Great words matter: Literary festival comes to Santa Fe

May 16—Reading is generally a solitary pleasure, providing comfort, encouraging curiosity and provoking questions that don't always have answers.

Organizers of a new festival of all things book-related hope bibliophiles and casual readers alike will come out this weekend and share their passion for literature by talking about books and the thoughts they inspire.

The inaugural Santa Fe Literary Festival runs from May 20 to May 23, primarily at the Santa Fe Community Convention Center.

Among the literary lights scheduled to appear in readings, discussions, literary walks and talks on tea and tequila are Colson Whitehead, Margaret Atwood, Don Winslow, George R.R. Martin, Hampton Sides, Douglas Preston and Pulitzer Prize winner Lawrence Wright.

Santa Fe is the perfect city for a literary fest because of its legacy as a community of storytellers dating back centuries, said festival co-founder Julia Platt Leonard, a food and lifestyle writer and author of the mystery novel Cold Case.

"There is such a long history of oral storytelling in this area going back to the Indigenous people; it's been part of the culture and history and fabric of the area," she said.

Editor and publisher Mark Bryant, another co-founder, said Santa Fe has been known for years for its annual summer art markets as well as its film festivals and classical music events.

A festival of writing, storytelling and authors "just seemed like a great fit" for Santa Fe, he said.

Since the pandemic led to lockdowns and the cancellation of most, if not all, large public events in the U.S. and elsewhere, people are eager to once again get out and talk about books with others, he and Leonard said.

Media reports from the U.S. and England said book sales rose in 2020 and 2021, in part fueled by people wanting to do something — anything — to stimulate their minds and hearts during a time of emotional, physical and mental turmoil.

Festival co-founder Clare Hertel said in difficult times, people turn to literature to "find both answers and solace."

The issues they write about and will likely touch upon during the festival range from race relations to food justice to women's rights and equality, she said.

Atwood's participation is particularly relevant now, the festival's organizers said. Her 1985 novel The Handmaid's Tale, a dystopian story of women striving for a sense of independence and self-worth in a male-dominated world, inspired both a film and television series. She published a sequel, The Testaments, in 2019.

As pro-abortion advocates nervously await a Supreme Court decision that could overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, Atwood's novel — set in the not-too-distant future — is timely, Hertel said.

"Having Margaret Atwood at the festival is particularly powerful at this moment in time," she said.

Noting Atwood's novel explores themes of inequality and oppression of women, Hertel said, "In the decades since, the novel — and the rest of her beloved and influential writing — has become a supreme symbol of resistance and defiance in the face of authoritarianism."

Other events will spotlight local authors, many of whom have garnered national attention.

Martin, who owns the Jean Cocteau Cinema in downtown Santa Fe and perhaps is best known for his Song of Ice and Fire book series that inspired the HBO TV series Game of Thrones, will take part in a Sunday morning discussion on writing with fellow Santa Fe-based author Douglas Preston.

Anne Hillerman, who also lives in Santa Fe, will reflect on the life of her father, writer Tony Hillerman, who died in 2008. He was the author of a number of Navajo Country-based mystery novels and — long ago — an editor at The New Mexican. Anne Hillerman, who also worked at The New Mexican, has carried on her father's book series.

Santa Fe author James McGrath Morris, who wrote a recent biography of Tony Hillerman, also will take part in the discussion, as will author Craig Johnson of the Longmire mystery series fame.

The youth component of the festival will be represented by high school and college-level students who will read their own poetry in the convention center courtyard, Bryant said. In addition, author Sandra Cisneros will visit with elementary and middle school students at the Southside Branch of the Santa Fe Public Library for a discussion on her novel The House on Mango Street.

While the festival's organizers considered centering the event on a particular theme, Bryant said, they decided it made more sense to invite authors whose works relate to the time we live in.

"The best stories speak to the moment we are in," he said.

For Santa Fe resident Amy Stanton, a lifelong reader, Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale fits that bill. She said when she first read the novel over 20 years ago, "it seemed so outlandish, but now it seems more horrifying. It does not matter how old that book is, it is still relevant, more relevant today than I ever imagined."

Stanton has purchased tickets for a number of events in the festival. She's looking forward to meeting the authors and other festival attendees.

"I imagine I'll run into people who I know and yet have never really talked about books I love with, and hear about books they love, which broadens my reading perspective," she said.

The festival, she added, "is a great way to take a solitary activity and bring it out, discover a little more community around it."