Broadway packed a weekend bag, left Times Square behind and headed north. On Friday, August 14, the inaugural The Festival opened at Hutton Brickyards Riverfront Hotel + Venue in Kingston, New York, transforming the Hudson River waterfront into something Broadway has rarely attempted: a true destination festival built around the people, music and community of the theatre.

Photo by Michaelah Reynolds

Produced by Joshua Saltman and David B. Schwartz, The Festival ultimately drew 2,875 attendees from 48 states over its three-day debut, with 165 performers taking part in more than 30 programs. There were 30 musicians, 14 ensemble members and 13 apprentices, but numbers only begin to describe the ambition of what Saltman and Schwartz were attempting. This wasn’t Broadway presenting another concert. It was Broadway borrowing the language of the great music festivals and asking what happens when musical theatre gets out of the theatre.

Campfire Stage photo by Austin Ruffer

The answer, at least on Friday, was that it rather liked the fresh air. At the center of the sprawling weekend was the Broadway Direct Stage, an open-air covered venue surrounded by the Hudson Valley landscape. Instead of velvet seats, chandeliers and the compressed electricity of a Broadway house, audiences found themselves experiencing some of the theatre world’s most recognizable voices against water, sky and the industrial remnants of the historic brickyards. There was something wonderfully incongruous about it: Broadway glamour meeting Hudson Valley earthiness without either having to apologize to the other. The opening day’s lineup immediately established that this wasn’t going to be a modest experiment.

Gianmarco Soresi. Photo by Michaelah Reynolds

Gianmarco Soresi. Photo by Michaelah Reynolds

Comedian and actor Gianmarco Soresi hosted the inaugural “The Festival”(The Broadway Festival). He served as the host and emcee

Alex Newell. Photo by Austin Ruffer

Alex Newell. Photo by Austin Ruffer

Alex Newell. Photo by Austin Ruffer

Alex Newell

Mandy Gonzalez. Photo by Michaelah Reynolds

Mandy Gonzalez. Photo by Austin Ruffer

Mandy Gonzalez. Photo by Austin Ruffer

Mandy Gonzalez. Photo by Austin Ruffer

Mandy Gonzalez. Photo by Austin Ruffer

Mandy Gonzalez

Christopher Jackson. Photo by Austin Ruffer

Christopher Jackson and Mandy Gonzalez. Photo by Austin Ruffer

Christopher Jackson and Mandy Gonzalez. Photo by Austin Ruffer

Christopher Jackson

Javier Muñoz. Photo by Austin Ruffer

Christopher Jackson and Javier Muñoz. Photo by Austin Ruffer

Javier Muñoz

Solea Pfeiffer. Photo by Austin Ruffer

Solea Pfeiffer. Photo by Michaelah Reynolds

Solea Pfeiffer

Jasmine Amy Rogers. Photo by Austin Ruffer

Jasmine Amy Rogers. Photo by Austin Ruffer

Jasmine Amy Rogers. Photo by Austin Ruffer

Jasmine Amy Rogers

Cara Rose DiPietro. Photo by Michaelah Reynolds

Cara Rose DiPietro

Tyler Joseph Ellis. Photo by Michaelah Reynolds

Tyler Joseph Ellis and Matt Rodin were among the artists helping launch the weekend, while SiriusXM’s Seth Rudetsky did what Rudetsky does particularly well—turn Broadway history, personalities and musical obsession into entertainment.

Tommy Bracco Photo by Michaelah Reynolds

One of Friday’s most charming ideas belonged to Tommy Bracco, the Newsies alum and Big Brother favorite, who hosted a celebration of Disney music. Bracco began with “Out There” from The Hunchback of Notre Dame, but it was Solea Pfeiffer who provided one of the afternoon’s genuine reminders of how much extraordinary music remains trapped inside Disney’s animated catalogue. Her performances of “Colors of the Wind” from Pocahontas and “Reflection” from Mulan made a fairly persuasive argument for why Broadway has yet to get its hands on either score.

