Writers & Readers Festival

Announcing the second annual Writers & Readers Festival featuring Alice Hoffman ’73, ’02 (Hon.): April 4 and 5, 2025

Join us Friday, April 4, and Saturday, April 5, 2025, at the Adelphi University Garden City campus for the second annual Writers & Readers Festival.

Join fellow readers and writers for two days of everything literary, with a special keynote featuring award-winning actress Sarah Jessica Parker. The Festival is inspired and founded by Adelphi alumna and novelist Alice Hoffman ’73, ’02 (Hon.), author of more than 40 works of fiction, including Practical Magic, The Dovekeepers and When We Flew Away. Adelphi’s Writers & Readers Festival shares the pleasures of reading and writing with students, teachers, librarians, emerging writers, and the local Garden City community and beyond. Attendees are able to get an inside look at the art of writing and the business of publishing and connect with fellow book lovers.

The two-day event includes:

Panels and keynotes with bestselling authors
Professional development workshops with literary agents, book editors, writing coaches and Adelphi professors
Conversations with writers and publishing insiders about the art and business of publishing

Feature Keynote: The Books That Built Our Souls, With Sarah Jessica Parker

Join award-winning actress Sarah Jessica Parker, her mother, Barbara Forste, and their friend and New York Times bestselling author Adriana Trigiani.

Learn About the Keynote

Schedule

Friday, April 4
9:00 a.m.	Student Check-In
10:00 a.m.	General Audience Check-In
10:00 a.m.	Young Adult Welcome and Banned Books Panel (open to all attendees)
11:00 a.m.	The Books That Built Our Souls: Adriana Trigiani in Conversation with Sarah Jessica Parker and Her Mother Barbara Forste
12:00 noon	Break for Networking and Brown Bag Lunch Food is available for purchase in the Ruth S. Harley University Center
1:00 p.m.	Public Poetry Project With Raisa Tolchinsky
1:45 p.m.	On Reaching Young Adult Readers
2:00 p.m.	First Novels and Short Stories: In Conversation with Matthew Klam and Joseph Earl Thomas
3:15 p.m.	The Editor-Author Relationship: Scribner Publisher Mary Sue Rucci in Conversation with Vanessa Chan and Helen Phillips
4:30 p.m.	I’ll Have What She’s Having: Leaning into Humor with Ann Leary, Elinor Lipman, Laura Zigman and Lee Woodruff
4:30 p.m.	Lines of Connection: What Poetry Provides
5:30 p.m.	Break for Dinner Food is available for purchase in the Ruth S. Harley University Center
7:00 p.m.	Film Festival Feature: The Good House

Saturday, April 5
9:00 a.m.	General Audience Check-In
10:00 a.m.	The Power of Storytelling: Lisa Genova in Conversation with Scott James
11:00 a.m.	Break for Networking and Brown Bag Lunch Food is available for purchase in the Ruth S. Harley University Center
12:30 p.m.	Driving the Green Book: A Conversation with Alvin Hall
2:00 p.m.	True Romance: Publishing’s Hottest Genre
2:00 p.m.	The Scientist and the Serial Killer: A Conversation with Lise Olsen
3:30 p.m.	Book to Film: Behind the Scenes with Alice Hoffman, Ann Leary, Lisa Genova, Laura Zigman, and Lee Woodruff
5:00 p.m.	A Tribute to Nelson DeMille
6:00 p.m.	Break for Dinner Food is available for purchase in the Ruth S. Harley University Center
7:00 p.m.	Film Festival Double Feature: Practical Magic and The General’s Daughter

Alice Hoffman ’73, ’02 (Hon.), New York Times bestselling author

More about the 2025 Festival

Authors who will be sharing their stories about the art of writing include Adriana Trigiani, Ann Leary, Elinor Lipman, Jennifer Baker, Matthew Klam, Lisa Genova, Alvin Hall, Lee Woodruff, Laura Zigman, and founder of the festival, Alice Hoffman. Read about our featured authors and participants.

What attendees had to say about the 2024 festival

“As an aspiring novelist, this event exceeded all my expectations.”

“Best book festival I’ve experienced—intimate but substantive”

“All the talks and readings filled my soul—I felt energized, encouraged and excited about my writing and teaching practice.”

“Each of the sessions was thoughtfully designed and intellectually stimulating. The festival was a testament to the power of shared narratives and nurtured the craft of storytelling.” – Nassau Reading Council

2024 Conference Recap

Festival Program

See All the Photos

See Photos From Last Year

Hosted by Adelphi alumna Alice Hoffman ’73, ’02 (Hon.), author of "Practical Magic" and 40 other works of fiction, the Writers & Readers Festival welcomed close to 300 guests for two days of workshops, panel discussions and addresses by bestselling authors. Launch Gallery

A close-up of Hoffman’s book The Invisible Hour. You only see the author’s hands as she signs the title page of the novel.

13 Photos

See Photos From Last Year

Bestselling authors Adriana Trigiani (holding microphone) and Alice Hoffman. The moderator, the author Laura Zigman, is at right.
Adriana Trigiani, Alice Hoffman and Laura Zigman.
The award-winning master of speculative fiction Victor LaValle discusses his work in an evening keynote moderated by the poet, writer and Adelphi adjunct faculty member Jacqueline Jones LaMon, JD.
Liana Finck, a cartoonist and author of three graphic novels and the memoir Passing for Human, speaking at the Art of the Memoir panel. She is flanked (left to right) by Ada Calhoun, Kermit Frazier, and René Steinke, novelist and director of Adelphi’s MFA in Creative Writing program.
Kermit Frazier, author of the memoir First Acts: A Black Playwright Comes of Age, speaking at the Art of the Memoir panel.
Poet and novelist Robin Gow, MFA ’20, author of Dear Mothman: A Novel, speaking at the Queering Young Adult Literature panel discussion. Next to him is fellow panelist and author Sharian Lewitt ’75.
The poet and writer Puja Shah ’03 and novelist Kim Coleman Foote (holding microphone) at the Breaking In and Breaking Through discussion.
Panelists and guests from the Syllabus: Writing and Teaching discussion (L-R): the poet Matt Pasca; attendees Jamilah Musa and LynAbby Bogard; poet, writer and Adelphi adjunct faculty member Jacqueline Jones LaMon, JD; writer Rebecca Chace; and poet Andy Powell.
Matt Pasca, author of two full-length poetry collections—A Thousand Doors and Raven Wire.
Andy Powell, author of the poetry chapbook My Heart Is a Public Park, reads at the Syllabus: Writing and Teaching panel.
Charles Leehrsen (Down and Out in Paradise: The Life of Anthony Bourdain), Kevin Baker (The New York Game: Baseball and the Rise of a New City), Lisa Belkin (Genealogy of a Murder), Scott James ’84 (Trial by Fire: A Devastating Tragedy, 100 Lives Lost, and a 15-Year Search for Truth)
Adriana Trigiani, whose 20 works of fiction and nonfiction are published in 38 languages, signs a copy of her novel The Good Left Undone.
Alice Hoffman ’73, ’02 (Hon.), signs a copy of her most recent novel.