The Power of Words

Scott Edward Anderson
Jul 24
5 min read

THE WIT LITERARY FESTIVAL RETURNS WITH A BOLD CALL FOR CIVIC ENGAGEMENT THROUGH LITERATURE

By Scott Edward Anderson

THIS FALL, THE BERKSHIRES will once again become a national hub for urgent ideas and transformative conversations as the Authors Guild Foundation’s Words, Ideas, and Thinkers (WIT) Literary Festival returns to the region with events at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox and the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington. Now in its fourth year, the 2025 festival, curated for the second time by Bernard Schwartz, Executive Producer of Literary Programs for the Authors Guild Foundation, arrives under the galvanizing theme of “The Power of Words: Authors & Activism.”

This year's WIT Literary Festival features an impressive array of speakers. Top row, Alia Malek, Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Catherine Coleman Flowers, Chase Strangio, Garrett Graff. Second row, Hanif Abdurraqib, Imani Perry, J. Wortham, James Lawler, Jeremy Faust, Marilynne Robinson. Third row, M. Gessen, Michael S. Roth, Paul Elie, Peter Hotez, Sanaz Toossi, Shana Redmond. Last row, Tim Weiner, Torrey Peters, Vinson Cunningham. (Photos courtesy of The Authors Guild Foundation.) — This year's WIT Literary Festival features an impressive array of speakers. *Top row*, Alia Malek, Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Catherine Coleman Flowers, Chase Strangio, Garrett Graff. *Second row*, Hanif Abdurraqib, Imani Perry, J. Wortham, James Lawler, Jeremy Faust, Marilynne Robinson. *Third row*, M. Gessen, Michael S. Roth, Paul Elie, Peter Hotez, Sanaz Toossi, Shana Redmond. *Last row*, Tim Weiner, Torrey Peters, Vinson Cunningham. (Photos courtesy of The Authors Guild Foundation.)

For Schwartz, the WIT Literary Festival is not just a literary gathering; it is “an amplification and embodiment of the Authors Guild and its foundation,” a century-old organization devoted to safeguarding authors’ rights and defending the future of literature. This year’s programming reflects a question Schwartz has been wrestling with since last fall: “How do you tend to the human spirit in a time of fear and uncertainty?”

With book bans surging across the country, federal research grants being revoked, writers facing growing cultural and economic pressures, and the looming threat of AI, the Guild has taken on an increasingly activist role. It is now involved in multiple lawsuits defending the right to read and seeking justice for scholars whose works have been cut off midstream. The WIT Literary Festival extends that advocacy into the public sphere, onstage through intimate conversations with writers and thinkers from across disciplines and across the country.

This year’s lineup is rich with those voices. From Pulitzer Prize winners and MacArthur “geniuses” to public health leaders and civil rights advocates, the festival is set to be a deeply interdisciplinary and intergenerational exploration of what it means to write (and read) in a time of crisis.

Opening night begins with Wesleyan University President Michael S. Roth in conversation with journalist M. Gessen, winner of the 2024 George Polk Award and author of Surviving Autocracy and The Future Is History, whose fearless reporting on authoritarianism and LGBTQ+ rights sets the tone for a weekend of unflinching inquiry. Roth and Gessen’s conversation will be moderated by journalist and former civil rights lawyer, Alia Malek, the 2016 winner of the Hiett Prize in the Humanities. Other highlights include a conversation between Torrey Peters, author of the breakout novel Detransition, Baby, and Chase Strangio, ACLU attorney and one of the country’s foremost transgender rights advocates, moderated by The New York Times Magazine’s J. Wortham. It will be the first time Peters and Strangio have shared a stage—one of several highly anticipated first-time pairings this year.

Another provocative session will feature poet, essayist, and cultural critic Hanif Abdurraqib, along with Imani Perry, whose most recent book is Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People, and moderator Shana L. Redmond, author of an American Book Award-winning biography of Paul Robeson, for an intimate, music-centered dialogue where songs become springboards for reflection on Black life, memory, and collective imagination. “Imani and I are two writers who really like to delve into very granular moments,” says Abdurraqib, whose latest book, There is Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension, won this year’s National Book Critics Circle Award. “My own work asks people to look at something they believe to be normal and see it as abnormal; to shift their perspective of what they know to be true.”

There’s also Catherine Coleman Flowers, environmental justice advocate and author of Holy Ground, in conversation with vaccine scientist Peter Hotez, who co-developed affordable COVID-19 vaccines for the “Global South,” loosely defined as regions in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Oceania that share a history of colonialism, economic dependence, and developmental challenges. Their dialogue, moderated by Dr. Jeremy Faust, assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, will likely address the intersection of science, public trust, and environmental equity.

The closing day will take place at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington, which is a new venue for the festival. It will include a remarkable session with Marilynne Robinson and Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde, moderated by Paul Elie, each exploring the moral dimensions of leadership, art, and faith. (See our July issue for a Q&A with Elie.)

The spirit of genuine intellectual and emotional exchange is at the heart of Schwartz’s curatorial approach. With nearly two decades of experience at New York’s 92nd Street Y, he has long been known as a visionary literary producer, admired for his ability to bring diverse voices together in unexpected and illuminating combinations. Since joining the Authors Guild Foundation in 2023, he has helped expand its literary programming nationally, with the WIT Literary Festival as a flagship event.

Under his stewardship, the festival has grown both in scope and accessibility. This year, for the first time, all seven sessions will be livestreamed in partnership with local broadcaster CTSB, allowing audiences across the country to tune in. “The Authors Guild is a national organization, and we want the WIT Literary Festival to reflect that,” says Schwartz.

The Berkshires remains the festival’s home, and residents and visitors alike have embraced it. In past years, the festival has partnered with local high schools, libraries, and community groups, weaving itself into the region’s vibrant cultural fabric. Schwartz envisions this local foundation as key to the festival’s long-term growth. “Each new version of the festival is an opportunity to plant seeds and tend to their growth,” he says.

This annual event has become a cornerstone of the Berkshire fall season, bringing together literary innovators, creators, and thinkers with enthusiastic attendees from all walks of life. With a lineup of exceptional speakers and engaging activities, this year’s WIT Literary Festival promises to be an unforgettable experience, celebrating the spirit of the free exchange of ideas.

The WIT Literary Festival

Lineup:

Shakespeare & Company, Lenox

Thursday, September 25

5 p.m.: M. Gessen and

Michael S. Roth in conversation with Alia Malek

Friday, September 26

2:30 p.m.: James Lawler and

Tim Weiner in conversation with

Garrett M. Graff

5 p.m.: Branden Jacobs-Jenkins and Sanaz Toossi in conversation with Vinson Cunningham

Saturday, September 27