On Saturday, Sept. 5, the Spencertown Academy Arts Center in Spencertown, New York, will host its 21st annual Book Festival.
With over 20,000 gently used books, CDs, DVDs and vinyl donated by the community, it took volunteers 45 days — and an estimated 750 hours —to set the whole thing up. Most of that time was spent sorting through the vast troves of donations and organizing them by category.
The event is a fundraiser for the Spencertown Academy Society, which was founded in 1972 after the Academy Building was shut down as a working school. Since 1847, when the Rev. Timothy Woodbridge, a blind pastor from a local church, opened a teaching college, the building had been used for education. Today, it serves Chatham residents as a gallery and performing arts space.
The Festival started in 2005 as a way to raise money for the Society, and help support the upkeep of the building. Over the years, the Society has added appearances by featured authors. This year’s lineup is particularly robust, with a focus on nonfiction, along with several fiction writers and even one cookbook author.
In the nonfiction category, the festival will feature James Baldwin biographer Nicholas Boggs, whose book “Baldwin: A Love Story” is a New York Times bestseller and winner of the National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Prize as well as the PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for biography.
Historian and author James M. Bradley, known for editing “The Encyclopedia of New York City,” and the Papers of Martin Van Buren project, will discuss his new book, “Martin Van Buren: America’s First Politician.”
Featured author Joshua Jelly-Schapiro was a member of Yale University’s first Ethnicity, Race and Migration program and earned his Ph.D. in geography from the University of California, Berkeley. His award-winning doctoral thesis explored the global impact of Caribbean culture. His new book, “Daylight Come: Harry Belafonte and the World He Made” was released in August.
“Lincoln’s Lady Spymaster” by Gerri Willis was a New York Times bestseller when it was released last summer. Willis, known for her financial reporting on CNN and Fox Business,tells the story of a Southern Belle inspired to help the Union during the Civil War.
Willis isn’t the only author who wrote about women spies in wartime. Michelle Young, an award-winning journalist, author and adjunct professor of architecture at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, is best known as the founder of online magazine “Untapped New York.” She’ll be in Spencertown to discuss her 2025 book, “The Art Spy: The Extraordinary Untold Tale of WWII Resistance Hero Rose Valland.”
Pivoting to fiction, “Hazel Says No” is the first novel by author and Vassar graduate Jessica Berger Gross. The novel shifts perspective and voice from one family member to another. Her first book, “Estranged: Leaving Family and Finding Home,” was an intimate memoir about leaving her close-knit family in search of a healthier, more independent life.
Fulbright Scholar Casey Scieszka will discuss her novel, “The Fountain,” which was named one of the most anticipated books of the year by publications including The Boston Globe, Literary Hub, Book Riot, Goodreads and Town & Country before its release in March. Scieszka runs the Spruceton Inn: A Catskill Bed & Bar, known in part for its artist residency, which hosts painters and award-winning authors.
But one local hotelier isn’t enough for Spencertown. Cook, food stylist, photographer and bed-and-breakfast owner Melina Hammer will discuss her cookbook, “A Year at the Catbird Cottage: Recipes for a Nourished Life,” which draws on her work with local, natural ingredients prepared for guests at her Hudson Valley home.
Rounding out the appearances will be children’s book favorite Pete the Cat. The Pete the Cat series was created by Eric Litwin and James Dean (not that one) nearly 20 years ago and has spawned an animated series with holiday specials. Notable voices in the series include Elvis Costello, Diana Krall, Dave Matthews and Jason Mraz. For this appearance, though, expect one big, groovy cat.
To learn more about the Book Festival and become a member, with early access to the sale, visit spencertownacademy.org.
