by Amy Ferris
Have you ever thrown a pot-luck dinner?
It goes something like this: you tell all your friends to, please, bring a dish – a favorite dish – one they really wanna share; and yes, you tell them, to please bring wine, and yes, of course, seltzer and/or bubbly water, and yes, yes, of course, bring dessert, oh my God, dessert, maybe you know, a pie plus … maybe, two pies, and ice cream, a la mode.
And then the night of the dinner: people arrive with dishes, and no one, not one friend, brings the same dish; each dish is unique and scrumptious and delicious, and a few people bring gluten-free dishes and of course, there’s the one or two vegetarian dishes that even the meat eaters devour and love, and everyone brings wine – red and white, with a Blush or Rose showing up; desserts galore, plus chocolate.
A feast.
And no one wants to leave.
And then you say, let’s do this again.
Last year our Milford Readers and Writers festival was a feast; filled to the brim with heart and soul; new voices and familiar voices and voices that needed to be heard; a Hip Hop artist, a Feminist icon; a best-selling author, an activist proudly wearing his scars like stardust. The town was buzzing – literally – with excitement.
Last year a group of amazing talented community-committed people threw together a literary pot-luck feast. A festival filled with friends and colleagues; writing neighbors and special panels, and a magnificent dance troupe; women and men and children came from all over and joined us; celebrating the written word, the spoken word; the irrefutable power of words because, yes, words matter.
This year we’re throwing another extraordinary feast, and yes, it’s BYOB:
Bring Your Own BookLovingSelf
Join us, September 15th to 17th.