Stories take many forms — poems, novels, songs, stand-up routines, films, visual art and even the pages of a community newspaper. The inaugural Rough Notes Festival, presented by Kinderhook Books Aug. 28-30, brings writers, performers, artists and readers together for a weekend devoted to the many ways stories are created, shared and transformed.
The three-day festival opens Friday, Aug. 28, with comedian, author and Oscar nominee Tig Notaro at Van Buren Hall. Following her sold out performance, Notaro will talk about writing and the creative process with actor and comedian Lauren Weedman, known for her work on the HBO series “Hacks.”
Saturday’s program begins with “I Too Dislike It: Why Poetry Endures,” a conversation moderated by poet Mark Wunderlich and featuring Michael Dumanis, Monica Ferrell and Vermont Poet Laureate Bianca Stone. Later, Temim Fruchter moderates “Queering the Queer Memoir,” with Eliot Glazer, Henry Hoke, Chloé Caldwell and Hugh Ryan.
At 2 p.m., writer and director Nadia Conners leads “The Afterlife of Art,” a discussion with novelists Peter Cameron and Sigrid Nunez about what happens to creative work after it leaves its creator’s hands. “The Unreliable Past,” moderated by former Tin House editor Rob Spillman, follows at 3:30 p.m., with authors Amitava Kumar, Jayne Anne Phillips and Francine Prose considering memory as both a source of inspiration and an unreliable narrator.
The weekend also has plenty for young writers and music lovers. Saturday morning’s free Typewriter Project invites children to create a community newspaper using vintage typewriters, inspired by Kinderhook’s 1950s-era youth newspaper, The Bugle. At 1 p.m., 11-year-old upstate New York singer-songwriter Lulu Grey performs on the Bank lawn.
That evening brings an intimate conversation and live music with singer-songwriter Natalie Merchant, who will discuss songwriting, storytelling and the creative process with Sarah LaDuke, former WAMC producer and executive director of Folk Alley.
Sunday shifts toward the practical craft of writing. Workshops include Richard Mirabella on starting a novel, Emily Nemens on the narrative power of friendship and Thomas Grattan on using objects to develop character, conflict and setting. Olivia Muenter and Casey Scieszka will discuss the spaces and communities that make creative work possible in “A Place for the Work.”
Visual art is also part of the festival, with “Re-Scripting,” an exhibition at September Sometimes (4 Hudson St., Kinderhook) featuring Mara Baldwin, Jane Bustin, Nicole Cherubini, Taylor Davis, Shanekia McIntosh and Cauleen Smith. The artists’ works incorporate written language through collage, painting, sculpture and vinyl.
Presented by Kinderhook Books, the festival takes its name from a 19th-century Kinderhook broadsheet and celebrates a community with a long tradition of storytelling. Through conversations, performances, workshops and art, The Rough Notes explores the journey from first idea to finished work — and the ways stories continue to change once they enter the world.
For the complete schedule and ticket information, visit theroughnotes.com
Meg Sher, executive director of the David M. Hunt Library in Falls Village.L. Tomaino 
