Over the weekend, the Newburyport Literary Festival marked its 20th anniversary celebrating literature, readers, and writers. 

Saturday, April 26 included a packed calendar with the first event at 8:30am and the last event at 7pm. Sessions covered poetry, fiction, and nonfiction genres and spanned topics from “Donuts in Discussion: Strong Women On and Off the Page” to “Fading Ink: Looking Back at 50 Years of Journalism” to “The Modern Witch: Intentions and Internal Magic.” 

The Newburyport Literary Festival was rainy and overcast. Thin puddles cast a brackish glow on the coastal town roads. Groups of two or three hurried down the brick sidewalks, heads bent away from the inclement weather. A white plastic folding sign announcing the festival perched in front of Unitarian Universalist Church. The historic landmark was a beacon in Newburyport, its steeple finished with an ornate rooster weather vane. The sign shared the discussions in the church. At 1pm, there was “Hot Book Summer: A Conversation with Alison Espach and J. Courtney Sullivan.” Inside stood short white pews divided by white columns. A wooden organ hung upstairs in the back while an oval stage proved the focal point in the front. 

Alison Espach and J. Courtney Sullivan sat on stage next to moderator Holly Robinson. Espach released her latest book The Wedding People in July 2024 and received the Read with Jenna selection. J. Courtney Sullivan released her latest book The Cliffs in July 2024 and received the Reese’s Book Club selection. Both women read excerpts from their novels. Sullivan created a visual for protagonist Jane while Espach painted an image of protagonist Phoebe.

Local author Holly Robinson ignited the conversation with a question on the protagonists. Robinson asked Espach and Sullivan to explain their process of creating characters who start from dark places. Both women sat in quiet thought. Sullivan leaned into the microphone. I started the book not with a character, but with a house, she said. The author explained that Jane works at the Schlesinger Library in Cambridge, a research library at Harvard University. She beamed at the audience. If anyone hasn’t been, you should check it out, she said, It’s amazing. I spent a lot of time there doing research for this book. Sullivan added that even though Jane comes from a high-achieving background, she is just as messy as everyone else. 

After a brief pause, Espach spoke into her microphone. I started writing this book while working on my second novel, she said. My first two books were working through my own grief and childhood trauma and I wanted to go to a luxury hotel and have a sexy experience. Espach added that after she wrote the scene about Phoebe wanting to kill herself, she grew frustrated. I didn’t want to write another tragic book, she said. The author admitted she put the book away for a few years and returned to it after the pandemic. I knew I had to tell the story, she said. I used to work in weddings and you have to be happy. The opposite of that is sad and so I knew there was something there.

Robinson observed that both novels are deeply rooted in setting. She asked the authors to share more – for Sullivan, that was the expansive abandoned house overlooking the cliffs of a Maine coastal town, for Espach, that was the luxury hotel in Newport, Rhode Island. Espach answered the question first. She explained that she lives in Providence and wanted to write about a place within driving distance. Newport spends a lot of time and money preserving the past, she said, there’s so much history yet so many clashes. Beautiful mansions sit next to coffee shops that offer collagen in their beverages. The past and the modern blend together and so much of a wedding does the same. Espach explained she received a grant to stay at a luxury hotel. I had a lot of questions, she confessed, a staff member came in for turn down service and I was super confused. Phoebe embraces the luxury hotel in the ways I did too, she added. 

Sullivan smiled before she launched into her answer. The house in my book is based on a real house, she said, I used to vacation in Maine with friends every summer. There are all these little streets off Shore Road and no one really goes down them, but we did. The house was abandoned and falling apart. My friend and I loved looking through the windows. There were beautiful rugs, a doll house, food on the counter, paintings on the walls. The author noted the house became a fixture of summer vacation in Maine. After five or six years, the house was gone and Sullivan grew emotional, writing and drawing about the house constantly. She returned to the novel at the start of the pandemic.

Robinson sat captivated by their responses. She exuded warmth and listened with intent. The moderator turned the conversation to the main theme of the session – hot books of the summer. Robinson congratulated Sullivan and Espach for their novels receiving celebrity book club selections and acknowledged that success takes a while. She asked them to describe their paths to becoming writers. Espach jumped right in sharing how she started writing at a young age. I made my own novels as a kid and used those three hole punchers, she said, which is a ridiculous thing to have in your house. It’s so large and cumbersome. She added that her books were tragic tales because death was a normal part of her existence. My brother died when I was teenager, she confessed, death was prevalent in my life but I realized that it’s not that way with others. I wrote as a way to work through the grief and I was surprised when the saddest book was the most well-received. Espach relayed her experience receiving the Read with Jenna selection. I was in the paint store, she said, waiting in line with a big can of paint and thumbing through my email. I wanted to tell someone, but there was no one to tell. I couldn’t tell anyone. Well, I did tell one person. My dad. But I couldn’t tell anyone for 10 months. She finished with advice to the audience – the thing you’re most afraid of is what people are excited about. 

Sullivan reminisced on the media attention after her first novel. The book came out fifteen years ago, she said, and a New York Times reporter came to an event and asked my parents what I liked to read as a kid. Of course they told him Ann of Green Gables and Little Women, but those weren’t my favorites. I preferred the drama around my dinner table. I wrote a lot of short stories as a kid about growing up as the only kid in a sea of adults. My sister is ten years younger than me and for a while adults often forgot I was there and spoke with abandon. I would sneak under the table and listen and observe. I wanted to make sense of what was happening in my world. Friends and Strangers was picked by Read with Jenna and I spent a lot of time thinking about the logistics of the show and then the pandemic happened. We met over Zoom and I held the door closed with one foot because my children were trying to come in and I only had mascara on one eye. Sullivan segued into her final thought – book club selections are great, but the books don’t always take off. She looked at Espach. The Wedding People is a special book. Light and dark. There’s a reason it’s been on the bestseller book list for weeks. Espach quietly beamed.

Robinson peered into the audience. We have time for a few questions, she said. A woman with cropped brown hair stood up and asked about what time the authors write. Espach said she’s a morning writer. Sullivan said she can’t form a thought before noon. A woman in blue asked the authors their favorite parts of the book to read and to write. Espach said the beginning with Phoebe in the elevator talking to the bride. Sullivan struggled to answer. A woman with a warm smile asked what the authors liked to read. Sullivan said she prefers women authors. Espach admitted that she’s been obsessed with reading the opening chapters of books. Sullivan laughed then asked – of those books, what percent do you actually read? Espach responded 20-30%. Pretty good, Sullivan said with a nod. 

Robinson thanked the authors for their time and congratulated them once more on their bestselling novels. Espach and Sullivan stood and smiled for the crowd before walking down the center aisle, heading for the book signing at tables in the front hall of the church. 

Alison Espach can be found at https://www.alisonespach.com/.

J. Courtney Sullivan can be found at https://www.jcourtneysullivan.com/.

Holly Robinson can be found at https://authorhollyrobinson.com/.

For more information on the Newburyport Literary Festival, please visit https://newburyportliteraryfestival.org/.