New Hampshire Book Festival returns for second year of literary fun
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Elaine Loft (As seen in Around Concord)
Last fall, the NH Book Festival drew nearly 5,000 book lovers to South Main Street in Concord for its inaugural event, bringing together authors with readers to celebrate literacy, conversation, and community. On Saturday, October 4, the four blocks anchored by Gibson’s Bookstore and the Capitol Center for the Arts will again be filled with bookish festivities for all ages, including author panels, book signings, local food, and hands-on activities. The all-day event is free and will feature a roster of more than 50 nationally recognized authors, eleven of whom reside in the Granite State.
Biographer Lisa Rogak and kidlit authors Kari Allen and Vivian Kirkfield will present the true stories of world-changing women. Rogak’s group biography, “Propaganda Girls” (St. Martin’s Press, 2025), is the untold story of four women, including Marlene Dietrich, whose mission in the OSS was to create a secret brand of propaganda produced with the sole aim of breaking the morale of Axis soldiers. Both of the children’s books feature American women who carved their own paths. Allen introduces chef and author Julia Child to very young readers in the beloved Little Golden Book format. And Kirkfield’s “One Girl’s Voice” (Calkins Creek, 2025) is the tale of suffragist and abolitionist Lucy Stone, a little-known pioneer in the 19th century’s two greatest movements for equality, told via picture book.
Two New Hampshire authors, Harry Bliss and Annette Binder, will discuss their memoirs. Both of their books address the loss of a loved one and lessons learned in the aftermath. Bliss, a cartoonist and illustrator, has published more than 25 books for children, and created 24 covers for The New Yorker magazine. His graphic memoir, “You Can Never Die” (Celadon Books, 2025), captures his reflections on life, and his relationship with Penny, his beloved dog. Binder’s memoir, “Child of Earth and Starry Heaven” (Wandering Aengus Press, 2025), is the account of her mother’s struggle with Alzheimer’s disease. Binder looks to mythology, science, history, and literature to try to find beauty and meaning as her mother’s cognition declines.
Also presenting at the Festival are New Hampshire authors Paula Munier and Tori Anne Martin and NH native Tim Weed. The latest installment in Munier’s Mercy Carr series, “The Night Woods” (Minotaur, October 2024), finds a pregnant Mercy chasing a killer, and a killer boar, in a Vermont ice storm. Martin, who pens young-adult fantasy fiction, will discuss her just-published “No Charm Done” (Penguin Random House), a witchy enemies-to-friends romcom. Weed’s novel, “The Afterlife Project” (Podium, 2025), is a finalist for the Prism Prize in Climate Fiction. An ambitious saga, it is described as “a desperate quest for the key to the future of humanity, an impossible love story, and a search for meaning across the inconceivable vastness of geological time.”
The Festival’s program for young readers includes many beloved authors, including several from New Hampshire. Lita Judge, an award-winning writer and illustrator of 30 fiction and nonfiction works, will present her latest picture book, “Old Blue Is My Home” (Abrams, 2025). The story follows a family that finds not just shelter but togetherness in their van. David Elliott, who has written more than 35 books for young readers, will showcase his charming tale of “Boar and Hedgehog “(Candlewick, 2025), illustrated by Eugene Yelchin. Poetry for children is also on offer, from Matthew Forrest Essenwine, whose work is featured in a STEAM-filled children’s book, “A Universe of Rainbows” (Eerdmans, 2025).
This year, the festival has expanded its adult poetry offerings, thanks to funding from the NH Poet Laureate Jennifer Militello. Abbie Kiefer, whose most recent poems have appeared in The Atlantic and Ploughshares, will read from her collection “Certain Shelter” (June Road Press). Kiefer is a poetry editor for The Adroit Journal.