Reeve Carney and Eva Noblezada. Photo by Austin Ruffer

Eva Noblezada. Photo by Austin Ruffer

Then came Reeve Carney and Eva Noblezada, whose musical and personal history has become its own little piece of contemporary Broadway mythology. They originated Orpheus and Eurydice together in Hadestown, fell in love, married, and have continued sharing stages since. At Hutton Brickyards, the scale shifted. Away from the machinery of a Broadway production, the two were able to offer something more intimate—a reminder that before scenery, costumes and theatrical spectacle arrive, musical theatre begins with people telling stories through music.

Campfire Stage 2 photo by Austin Ruffer

That intimacy was one of the more intriguing elements of The Festival’s concept. Broadway normally asks audiences to enter its buildings. Here, Broadway entered the audience’s world. People wandered between performances, conversations and events rather than sitting obediently in one seat for two and a half hours. Artists who normally disappear through stage doors after a performance were suddenly part of a larger weekend community.

By evening, however, subtlety was finished.

The Big Show. Photo by Austin Ruffer

The Big Show. Photo by Austin Ruffer

The Big Show Night 1 Company photo by Austin Ruffer

Friday culminated with The Big Show, and the Broadway Direct Stage became exactly what its name promised: a full-scale concert designed to let Broadway voices loose. Cara Rose DiPietro, Tess Soltau and original Rent star Adam Pascal opened with an inspired piece of theatrical mischief, turning Stephen Sondheim’s “A Weekend in the Country” into a self-referential welcome to the weekend, accompanied by more than a dozen Broadway dancers.

It was an appropriate choice. Sondheim’s number is itself about people converging upon a destination carrying expectations, desires and complications with them. Here came thousands of Broadway devotees doing essentially the same thing, only their weekend in the country involved considerably more belting.

And that may be the cleverest thing about The Festival. Broadway has spent decades trying to expand beyond the geographic boundaries of Broadway while still treating the Broadway theatre as the center of the universe. Touring companies travel. Cast albums travel. Stars perform concerts. BroadwayCon created its own gathering place for fans. But the great American music-festival model—travel somewhere beautiful, stay for several days and immerse yourself in the music and the people who make it—has largely belonged to other genres.

Saltman and Schwartz decided musical theatre deserved one too.

They assembled an astonishing inaugural roster across the weekend: Audra McDonald, Kelli O’Hara, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Norbert Leo Butz, Jason Robert Brown, Lena Hall, Tom Kitt, Andrea McArdle, Alex Newell, Adam Pascal, Anthony Rapp, Jenn Colella, Andrew Barth Feldman, Lauren Patten, Denée Benton and many more, culminating in something irresistible to Broadway devotees—a 30th anniversary reunion of the original Broadway cast of Rent.

Behind that amount of talent was an equally formidable creative operation. Tony winner Jerry Mitchell and Jon Rua choreographed the event, with Mitchell and D.B. Bonds directing. Dan Lipton handled musical supervision, Julie McBride served as musical director, and Michael Downs oversaw creative direction and experience design. David Rees provided lighting, Cody Spencer sound, Caite Hevner video and Ryan Park costumes, while Lana Schwartz directed The Festival Apprentices. Chris Gratton served as production manager, technical director and site manager, with Lisa Iacucci as production supervisor.

That is an enormous amount of Broadway infrastructure to transport to the banks of the Hudson, and Friday proved that the concept could actually work.

By the time the weekend ended Sunday, Saltman and Schwartz were already prepared to announce that The Festival will return in 2027.

“We are absolutely thrilled with how The Festival went this weekend,” the producers said following its conclusion, thanking both the fans who had created the weekend’s community and the artists who had filled it. “We couldn’t be prouder of the experience and the incredible team that put it all together. We can’t wait to see you in 2027!”

Neither, apparently, can Broadway. Friday was only the overture.

Next: Day Two of The Festival — when Broadway’s weekend in the country really got underway.

