Haystack Book Festival returns to Norfolk

Now in its eighth year, the Haystack Book Festival brings together many of today’s best authors Oct. 2 through 4 for unmoderated conversations about their work in Norfolk, Connecticut.

On Friday, Oct. 2, Infinity Hall will host “The Brendan Gill Lecture” at 6 p.m., with Belle Burden in conversation with Roxanne Coady, founder and owner of RJ Julia Booksellers.

“We have a terrific program this year,” said festival organizer Michael Selleck. “We’re going to kick it off with Belle Burden, the best-selling author of ‘Strangers.’ The event has quite a bit of draw, so we moved it to Infinity Hall. It’s the first time we’re doing that.”

Burden’s book recounts the early days of the pandemic with her husband, who, without warning, announced that he was leaving her after 20 years.

In “Strangers,” Burden revisits her marriage, searching for clues that her husband was not who she always thought he was. As she examines her relationship through a new lens, she reckons with her own family history and the lessons she intuited about how a woman is expected to behave in the face of betrayal. Through it all, she is transformed.

“‘The Brendan Gill Lecture’ was originally a program that the library associates started. It’s a really great platform for us to have writers. This year we chose to do it as a conversation,” Selleck said.

A longtime Norfolk resident, Brendan Gill wrote for The New Yorker for more than 50 years. He contributed short stories, profiles and book reviews and was, in successive decades, the magazine’s movie, theater and architecture critic.

In 1998, “The Brendan Gill Lecture” was established by the Norfolk Library Associates to honor Gill’s generous contributions to the library.

Saturday’s events will be held at the Norfolk Library and include three conversations on America at 250.

“This year our Saturday program will celebrate America 250 through conversations that examine identity by living a life abroad, the effects of war and its aftermath, and the exploration and myth of the western frontier,” Selleck said.

“Across Borders and Belonging — Exile, Identity and American Lives Abroad” will kick off the day at 10:30 a.m. with David Mayers and best-selling author Nicholas Boggs.

At 1 p.m., “After the Wounds — War, Memory and the Search for What Endures” will feature authors David Nasaw and Elizabeth Samet. It will be followed at 3 p.m. by a conversation with Craig Fehrman and Megan Kate Nelson, “Inventing America — Power and Myth at the Nation’s Edges.”

On Sunday at 11 a.m., “Among the Trees — History, Science and Environment” will be discussed by Sophie Pinkham and Robert Moor. This event is sponsored by Great Mountain Forest.

When asked what he likes best about the festival, Selleck said:

“We like the intimacy and unmoderated conversations between the authors. Our hope is that people will be interested and want to come.”

For tickets and information, visit haystackbookfestival.org