StoryFest ’24 — the Westport Library’s multi-day, genre-spanning literary festival — kicks off tomorrow (Friday, September 20).
All weekend long, the event celebrates the story in all its forms, and storytellers from across all media. Every genre is covered, from memoir to literary fiction, fantasy to cottage-core.
Over 50 award-winning and debut authors will talk about their craft. Headliners include Roxane Gay and Claire Messud.
From left: Claire Messud, Roxane Gay, Christopher Golden.
Also on tap: live podcast recordings, a special tribute to longtime and beloved Library friend Sybil Steinberg, the 2024 Westport Prize for Literature, a Saturday evening storytelling event, a Sunday pitchfest, and more.
In just 7 years, StoryFest has become the largest annual literary festival in Connecticut — and one of the biggest in the Northeast.
How did it happen?
It started in a coffee shop. Westport Library associate director of program and events Alex Giannini and his colleague Cody Daigle-Orians casually chatted about bringing a literary festival to Westport.
Alex Giannini (left) and Cody Daigle-Orians.
The idea grew quickly. Soon, the Library was not asking for authors; publishers began reaching out to the Library with offers.
Giannini is involved in nearly every aspect of Library programming. But, he says, StoryFest is his favorite activity.
He’s welcomed authors like Jason Reynolds, R.L. Stine, Stephen Graham Jones and Michael Lewis.
This year — in a full-circle moment — Daigle-Orians returns to Westport. This time it’s as a featured author. “The Ace and Aro Relationship Guide” will make its debut (a month before its official publication date) at StoryFest.
You can’t make tales like that up.
(For more information on StoryFest ’24 — including a complete schedule — click here.)
