Exeter LitFest 2023: NY Times bestselling author Rabia Chaudry, homegrown talent and more
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EXETER — The Exeter LitFest will kick off Friday with a roaring '20s party before the main event on Saturday featuring a full slate of local authors and poets, along with this year’s keynote speaker, New York Times bestselling author Rabia Chaudry.
The annual literary festival aims to shine a spotlight on the wealth of local talent in the Exeter area, from poets Ralph Sneeden and Diannely Antigua, the youngest and first person of color to be named the Portsmouth poet laureate, to Keith O’Brien, New York Times bestselling author of “Paradise Falls,” “Fly Girls” and the forthcoming “Charlie Hustle.”
Events begin at noon Saturday, April 1 at Exeter Town Hall, and are free and open to all. No tickets are required.
“The depth and breadth of local literary talent that can be found in Exeter and across the Seacoast is really exciting, especially because a lot of people might not realize an author or poet is from our area,” said Stefanie Kiper Schmidt, a member of the LitFest board and manager of Water Street Bookstore who recruited authors to the event. “The LitFest provides a fantastic opportunity to see all of these local creatives in one place this weekend and get personalized signed copies of their books.”
Poetry events will take place upstairs at the town hall while fiction and non-fiction panels will be held downstairs on the main stage.
Bestselling author Rabia Chaudry headlines Exeter LitFest
New York Times bestselling author, attorney, and advocate Rabia Chaudry will be the keynote speaker for Exeter LitFest 2023.
Chaudry will discuss her newly released, critically acclaimed second book “Fatty Fatty Boom Boom: A Memoir of Food, Fat, And Family.” The book is a warm, intimate memoir about food, body image, and growing up in a loving but sometimes oppressively concerned Pakistani immigrant family. Chaudry’s memoir is touted for offering readers a relatable and powerful voice on the controversial topic of body image, focusing on issues that are relatable for any woman who has struggled with weight.
“I’m so excited and honored to be part of the Exeter LitFest this year and look forward to meeting other writers and readers,” said Chaudry. “I’m also eager to see the town of Exeter and learn about its rich literary history.”
Chaudry is also the author of the New York Times bestselling book “Adnan’s Story” and the executive producer of a four-part HBO documentary series “The Case Against Adnan Syed.” She is also co-producer and co-host of the podcasts; The 45th, The Hidden Djinn, Nighty Night, and Undisclosed.
Chaudry will appear in a discussion with local author and LitFest board member Lara Bricker at noon on Saturday in the Exeter Town Hall.
Special tribute to Exeter poet Harvey Shepard
Portsmouth poet laureate Diannely Antigua and Exeter poet Ralph Sneeden will read upstairs at 1 p.m. with a tribute to late Exeter poet Harvey Shepard.
Antigua is a Dominican American poet and educator, born and raised in Massachusetts. Her debut collection “Ugly Music” was the winner of the Pamet River Prize and a 2020 Whiting Award. Sneeden, is an Exeter resident and English teacher, whose work has been nominated twice for a Pushcart Prize. The title poem in his book, “Evidence of the Journey” received the Friends of Literature Prize from Poetry magazine.
Shepard died Nov. 6, 2022, at the age of 84. He was active in the Seacoast poetry community, serving on the Portsmouth Poet Laureate Program selection committee and co-chairing the monthly PPLP Poetry Hoot. He hosted a poetry writing group for many years, the Unlicensed Poets. His poems have been published in Poetry East, Poet Lore, The Connecticut River Review, Psychotherapy Review, Roanoke Review, the Portsmouth Herald, and numerous anthologies and online journals.
Exeter High School students to share slam and spoken word poetry
The Exeter LitFest will feature teachers Dennis Magliozzi and Kristina Peterson, along with Exeter High School students, who will share their slam and spoken word poetry.
