VERNON — A recent successful talk this January launched the start of a project to incorporate more events into the Vernon Free Library's repertoire.
Library staff is committed to bringing in more local authors to meet the community in events that are free to the community.
Deb Berryere, chair of the library trustees, is excited by the possibility of the talks to bring more people through the doors.
Authors come for free or for a small fee, exchanging time for publicity, a free lunch, and homemade desserts - and connections to their local readers.
Kristine Berberian, director of the library and one of its two librarians, explains that there's a huge advantage to having local authors instead of celebrity writers. While they might not draw as big a crowd, they are less expensive and more accessible to the community.
Lynn Levine, a well-known children's book author who lives in Dummerston, is on the list to come to Vernon.
Local writers for local readers
Levine is one of many established southern Vermont authors, including Eileen Christelow, Jessie Haas, Karen Hesse, and Michael Daley.
The January talk came from Newfane author and essayist Castle Freeman Jr.
“Practically all the writing I have done has been in one way or another about rural norther New England, and in particular the state of Vermont and the lives of its inhabitants, a source of unique and undiminishing interest - at least to me.”
Bronna Zlochiver, secretary of the library's board of trustees, served as the copy editor for Reckoning at Hart's Pass, a book recently published by local writer Elizabeth G. Macalaster.
The environmental thriller is described in its promotional copy as “a riveting tale of courage, revelation, and redemption” whose setting is the Pacific Crest Trail on the border of the U.S. and Canada.
Connections like these allow communities to meet writers, free of charge.
Based on limitations in staffing and budget, talks will be arranged every other month, excluding the summer when other programs will occupy the staff.