One of New York’s favorite summer traditions continued this week as Broadway in Bryant Park once again turned the Midtown lawn into an open-air theatre, bringing together performers from The Book of Mormon, The Great Gatsby, Heathers: The Musical and Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody for an afternoon of free performances.

Helen Little

Ashley De La Rosa

Ashley De La Rosa, Helen Little

Presented by 106.7 LITE FM, the afternoon was hosted by the station’s Helen Little, with Ashley De La Rosa joining as co-host. Broadway in Bryant Park has long been one of those quintessentially New York events: office workers on lunch breaks, theatre lovers and tourists gathering on the lawn while Broadway performers trade their usual proscenium arches for sunshine, skyscrapers and a decidedly less formal audience.

J. Casey Barrett. Vance Klassen, Andrew Nelin, Kevin Clay. Andrew Stevens Purdy, Thomas Doelger, Diego Enrico, Joshua Keen and Henry McGuiness

Diego Enrico and Kevin Clay

Thomas Doelger and Charlie Franklin

Diego Enrico and Kevin Clay

The Book of Mormon, still one of Broadway’s most irreverent long-running hits, was represented by J. Casey Barrett, Vance Klassen, Andrew Nelin, Kevin Clay, Andrew Stevens Purdy, Thomas Doelger, Diego Enrico, Charlie Franklin, Joshua Keen and Henry McGuinness. More than a decade after arriving on Broadway, the musical continues to demonstrate the remarkable staying power of a show that turned religious satire, outrageous comedy and an unexpectedly traditional musical-theatre heart into a theatrical phenomenon.

Alex Prakken, Brandon J. Large, Nathaniel Hunt, Traci Elaine Lee, Drew Lake, Justin Keats, Emily Anne Nester, Matt Wiercinski and Kurt Csolak

The Cast of The Great Gatsby that includes, Brandon J. Large, Nathaniel Hunt, Traci Elaine Lee, Drew Lake, Justin Keats, Emily Anne Nester, Matt Wiercinski and Kurt Csolak

Alex Prakken

Alex Prakken

Alex Prakken

The Cast of The Great Gatsby that includes, Brandon J. Large, Nathaniel Hunt, Traci Elaine Lee, Drew Lake, Justin Keats, Emily Anne Nester, Matt Wiercinski and Kurt Csolak

The glamour of the Jazz Age arrived courtesy of The Great Gatsby, with Alex Prakken, Brandon J. Large, Nathaniel Hunt, Traci Elaine Lee, Drew Lake, Justin Keats, Emily Anne Nester, Matt Wiercinski and Kurt Csolak taking the Bryant Park stage. The Broadway musical, inspired by F. Scott Fitzgerald’s quintessential American novel, brought a splash of Gatsby excess to the lawn—a fitting contrast to the decidedly democratic pleasure of seeing Broadway for free in the middle of Manhattan.

John Cardoza, Thalia Atallah, Ava DeMary, Jackera Davis, Zan Berube, Kiara Michelle Lee, Emma Benson and Syd Sider

John Cardoza and Kiara Michelle Lee

John Cardoza and Kiara Michelle Lee

John Cardoza

Jackera Davis, Zan Berube and Ava DeMary

Things became considerably darker—and deliciously more dangerous—with Heathers: The Musical. John Cardoza, Kiara Michelle Lee, Thalia Atallah, Ava DeMary, Jackera Davis, Zan Berube, Emma Benson and Syd Siderrepresented the cult musical, whose wicked combination of teenage cruelty, black comedy and infectious pop-rock music has given Heathers a devoted following that has only grown since the show first arrived in New York.

Jay Armstrong Johnson and Ryann Redmond

Kevin Clay

Ryan Duncan

Daniel Brackett, Ryan Duncan, Shelby Acosta, Jay Armstrong Johnson, Cherry Torres and Ryann Redmond

Daniel Brackett

Jay Armstrong Johnson

Ryann Redmond

Then came one of the afternoon’s cheekier offerings, Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody. Daniel Brackett, Ryan Duncan, Shelby Acosta, Jay Armstrong Johnson, Cherry Torres and Ryann Redmond brought the parody to Bryant Park, adding another flavor entirely to a program that happily jumped from established Broadway blockbusters to cult favorites and irreverent new work.

