Red Rock Literary Festival

The Town of Swampscott will turn a page in its cultural history with the November launch of the Red Rock Literary Festival, featuring dozens of resident writers, editors, graphic designers, and teachers.

Funded by a grant from the Swampscott Cultural Council (SCC), ReachArts and the Library will present the Lit Fest on Nov. 6 &7. All are welcome to attend! 

Zoom attendance information will be provided via email after registration.

Program Schedule

Day 1: Saturday, November 6

11:00 - KEYNOTE ADDRESS
Swampscott resident Ian Thomsen wrote for decades about sports for major outlets around the world. While covering the NBA for Sports Illustrated, he published The Soul of Basketball: The Epic Showdown between Lebron, Kobe, Doc, and Dirk that Saved the NBA (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018). Ian now works at Northeastern University’s News service.

12:00-1:00 - NONFICTION: Truth woven into story

Mary Higgins
Book: Too Tired to Cook: The Guide to Choosing Foods that Boost your Energy and Enhance Your Immune System (2022)

Robert Jauron
Book: Big Blue Days, The Story of a Small-town Football Dynasty in Swampscott, Massachusetts (2018)

Steve Rosenberg
Book: Middle Class Heroes: Voices from Boston's Suburbs (2017)

Nancy Sosnowski
Dissertation: “Women of Color Staking a Claim for Cyber Domain: Unpacking The Racial/Gender Gap in Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology” (2002)

David Townsend
Books: Rock 'n' Roll and War and Peace (2015); Retracing Steps (2020)

1:00-1:30 - Lunch break

1:30-2:00 - SPECIAL: Pachelbel’s Legacy
Berklee Prof. Beth Denisch shares Pachelbel's "Canon in D" and its influence on pop songs
Book: Contemporary Counterpoint (Music) 

2:15-3:15 -  POETRY for the meaning of life

Lee Eric Freedman
Swampscott Poet Laureate and founder of the Tin Box Poets
Publications: Mad Man of Lynn Anthology; Extreme (anthology)

Nancy Hewitt
Swampscott Poet Laureate
Books: HEARD; Completing the Arc

Steven Iannoconne
Swampscott Poet Laureate

Cenna Khatib
College grad and S.U.R.E. advocate

Melissa Varnavas
Long-time Tin Box Member

3:30 – 4:30 - LITERARY PERFORMANCES in costume

Day Two: Sunday, November 7

11:00-12:15 - FICTION for living vicariously

Deahn Berrini
Novels: Milkweed; How to Earn Your Keep; A Roanoke Story

Kevin Carey
Novel: Murder in the Marsh; Junior Miles and The Junkman (Fall 2023)

Elizabeth de Veer
Novel: The Ocean in Winter

Lina Rehal
Romance Novels: October In New York; Loving Daniel; Jillie & Sam; Lasting Impressions; Someday Is Here

12:30-1:15 -  CHILDREN’S & YOUNG ADULT for the inner artist

Rick Appel
Books: The Grandfather Clock Series

Mark Shasha
Books: Night of the Moonjellies; Hall of Beasts

1:15-1:45 -  Lunch break

2:00-2:45 - SCREENWRITING makes the work come alive

Barry Brodsky, Lesley University
Plays and books: 1. All Other Nights (full length play); 2. Now Write! Screenwriting edited by Sherry Ellis and Laurie Lamson; 3. Boston Theater Marathon of Ten-Minute plays (anthology); 4. 25 in 10 edited by Kent Brown (anthology)

Julie Butters, Flock Theatre
Book: Pocket Prayers for Young Professionals (23rd Publications)
Stage adaptations: Jane Eyre, produced as a Zoom film in 2020 (in which she played adult Jane); Little Women, to be performed by The Williams School in New London, Conn., Nov. 2021. 

Kevin Carey, Salem State University
Screen & stage: Unburying Malcolm Miller, a documentary, premiered at the Mass Poetry Festival in 2016. The Stand or Sal is Dead, a stage play, opened in Newburyport, MA. at The Actor’s Studio in 2018.  Kevin co-authored a screenplay, Peter’s Song, which won Best Screenplay at the N.H. Film Festival in 2009.
Novel: Murder in the Marsh; Junior Miles and The Junkman (Fall 2023)
Poetry Books: Set in Stone; The One Fifteen to Penn Station; Jesus was a Homeboy 

2:45-4:00 - PUBLISHING options for a range of writing

Elizabeth deVeer
Agent/Publisher vs. Self-Publishing (journey of The Ocean in Winter)

Shailini Jandial George, Suffolk University
Academic Publishing (journey of The Law Student’s Guide to Doing Well and Being Well, Carolina Academic Press, 2021)

Rick Rawlins, Volume 3
Custom Publishing 

Laura Smith, Salem State University 
Submitting to Literary Journals

David Townsend & Rick Appel
The Ease of Self-Publishing

4:15-5:15 - POETIC PROFS and their process

J.D. Scrimgeour, Salem State University
Nonfiction: Themes for English B: A Professor’s Education In & Out of Class (AWP Award for Nonfiction); Spin Moves (Memoir)
Poetry: Festival; Lifting the Turtle; The Last Miles, Territories
Music & Drama: Ogunquit & Other Works (CD); Only Human (Musical)

Enzo Silon Surin, Bunker Hill Community College
Poetry: When My Body was a Clenched Fist (Black Lawrence Press, 2020); A Letter of Resignation: An American Libretto (Central Square Press, 2017); The Next Verse Poets
Mixtape: Volume One: the 4x4 (2016)