About
Deep Water Literary Festival was founded in 2018, as a weekend of ideas, performance and community engagement held in the town of Narrowsburg, on the Delaware River NY. Combining author conversations, readings, and educational outreach, with multi disciplinary arts programming, Deep Water goes beyond the standard model of a writers festival and invites the audience to engage in the world of books beyond the page.
We are dedicated to promoting the literary arts of the Upper Delaware region with a view to building community by fostering engagement with story-telling in all its forms. Hand-in-hand is a passion to promote and support this region as a showcase for compelling arts programming, attracting internationally acclaimed authors and artists, while simultaneously creating a platform to celebrate the artists and writers who live and work in our midst.
Visiting writers have included Jamaica Kincaid, Vivian Gornick, Joyce Carol Oates, Marlon James, Cynthia Carr, Ada Calhoun, Azmat Khan, Barbara Demick, Masha Gessen, Aaron Robertson, Nell Irvin Painter, Sloane Crosley, Leila Taylor, Hafizah Augustus Geter, Lydia Millet Jeremiah Moss, Rebecca Solnit, DJ Taylor, Lucy Sante, Emily Wilson, Joyce Maynard, and Caroline Kepnes. We have collaborated with a diverse roster of international and local artists and performers such as Mark Ruffalo, Jad Abumrad, Waris Ahluwalia, Jordan Nasser, Tilda Swinton, Jake Shears, Lenape Center, Kristin Worrall, Corinna Grunn, Manon Manavit, La Fête Arts, Penny Arcade and Morgan Puett.
Founder & Director
- Aaron Hicklin
Producer
- Brendan Regimbal
Director 2022-24
- Lucy Taylor
Education Officer
- Isadora Alteon
Assistant Producer
- Elizabeth Lepro
Presenting Partners 2025
Community Partners 2024
Media Partners 2023
Thank you to our generous donors $250 +
Marie Abma & Dike Blair, Ellen Asmodeo-Giglio, Jon Robin Baitz, Chris Bannon, Gina Barac, Cecile Barendsma & Tracey Ryans, Trey Beck & Laura Naylor, David Bernath, Joshua Bianchi & Brian Montopoli, Dorsey Blunt, Jasmi-Maaria and Peter Bonnén, Michael Brand, John Bricker, Winsome Brown, Angela Bucknell, Jamie Carano, Scott Carlson, Megan Connolly, Scott Cooke, Lisa Cortes, Adam Curtis, Rachel Doherty & Paul Ferrier , David Ebershoff, Maxine Edwards & Laz Adebiyi, Jennifer Feinerman, Christopher Forman, Melisse Gelula, Peter Malachi Giddens, Jamie Gordon & Brad Lindenbaum, Theresa Hackett, Robert Hammond, Bruce Henderson & Jacob Kelley, Kim Hendrickson, Andrea Henley Heyn, Amy Hobbs, Judith Hottensen, David Humphrey, Jolie Hunt, Andrew Jacobs, Christian Jensen, Nina K Ekman, James Kloiber, Jean Kogut, Barbara Lanciers, Amy Lane, Chris Lavergne, Sally Lehman, Noah Loschy, Joe Machota, Michelle Matland, Daniel McCabe, Tara Mccollum, Edwin McCormack, Brian and Susan Mendoza, Dean Michaels, Michael Mundy, Rory O’Fee, John Olsen, Nell Painter, Sara Parker, Liza Phillips, Caitlin Pincus, Mary S Sweeney Price, J Morgan Puett, Steve Rappos, Alessia Roitman, Thomas Rom, Rich Ross., Greig Sargeant, Jody Seifert, Ira P Silverberg, Megan Sistarenik, Karina Sokolovsky, Peter Som, AJ Strasser, Tiffany Streifel, Kim Susser, Marcus Teo, Ahu Terzi, Mark Thomann, Fiona Thomas, Meghan Udell, Carolyn & Tim Vaughan, Nick Vogelson, Allison Ward, Meredith Whitfield, Robert Wolf, and Sally Wright.