Jane Fujita

Daielle Dellilo

Eyllah Babbitt, Danielle Dellilo and Kelly Branco

Also participating in the afternoon were Eyllah Babbitt, Danielle Dellilo and Kelly Branco, along with Jane Fujita

and representatives from Taiwan Tourism, adding to an event that has increasingly become as much a Midtown summer gathering as a theatrical sampler.

That has always been the particular charm of Broadway in Bryant Park. Broadway can be expensive, carefully scheduled and sometimes intimidating to those who don’t regularly venture inside its theatres. Here, the walls disappear. There is no velvet rope separating the initiated from the curious. Someone can wander through Bryant Park, hear an extraordinary voice coming from the stage, sit down on the lawn and discover a show they had never considered seeing.

And for Broadway itself, that matters. A few songs performed on a summer afternoon can accomplish what an advertisement sometimes cannot: they allow an audience to experience the performers themselves. The theatre becomes immediate, accessible and wonderfully difficult to ignore.

Broadway in Bryant Park continues throughout the summer at Bryant Park, located along Sixth Avenue between 40th and 42nd Streets. Lawn seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis.

In a city where Broadway normally begins when the house lights go down, Bryant Park continues to prove that sometimes the best way to sell the magic of theatre is simply to bring it outside and let New York stumble upon it.

There is a particular species of August afternoon in Manhattan — hot, muggy, the sidewalks thick with tourists moving at the pace of parade floats — when the city feels like something to be endured. Into that swelter, on the corner of NoMad, TAP Brazilian Café has just opened its fifth New York outpost and I am prepared to call it an oasis, if you’ll forgive me the word. It is, at the very least, a great improvement on the theme of lunch.

TAPs newest location in midtown

TAP — an acronym for Tapioca sandwiches, Açaí bowls, and Pão de queijo — arrives with the confident math of a brand that already knows what it’s doing. This is location number five, following Midtown East, Astoria, the Upper West Side, and Miami’s Brickell, with Coral Gables and a franchise rollout already in motion. Brothers Pedro and Cleo Uchôa, the Brazilian duo behind it, have built something that reads less like fast food and more like a wellness proposition with excellent bread.

Açai and tender pão de queijo hit all the spots

And it is excellent bread — or rather, no bread at all, in the traditional sense. The kitchen works in tapioca: a naturally gluten-free cassava flatbread, griddled with fillings and folded until it turns into something with a wonderful, contradictory texture — a slight crunch that gives way just before the bite, then collapses into whatever’s melted inside. It is, structurally speaking, a genius piece of engineering disguised as lunch.

Gluten-free sandwiches that satisfy

I tried the beef, grilled with onions, generous with flavor and light on the conscience — a fact I found genuinely surprising, given Brazil’s reputation as a nation devoted to beef and rice. The Salmon & Mango Fresh — smoked salmon and mango dressed in a house-made vinaigrette, tucked into that same tapioca fold — is a genuinely fresh idea of what a fish sandwich can be. The caprese converted me outright: I have spent a lifetime finding capreses bready, chewy and cold, and this one was tender, melty and warm in a way that felt like it had been reasoned out on purpose.

The açaí, sourced from Pará in the Brazilian Amazon and sweetened with organic guaraná, shows up everywhere — in bowls, in smoothies, in the spirulina açaí smoothie I’d happily call a creamsicle for grown-ups chasing antioxidants along with nostalgia. On a day like the one I visited, that sweetness was the whole point. Pair it with the savory  pão de queijo, tender, cheesy fritters with a mochi texture. An excellent lunch for the smart set on the go.