Arts in Action: Celebrating Poetic Possibilities will take place upstairs at 2 p.m. Saturday. Arts in Action is a school-to-community partnership between Exeter High School and various community members and groups. EHS teachers Dennis Magliozzi and Kristina Peterson will provide an overview of the program and how it is incorporated into their curriculum.
Authors Keith O’Brien, Annie Hartnett, Lara Prescott and more
Keith O’Brien, author of "Paradise Falls: The True Story of an Environmental Catastrophe," will appear downstairs at 2 p.m. Saturday in conversation with the Rev. Heidi Carrington Heath. O'Brien is the New York Times bestselling author of “Fly Girls,” and the forthcoming “Charlie Hustle.” O’Brien’s radio stories have appeared on National Public Radio’s "All Things Considered," "Morning Edition" and "Weekend Edition," as well as "Marketplace," "Here & Now," "Only a Game," and "This American Life." He has also written for the New York Times, New York Times Magazine, the Washington Post, USA Today, Politico, Slate, Esquire.com, and the Oxford American, among others.
Novelists Annie Hartnett and Lara Prescott will discuss memories and mystery during their 3 p.m. panel on the main stage.
Hartnett is the author of the novels “Rabbit Cake” and “Unlikely Animals.” “Rabbit Cake” was listed as one of Kirkus Reviews' Best Books of 2017, was a finalist for the New England Book Award, an Indies Introduce and an Indie Next Pick, and was long-listed for the Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize. “Unlikely Animals” was listed as one of the best books of 2022 by the Washington Post and BookRiot, and it was longlisted for the Joyce Carol Oates Prize.
Prescott’s debut novel, “The Secrets We Kept,” was an instant NYT bestseller, a Hello Sunshine x Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick, an Edgar Award nominee for Best First Fiction, winner of the 2020 Macavity Award for Best Historical Mystery, and winner of 2019 Writers’ League of Texas Book Award in Fiction. It is being adapted for television by The Ink Factory and Marc Platt Productions. She lives in coastal New Hampshire with her family.
Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, UNH Physicist and author of “The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred,” will take the main stage at 4 p.m. in discussion with Frances Johnson, of Phillips Exeter Academy. Prescod-Weinstein has been recognized by Nature as one of 10 people who shaped science in 2020.
Her book won a 2021 Los Angeles Times Book Prize, a 2022 PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Literary Award, and the 2022 Phi Beta Kappa Award for Science. It was also a finalist for a 2021 New England Book Award, a 2021 Brooklyn Public Library Literary Prize, and the 2022 PEN/EO Wilson Literary Science Writing Award, in addition to being longlisted for the 2022 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature. In 2022, she was named the inaugural Top Prize Winner for mid- to late-career in the National Academies Schmidt Awards for Excellence in Science Communication.
Learn from the pros on how to write your family story
For those who are interested in recording their family histories, the LitFest has assembled a group of locals who have done just that to discuss how to go about writing your story. The 3 p.m. panel upstairs will feature June Fabre, James Nealon and Tom Tufts. All attendees will leave with a tip sheet.
Restaurants, breweries offering LitFest specials
Exeter restaurants and breweries are embracing the literary-themed weekend with special drinks and entrée specials. As a nod to the Friday night Speakeasy “Exeter Goes Gatsby” mixer, Czar’s Brewery is premiering a special beer, the Prohibition Pour, while Cornicello is channeling a 1920s gangster theme. Meanwhile, Otis is pouring the Mary Pickford, a cocktail named for America’s 1920s silent movie sweetheart, and Ambrose is also creating a specialty cocktail for the weekend. Vino e Vivo will offer Little Pig Sausages and Mashed Potatoes, the frequent lunch choice of Nick Carraway in the Great Gatsby, while Sawbelly Brewing is also cooking up a roaring '20s-themed special, and Sea Dog Brewing Co., will offer a promotion for those who mention the LitFest.
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Exeter LitFest 2023 to host NY Times bestselling author Rabia Chaudry
