Newburyport Literary Festival

A Celebration of Literature, Readers, and Writers
• In-Person & Virtual Events • April 26–28, 2024

Listed in alphabetical order

Myfanwy CollinsMyfanwy Collins

Friday Black — Saturday 9:00 AM Myfanwy Collins lives in Newburyport. She is the Staff Writer at Bookish.com and has published a novel, Echolocation (2012), a collection of her short fiction, I Am Holding Your Hand (2013), and a YA novel, The Book of Laney (2015). For more information, please visit her web site: http://www.myfanwycollins.com [clearboth] 

Drew HendricksonDrew Hendrickson

The Last Temptation of Rick Pitino — Saturday 10:30 AM Drew Hendrickson is the Director of Tennis at Tenacity, a sports-based youth development non-profit in Boston. He has spent much of his career exploring how sports can positively impact communities and people. His experience includes his current work in Boston, organizing sports leagues and tournaments in the Dominican Republic and Colombia, leading violence prevention workshops along the US-Mexico border, and years of informal sports activities and programs. Drew’s passion for sports dates back to his days in swaddling clothes when, at 6 weeks old, he met Arthur Ashe at the Volvo International Tennis Tournament in North Conway, NH. Later that year, at 6 months of age, he attended a Marvin Hagler boxing match in Portland, ME. He has been a sports fanatic ever since. He is a long-time friend of the Literary Festival and the son of Vicki and Dyke Hendrickson.

Leslie HendricksonLeslie Hendrickson

Visionary Women: a History, a Novel and a Memoir — Saturday 1:00 PM Leslie Hendrickson is a freelance writer and editor based in New York. Her work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Hollywood Reporter, Family Circle, Jane, ARTnews, The New York Sun and amNewYork, among others. She is a graduate of St. John’s College in Santa Fe, N.M., and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. Leslie is a puppet maker, triathlete and a long-time friend of the festival; she hasn’t missed one yet!

Christina Koliander

A Readable Feast: Food in Fiction — Saturday 2:30 PM This year marks Christina Koliander’s fourth time moderating at the Festival. Writer, reader, home cook, and lover of all things food, Christina has more than 20 years of experience in the kitchen and in publishing. A fan of food memoir, some of her favorite authors are Ruth Reichl, Laurie Colwin, and of course, Julia Child.

Cara MarshCara Marsh

Bringing WWII to Life for the Next Generation — Saturday 1:00 PM Cara Marsh is a Newburyport resident, librarian and avid reader. Throughout her career she’s worked in school, public and corporate libraries. She is currently the director of a public library in New Hampshire.

Steve YarbroughSteve Yarbrough

The Art of the Short Story — Saturday 10:30 AM Steve Yarbrough is the author of three short-story collections: Family Men (LSU Press); Mississippi History and Veneer (University of Missouri Press); and a nonfiction book, Bookmarked: Larry McMurtry’s The Last Picture Show (Ig Publishing). He has also published seven novels: The Oxygen Man (MacAdam/Cage), winner of the Mississippi Authors Award, the California Book Award, and an award from the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters; Visible Spirits; Prisoners of War, a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner award; The End of California; Safe from the Neighbors; The Realm of Last Chances (Alfred A. Knopf); and most recently, The Unmade World (Unbridled Books). He is the recipient of a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and the winner of a Pushcart Prize, the 2010 Richard Wright Award for Literary Excellence, and the 2015 Robert Penn Warren Award. A member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers and a professor at Emerson College, he lives with his wife in Stoneham, Massachusetts.