TAP Nomad

None of it would have mattered, though, if the room hadn’t held together, because the room was packed — a properly overwhelming grand-opening crush, the kind that tests a staff’s composure more than it tests the food. TAP’s team met it with a warmth that never once curdled into strain. Manager Johan talked me through the tapioca-grilling-and-folding process himself, unhurried, clearly proud of it. That kind of grace under a full house is not nothing; it is, arguably, the harder dish to pull off.

The space itself does its part, too — murals from Rio graffiti artist Acme, a ten-foot toucan sculpture from Luciano Cian planted at the door, a calm, groovy beat drifting under the noise. It doesn’t try to fake a beach in Brazil. It just borrows enough of the spirit to make Midtown feel, for the length of a lunch, a little less like Midtown.

I didn’t find one middling thing on the table. So: NoMad’s nomads, start thinking Brazilian for lunch. TAP has brought its A-game to fast food, and it turns out fast food had room to grow up.

TAP NoMad 

If Part One of our look at the East Hampton Library’s 22nd Annual Authors Night captured the sheer excitement of the evening, Part Two reveals why this particular summer tradition has become something far more interesting than a glamorous book signing.

Under one enormous tent on August 8, worlds that ordinarily have very little reason to collide suddenly did. Historians sat near novelists. Political insiders shared space with chefs. Architects, journalists, comedians, artists, grief writers and mystery authors met readers face-to-face, while conversations moved effortlessly from the White House to Montauk, from James Baldwin to Sid Caesar, from the Titanic to Tarot.

That eclecticism is the secret of Authors Night. You may arrive looking for one writer and leave carrying the work of someone you had never heard of two hours earlier.

At the center of any gathering devoted to American nonfiction stands Robert A. Caro, whose monumental The Power Broker changed the way generations understood not merely Robert Moses, but the machinery of political power itself. More than half a century after its publication, Caro’s study remains startlingly relevant because its real subject was never simply one man. It was what happens when ambition, government and unchecked authority converge.

Nicholas Boggs brought Baldwin, his major biography of James Baldwin, returning readers to one of America’s most essential literary and intellectual voices. Baldwin’s questions about race, sexuality, belonging and America’s ability—or refusal—to examine itself have hardly grown less urgent.

That examination of America continued with Gloria Browne-Marshall’s A Protest History of the United States, while Eddie S. Glaude Jr. brought America, U.S.A.: How Race Shadows the Nation’s Anniversaries, considering how America’s celebrations of itself inevitably collide with the parts of its history it would sometimes rather leave outside the ceremony.

Jonathan Mahler turned his attention toward another kind of American power in The Gods of New York, exploring the personalities and forces that shaped a city forever negotiating between money, ambition, politics and myth. Nearby,

Julian Zelizer

Julian Zelizer offered The Presidency of Joseph R. Biden: A First Historical Assessment, bringing together the kind of immediate historical examination that begins almost before an administration has disappeared from view.

Former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre arrived with Independent: A Look Inside a Broken White House, Outside the Party Lines, while Don Lemon brought two books examining subjects that have defined much of his public career: race, religion, faith and America’s continuing argument with itself.

Then there was Bradford E. Billet, whose Chaos Reveals It contains enough history for several lives. Billet’s experiences encompass TWA Flight 800, September 11 and his tenure as New York City’s Commissioner for International Affairs, dealing directly with the United Nations and State Department. It is precisely the kind of book Authors Night is made for: you pick it up because of the title and suddenly find yourself standing across from someone who witnessed history from inside the room.

Hassan Nemazee’s Persia, Politics and Prison offered another journey through power and consequence, while Aziz Abu Sarah’s The Future Is Peace turned toward one of humanity’s oldest and most elusive ambitions: finding a way through conflict rather than perpetuating it.

