchapalooza with The Book Doctors

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Time: 6:30pm

May 3, 2025

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).

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.

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.

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.

Tickets to hear Connie in person cost $35 and include a copy of the book Connie: A Memoir (value $32.50).

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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.

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).

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.

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).

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.

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).

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

Tickets to the party are $35 for one person, $50 for two. Beverages and food will be served. Purchase two tickets for $100 and donate $50 to Succeed2gether.

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May 5, 2025

Isabel Allende My Name is Emilia Del Valle talk on May

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Time: 7:00pm

Lcation: Temple Ner Tamid, 936 Broad St, Bloomfield, NJ 07003

Date: April 17 - May 5, 2025

Location: Various Venue in Bloomfield and Montclair, NJ

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