In the last several years, Easthampton has celebrated the arts in different ways: “Cultural Chaos,” an all-day, all-arts festival in a closed-off section of downtown; open-studio events at Eastworks and at 1 Cottage Street; and “Bear Fest,” which featured colorfully painted fiberglass bears all around town.
On Saturday, the written word gets its due when the town opens its second annual “BookFest,” an all-day event to celebrate all things literary. From 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday — a closing event takes place Sunday afternoon — there will be author readings and book signings, workshops on poetry and translating books, a story slam, a forum on iconic rocker Iggy Pop and much more at various places around town.
BookFest has been put together by numerous organizations and businesses in the city, including Easthampton City Arts+, the Emily Williston Memorial Library, White Square Fine Books and Art, Easthampton Media and others.
One popular event in the program, with Northampton children’s book author and illustrator Mo Willems, has been fully booked in advance. But most others do not require advanced registration or are still available if they do.
Local and regional writers leading workshops or participating in discussions include Jacqueline Sheehan, Suzanne Strempeck Shea and Easthampton resident Ellen Meeropol. The festival’s one Sunday event, from 2 to 4 p.m. at Eastworks, includes a conversation with Robert Cox, head of Special Collections at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the author of books on numerous topics, including New England culinary history.
From 3 to 5 p.m. on Saturday, Luthiers Co-Op will host a discussion on Iggy Pop, led by music writer Chris O’Leary and Smith College professor of music and American studies Steve Waksman, who’s written widely on rock ‘n’ roll and other popular music. Performance artist Seth Lepore of Easthampton, a self-described metal head, will moderate the talk.
And for anyone looking to combine writing with visual art, a 1 to 4 p.m. workshop on “poemigami” at Eastworks will explain how to create an origami flower that blooms to show a poem inside.
Steve Pfarrer can be reached at spfarrer@gazettenet.com.
For details about “BookFest,” and to pre-register for some events, visit easthamptoncityarts.com/BookFest.