The 8th annual Westport Library StoryFest — one of the largest literary festivals in the Northeast — kicked off Monday (Indigenous Peoples’ Day) with celebrated writer Julien Brave NoiseCat.
He’s one of many high-caliber StoryFest authors, who bring insights and experience to panel discussions, workshops and more. many have won the literary world’s highest awards, including Caldecott and Newbery honors, Oscar nominations and more.
Many of the writers also visit schools in Westport, Norwalk, Bridgeport and surrounding areas for readings and author talks.
Robin Moyer Chung
Today, new “06880” culture correspondent Robin Moyer Chung looks at 2 award-winning books, and the authors’ inspiration behind them.
Chung is a writer, librettist, podcaster (“Why the Hell Did I Write This”), and former editor of Westport Lifestyle Magazine
She’ll cover shows, festivals, exhibits and more, providing anecdotes, back stories and personal perspectives.
Christina Baker Kline, “Orphan Train” (Panel: “Nevertheless, She Persisted: Writing Strong Women”; Saturday, October 18, 3-4 p.m.).
Kline is a New England Prize for Fiction recipient and New York Times best-selling author of 10 novels.
“Orphan Train” follows Vivian, a 91-year-old woman, and a troubled teenager who convinces her to tell the story of how Vivian, a young orphan living in New York, was forced onto a train and deposited in the fields of the Midwest. The story is based on historical fact.
Ten years ago, while snowed-in at her mother-in-law’s house in Fargo, North Dakota, Kline noticed her son reading an unfamiliar book: “Centuries of Stories.”
It included a story about Kline’s grandfather-in-law’s involvement in a train that took orphans and abandoned children — considered criminals and transients — from New York City to farms in the Midwest. There they were forced into working for poor farmers and punished into becoming good Christians.
Between 1854 and 1929, 200,000 children rode the train and disembarked into agrarian wastelands.
Fun fact about the author: Christine says, “I often work and write in coffee shops, observing the baristas and eavesdropping on interesting conversations.” So remember to talk loud and interesting when you’re grabbing your latte. Maybe one day your chit-chat will inspire a writer.
Derrick Barnes, “The Incredibly Human Henson Blayze”: Panel: “Coming of Age: Writing Youth, Identity, and the Search for Belonging”; Saturday, October 18, 1-2 p.m.).
Barnes’ books have won the Coretta Scott King Award, Newbery honors, and more. His newest novel is long-listed for the National Book Award.
Barnes will visit Brookside Elementary in Norwalk and Wooster Middle School in Stratford.
In “The Incredibly Human Henson Blayze,” Henson is a Black 13-year-old football powerhouse in a small town of mostly white residents, and an ugly, racist past. The townsfolk excitedly follow his progress, and are thrilled to have their token African American All-Star-to-be.
Then Henson is assaulted by police for running with a toy gun. As he demands justice, the town quickly divides in their support for him, while still demanding he continue playing ball for their entertainment.
As a teenager in a Black neighborhood in Kansas City, Barnes grew up among many “Black boys” who became professional athletes. They were friends, relatives, and neighbors.
As they were drafted into the NFL, Barnes noticed how “Midwestern white people didn’t see those Black athletes as somebody that could be a neighbor or a cousin or a friend. So they talked about them like they were commodities.”
They ridiculed Black athletes for not being “team players” when they wouldn’t sign their contracts or couldn’t come to a practice. But they never laid blame on the owners. who were mostly upper class white men and their families.
Barnes was commissioned to write the bedtime story ‘Percy and the Lioness” for the enormously popular Thomas and Friends syndicate. He was also the first Black copywriter for Hallmark.
(For more information on StoryFest, click here.)
Columbus Day🇮🇹🇺🇸
Feel better?
Grow up John🙏