When Lynne and Bill Reed bought Misty Valley Books in Chester, Vt., in July, 2001, the one thing they knew they wanted to continue was the weekend-long New Voices reading series held in January. By having several first-time writers read together, the series builds excitement for both first novels and nonfiction. Then, too, as Lynne points out, a number of “new voices” have gone on to become well-known writers, such as Dennis Lehane, who read from Mystic River when it first came out; Gregory Maguire, from Wicked, and Arthur Golden, from Memoirs of a Geisha.
Whether or not the six authors who took part in the 2004 reading, wine and cheese reception, dinner with authors and skiing with authors held at the end of January will go on to become bestsellers is not what matters most to festival-goers. As one person who took advantage of a literary weekend package at the nearby Chester House b&b wrote to the Reeds, “I can’t thank you enough... for designing such a flawless program. I had a simply wonderful time.” This year’s writers included James Sullivan, author of Over the Moat: Love Among the Ruins of Imperial Vietnam (Picador); Valerie Hurley, St. Ursula’s Girls Against the Atomic Bomb (MacAdam/Cage); Thomas Christopher Greene, Mirror Lake (S&S); Robert Begiebing, Rebecca Wentworth’s Distraction (Univ. Press of New England); Norman Gautreau, Sea Room (MacAdam/Cage); and Kathleen Hughes, Dear Mrs. Lindbergh (Norton).
“The weekend was wonderful,” Lynne told PW. “All the events were well attended.” At BEA, she’ll be collecting galleys to plan for New Voices #11.
