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. Deep Water is committed to the development, expression and promotion of literature and art that reflects the voices and concerns of underrepresented and diverse communities.
Visiting writers have included Azmat Khan, Barbara Demick, Masha Gessen, Marlon James, Sloane Crosley, Leila Taylor, Joyce Carol Oates, Jubi Arriola Headley, Hafizah Augustus Geter, Jeremiah Moss, Rebecca Solnit, DJ Taylor, Lucy Sante, Emily Wilson, Joyce Maynard, Diana Goetsch, and Caroline Kepnes. We have collaborated with a diverse roster of international and local artists and performers such as Mark Ruffalo, Jad Abumrad, Jordan Nasser, Tilda Swinton, Jake Shears, Kristin Worrall, Corinna Grunn, Manon Manavit, La Fête Arts, Penny Arcade and Morgan Puett.
Founder & Director
- Aaron Hicklin
Director
- Lucy Taylor
Technical staff
- Brendan Regimbal
Education Officer
- Isadora Alteon
Operations
- Elizabeth Lepro
Presenting Partners 2024
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.
Orwell, Still
- Understanding Orwell: The Biographer’s Art
- Oh Julia
- Rebecca Solnit: Orwell’s Roses
- 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
- Collages By Lucy Sante
- 2024
- DOUBLEPLUSGOOD
- Poets, Artists, and Writers on Main
- Margin Call: On Low Lifes and Feral Cities
- 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.
