Haystack Book festival

This annual literary festival, a program of The Norfolk Hub, is always held during the first weekend of October.

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Thank You to Our Sponsors and Gala Attendees

We are deeply grateful to our generous sponsors and everyone who joined us for A Haystack Evening at “The Knoll” – Melville House. Your support helps make the Haystack Book Festival possible, bringing celebrated authors, engaging discussions, and literary programming to Norfolk each year.

Thanks to you, 2025 was another incredible year of connection, conversation, and community. Your generosity ensures that the festival continues to inspire readers and foster a love of literature in our town and beyond.

We look forward to welcoming you again next year and continuing to celebrate the power of books together.

Haystack Book Festival in Norfolk, CT brings together in unmoderated conversation writers and thinkers who have something to talk about. Talks are as varied as Pulitzer Prize finalist Janice Nimura and Dorothy Wickenden on the women who helped spark the first American civil rights movement. Cookbook authors, Sam Sifton and Melissa Clark on the world of New York Times Cooking, leading journalists George Packer and Elizabeth Becker on how coverage of wars has changed, Allen Ellenzweig and Jarrett Earnest of the life of photographer George Platt Lynes and Neil King Jr and Rinker Buck on traveling through history in contemporary America. The festival also hosted a talk about wisdom and memory with bestselling authors Michael Korda and Simon Winchester as well as an exploration of institutions and ideas with Sam Moyn and Bill Egginton. The Brendan Gill Lecture in honor of the late critic and writer who was a local patron and resident of Norfolk usually kicks off the festival.

"As a writer of environmental types of books, I've had the pleasure and fun of appearing at book festivals around the country, but I sincerely think my favorite was the Haystack Book Festival in Norfolk, CT. There are bigger festivals with more writers and bigger crowds. But Norfolk's festival, leading with that small town, autumn in New England charm, outdoes Tucson's or San Antonio's or Missoula's by a wide margin. And the lit-savvy audience of book lovers there is second to none. I'd go back at the drop of a hat."

      Dan Flores, NYT Bestselling author of Coyote America: A Natural and Supernatural History