Dear Festival Friends,

Has everyone here already read Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin? If yes, welcome to this meeting of the fan club. If no, get yourself a copy right now, or listen to the excellent audio version. This book is the perfect gift to give your psyche, and we suspect your psyche could use a little TLC these days.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is one of those rare novels that fills your heart to bursting. By the end, you’re ugly-crying and texting your friends a picture of the cover with a string of ❤️😭 emojis. It was deservedly named one of the 100 Best Books of the 21st Century by The New York Times and one of the best books of 2022 by just about everyone else. An engrossing, expansive story about friendship, love, and video games, the novel enchanted even those readers (like many of us here at Festival HQ) who’ve never touched a game console. NPR called it “a big, beautifully written novel … that succeeds in being both serious art and immersive entertainment.” And its author will be joining us at the Festival next month! 🎉🎉🎉

Zevin had already written several award-winning bestsellers before Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow made her an overnight sensation. She made her debut in 2005, when she precociously released two novels, one of which, Elsewhere, is on Time’s list of the 100 Best YA Books of All Time. Then came four more young adult novels and three adult ones, including the New York Times bestseller The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, a valentine to books and reading that features a misanthropic bookstore owner who surprises himself by finding love after he thought that door had closed for good. Zevin, who also happens to be a screenwriter, wrote the screenplay for the 2022 film adaptation of the novel. And she received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for her screenplay for the 2005 film Conversations with Other Women, starring Helena Bonham Carter.

It’s fitting that we highlight Zevin at the start of National Poetry Month, since Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow begins with an epigraph from Emily Dickinson, and one of the book’s main characters designs a video game called EmilyBlaster that involves shooting ink from a quill pen at words from Dickinson poems. That’s our kind of video game, and we’ve spent way too much time playing it on Zevin’s website. Knowing her affinity for verse, we’ve invited former Albuquerque Poet Laureate Hakim Bellamy to join her on stage at the Festival. As the Belle of Amherst wrote, “There is no frigate like a book,” and we can’t wait to be transported by their conversation.

In response to high demand, we are releasing additional tickets to see Zevin at the Festival. This event, along with those featuring bestselling authors Miranda July, Jonathan Eig, Cristina Rivera Garza, Deborah Jackson Taffa, Marie Arana, and others, will likely sell out soon, so get your tickets now!

Board of Directors
Edward Gale, Chair

Janet Bailey | Mark Bryant | Clare Hertel

Jenny Kimball | James McGrath Morris

Carmella Padilla | Jenna Scanlan

Mary Sloane | Maria Gale, Ex Officio

Founders
Clare Hertel | Carmella Padilla | Mark Bryant