Lois Romano is a celebrated journalist who was an editor, political writer, and columnist for The Washington Post and Politico. Now, with the publication of her new book, “An Inconvenient Widow: The Torment, Trial, and Triumph of Mary Todd Lincoln”, Romano brings to life a misunderstood, historically unknown ‘inconvenient widow’ in the wife left behind in the wake of the assassination of her husband, President Abraham Lincoln. This biography illuminates a lost chapter and presents Mary Todd Lincoln as a formidable force and full partner in what became a historic presidency that changed the course of American history. Lois will be joined in conversation with television journalist and communications strategist, Kathleen Matthews.
A lifelong inventor and mission-driven entrepreneur, Jamie Siminoff created the world’s first Wi-Fi video doorbell while working in his garage in 2011. That doorbell has since transformed into Ring, the whole-home security powerhouse acquired by Amazon in 2018 for over $1 billion. Today, Jamie continues to make neighborhoods safer as the Chief Inventor of Ring. He is also active in impact investing and philanthropy through his family office, Shark Lake Explorations. He will be in conversation with Kate Brosnan to discuss his latest invention, a book: Ding Dong, a candid, behind-the-scenes account of how a scrappy garage startup called Doorbot turned into Ring, a household name and security brand now trusted by millions.
Dr. Joshua Bennett is a Distinguished Chair of the Humanities and Professor of Literature at MIT, the founding editor of the Duke Poetry Series, and the founder and principal of Solon: a design studio specializing in the art of adaption. He is the author of seven books, which have received numerous awards including the Paterson Poetry Prize, the National Poetry Series award, and the New Yorker Best Book of the Year. Dr. Bennett will be speaking about the themes in his latest work, WE (The People of the United States), a book-length poem made to the measure of the modern world. In WE, Dr. Bennett summons Virgil’s Georgics as a lens through which to not only tell the story of his family, but a much larger one about the “form of the American mind,” our relationship to the natural world, and the pursuit of a dignified, abundant life.
Julian Brave NoiseCat carries the stories of the legacy of his family and his people through the craft of writing, filmmaking and theatre and dance. A writer, filmmaker, journalist, champion powwow dancer, and historian, his debut book, “We Survived the Night” was published to international acclaim. A portrait of indigenous life, telling the story of his own family, but enlarging the lens to the ancestral tale of the Coyote Epic, it is a story told through layers of time. A New Yorker “Best Book”, Julian will be joined in conversation with writer and producer, Mary Haft, a Co-Founder of the Nantucket Book Festival and author of “Nantucket: Portrait of an American Town”.
Isaac Fitzgerald is the New York Times bestselling author of Dirtbag, Massachusetts (winner of the New England Book Award). He is also the author of the bestselling children’s book How to Be a Pirate as well as the co-author of Pen & Ink: Tattoos and the Stories Behind Them and Knives & Ink: Chefs and the Stories Behind Their Tattoos (winner of an IACP Award). He will be in conversation with Nantucket Book Festival Co-Founder Wendy Hudson about his latest work, American Rambler: Walking the Trail of Johnny Appleseed. A moving blend of memoir, history, and travelogue, American Rambler is at once an ode to the American heartland, a meditation on escaping the breakneck pace of modern life, and a clear-eyed look at the myths—often violent, sometimes hopeful, frequently romanticized—at the very core of American identity and history.
Laura Zigman is a novelist and essayist acclaimed for her sharp wit and keen observations of modern relationships. Her latest novel, The Author Weekend, gives readers a thrilling and hilarious peek behind the publishing curtain as a (fictional!) bestselling mystery author’s retreat goes horribly wrong and one of the attendees winds up dead. This book is both a meditative dive into the dark heart of envy, and a glorious exploration of a woman of a certain age desperate to survive the dog-eat-dog world of publishing and control her own narrative. She will be in conversation with author and festival co-chair Sara DiVello about the inspiration behind the novel, the dynamics of creative communities, and the art of capturing human connection on the page.
Join several of this year’s authors in a comfortable after-hours setting, while enjoying your favorite beverage. Admission is free, and there will be a cash bar.
