Ten Authors, Two Days, Five Conversations

By Christopher Sinclair

As people streamed into Battell Chapel beneath the autumnal glow of the Armstrong stained glass windows, they might easily have imagined themselves in a New Haven lecture hall rather than on the village green in Norfolk. The chapel, which hosted four of the five sessions in this year’s inaugural Haystack Book Talks, settled beautifully into an air of old academia. The Haystack Book Talks featured wide-ranging conversations between pairs of authors who shared a kindred passion and overlapping areas of interest—from the poetry and polemics of Pablo Neruda, to the nuanced challenges of translation, to the myriad pressing issues thrust on us by climate change. Although a couple of the talks felt slightly abbreviated, and some of the discussions delved into rather highbrow material, the event’s many attendees were treated to an abundance of intellectual and creative stimulation.

Poet and translator Rosa Alcalà.

After an opening conversation on Saturday, Oct. 13, between Rumaan Alam and Angelica Baker, two young novelists who write about the family in contemporary America, the 11 a.m. slot found author Mark Eisner and author/translator Jessica Powell on the chapel’s modest stage, digging into the life and work of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. Eisner fell in love with Neruda while traveling in South America and reading the poet’s work in its original language. His love eventually blossomed into an exhaustive biography of the Chilean, who is at times exalted for his talent and at others reviled for his misogyny. Powell, who translated an early book-length poem called “Venture of the Infinite Man,” posited that this surrealist work could function as a blueprint for much of what the poet later wrote. The two spent a good deal of time discussing the darker corners of Neruda’s life, including a self-confessed instance of sexual assault, dispelling any rose-colored visions of the poet that his fans might have had.

At 2 p.m., John Keene and Rosa Alcalà found their way onto the dais for a discussion of the metamorphosis of language through translation. The two struck a light tone and were quick to laugh in spite of some microphone difficulties. Keene, who received a MacArthur “genius” grant earlier this fall, spoke with excitement about the infinite possibilities open to those who dive into another language—and then another and another. Alcalà, recalling the empowerment she felt as a child when translating for her immigrant parents, described the act translation as “a mediation between two worlds.” The two seemed fascinated by the nuance that this mediation forces them to grapple with—a puzzle that can be pieced together in different and varyingly beautiful ways. The day finished with Ken Ilgunas and Kate Harris, both adventurers and memoirists, who encouraged the audience to experience the joys of traveling, roaming and crossing borders.

Author and recent winner of a Macarthur grant John Keene.

Sunday saw the talks migrate to the Norfolk Curling Club, where the weekend’s largest crowd gathered around a fire to hear Julian Brave NoiseCat, an Native American activist and author, and Jeff Goodell, a longtime contributor to Rolling Stone, discuss the rapidly approaching inevitabilities of global warming, and what can be done to address the issue at large and rising sea levels in particular. The two had met before at a similar forum, and their rapport was evident. They discussed the fine balance that must be struck between journalism and activism, as well as maintaining some semblance of optimism in the face of a herculean task. The two disagreed at times on issues of strategy and philosophy, but they were consistently in agreement on the issue of politics, repeatedly slamming the administration in Washington and special interest groups for what they perceive as a failure to acknowledge a plain truth and act on it accordingly. <<While the talk did not strike a particularly hopeful tone, it was defiant.>> This talk, more than any other, begged for a bit more time, as the two seemed to hit their stride later in the hour.

Related events over the weekend included book signings at the library, and an exhibit at the Historical Society on Modern Age Books, a publishing company founded in Norfolk in the 1930s by Dick Childs.

The inaugural edition of the Haystack Book Talks built a solid foundation on which to stage future installments. The full rooms over the course of the weekend, and the lively questions from the audience, were a testament to the rich literary traditions of the town and will hopefully encourage the authors who attended to spread the word among their friends, so that they too can venture to the Icebox of Connecticut to share their passions with us in the years ahead.

Photos by Bruce Frisch.