Another Eden
Another Eden took us on a deep dive into utopian communities, and the rich tapestry of ideas that have inspired idyllic societies.
- William Yukikazu Fellenberg
- Francis Cape: Utopian Benches
- The Queer Woods
- Festival Party
- Jeanine Hays & Bryan Mason / AphroChic
- Ryan Chapman
- Echoes; stories in progress
- Jennifer Kabat
- Untamed Mastery: The Garden and the World of Jamaica Kincaid
- Dream Streets and Brief Encounters
- Objects Lost and Found; A Memoir Writing Workshop
- The Wilderness At Your Doorstep
- A ‘Book in a Box’ Workshop for Families
- Victoria Wilson
- Garden of Eve: A Reclamation
- Jonathan Wells
- Mildred’s Lane Presents: Interspecies Dialogues
- Black Utopias
- Creative Process: Crafting Memoir
- Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond and Sara Hosey
- Lenapehoking: Returning to Our Homeland; Honoring our Heritage
- Poets Laureate on Main
- Opening Night Reverie at the 108
- Community Garden Book Walk
- Mildred’s Lane and ENGN present: Adapt and Thrive: Youth Career Workshop & Open House
- At the End of the Apocalypse, We Fruit
- Towards Creative Utopia
- Garden of Stitched Dreams
- Tracing Footsteps; Biography and the Archive
- Inaugural Deep Water Independent Book Fair
- Imagining Eden: Lydia Millet
- Story Yoga with Liana Rosenberg
- The Yarnslingers
- Frequency
- Reflections on Nature Literary Contest Awards
- Yoga at The Darby
Orwell, Still
- Oh Julia
- Rebecca Solnit: Orwell’s Roses
- Margin Call: On Low Lifes and Feral Cities
- Parallax of Quantum
- Wine and Crime: The art of the Mystery Novel
- Dystopia Worldbuilding Workshop
- Hip-Hop at Fifty featuring Jonathan Abrams
- Father’s Day
- Four Legs Blessed
- Jad and Amil Abumrad
- Podcasting Workshop
- Flash Memoir Writing Workshop
- Understanding Orwell: The Biographer’s Art
- Collages By Lucy Sante
- 2024
- DOUBLEPLUSGOOD
- Poets, Artists, and Writers on Main
- The Black Library at the 108
- Why They Write: Three Masters of Non-Fiction on Poverty, Propaganda, and Lies.
- Festival Party
- Agents and Provocateurs
- Drag Queen Story Hour
- The Yarnslingers Present Hunger
- undertones
- Between Dystopias
- Alive or Existing?
- Why Do Actors Train?
Frankenstein
This year, we focused on a novel written by a teen runaway and unmarried mother that has had an unparalleled influence on popular culture since its publication in 1818. Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley has gripped the collective consciousness for over 200 years. Two years into a global pandemic where the adage “science is real” has become a yard sign, this book interrogates what it means to be human at the precipice of the transhuman age.
- Festival Launch
- Cocktails with Melissa Gilbert
- American Gothic: Marlon James and Leila Taylor
- Festival Cabaret featuring The Basic Bitches
- Monsters Inc.
- William Wegman in conversation with Andrew Lampert
- Frankenstein Rising
- The Bells of Mont Blanc
- The Equus Effect: Courtney Maum and Halimah Marcus
- Frankisstein: A.M.Homes and Andrew Ondrejcak
- Of Monsters, Mothers, and Fathers
- Frankenstein in Art
- Olaf and His Girlfriend: A dance theater world premiere
- 2022 Festival Party
- Bloody Mary Shelley Brunch
- Frankenstein Falling
- Joyce Carol Oates in conversation with A.M.Homes
- The Art of Memoir
- Joyce Maynard: Turning Life into Fiction
- A War Vocabulary
Fairytales
Fairy Tales are the stuff of childhood dreams and nightmares, stretching across cultures and centuries. Join us to learn why these tales have endured and what they say about our deepest fears and desires.
The Odyssey
Featuring performances by Mark Ruffalo, Emily Wilson, Penny Arcade and Masha Gessen.