The evening was equally rich in cultural history. David Margolick’s When Caesar Was King: How Sid Caesar Reinvented American Comedy revisits the astonishing influence of the comic genius whose television work helped shape modern American comedy. Carol Leifer, herself part of comedy history and famously associated with the inspiration for Elaine on Seinfeld, took a considerably less solemn approach with How to Write a Funny Speech . . . for a Wedding, Bar Mitzvah, Graduation & Every Other Event You Didn’t Want to Go to in the First Place. Even the title knows exactly what room it has walked into.

Tom Junod brought In the Days of My Youth I Was Told What It Means to Be a Man, while Jay McInerney, forever associated with the literary electricity of New York, offered See You on the Other Side. Amy DuBois Barnett’s If I Ruled the World joined Gayle Feldman’s Nothing Random, Jenna Blum’s wonderfully titled Murder Your Darling,

Amy Chozick

Amy Chozick’s With Friends Like You, Amy Ephron’s Unseasonably Cold

Adam Ross

Adam Ross’s Playworld, and Joanna Margaret’sThe Daughters among the fiction and literary works inviting readers into entirely different worlds.

Then there was one of the titles impossible to walk past without stopping: J. Brooke’s I Can Tell You the Version That Will Make You Take My Side. In an age when almost everyone seems to arrive with a version of events designed to secure allegiance before the facts have even entered the room, the title alone feels wickedly contemporary.

Mystery and suspense were everywhere. David Baerwald brought The Fire Agent, Rachel Ekstrom Courage Death on the Lanai

Tom Clavin

Tom Clavin Vengeance

Alex DeMille

Alex DeMille The Tin Man,

Steve Israel

Steve Israel The Einstein Conspiracy, Chris Pavone The Doorman, Bob Reiss The Impossible Detective

John Searles

John Searles Single Girls, Alyssa Sheinmel Such Sheltered Lives, and Charles Lachman They Shall Not See the Dawn. Aphrodite Jones, long known for examining notorious criminal cases, arrived with Michael Jackson Conspiracy, Jeffrey Sussman’s Mafia Hits, Misses, Wars, and Prosecutionspromised exactly the wonderfully combustible history its title suggests.

The East End itself naturally had its chroniclers. Christy Scott Cashman brought What Happened in Beulah, while David Cataletto’s Kings of the Coast: Montauk kept the geography decidedly local. Jennifer Ash Rudick’s Inside the Hamptons turned the lens on the homes and aesthetic identity of the East End

Michael Gross

Michael Gross’s Treasured Island examined another enclave synonymous with extraordinary wealth.

Architecture and design were particularly well represented. Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Paul Goldberger’s Why Architecture Matters asks us to look beyond buildings as objects and understand how the spaces surrounding us influence the way we live. David Netto’s Rosario Candela & The New York Apartment: 1927–1937 celebrates the architect whose elegant apartment houses helped define Manhattan luxury. Jeffrey Banks brought Storyteller, while

Steven Kasher

Steven Kasher’s Memoir of a Collection: Finding Meaning Through Art explored the deeply personal relationship between collector and object.

Kendell Cronstrom and Alejandro Saralegui

Kendell Cronstrom and Alejandro Saralegui each celebrated Madoo, preserving the extraordinary Sagaponack garden and creative world associated with artist Robert Dash, while Alice Harris and Christian John Wikane’s A Night at the Disco turned the cultural clock toward another dazzling New York institution: the dance floor.

Food, naturally, had its own irresistible corner. New York Times food authority Florence Fabricant brought Salty Not Sweet, while chef Michael Symon offered Symon’s Dinners Cooking Out.

Jenn Lueke, Sabrina Rudin, Ali Rosen

Jenn Lueke’s Don’t Think About Dinner, Ali Rosen’s The Slow Burn, and Sabrina Rudin’s Healthy With a Side of Happy approached the pleasures—and daily realities—of feeding ourselves from very different directions.

There were books about the body and the complicated business of taking care of it. Breast surgeon Dr. Elisa Port offered The Breast Advice

Michael J. Norton

Michael J. Norton’s deliciously irreverent The S** I Heard at Yoga* suggested that wellness culture deserves a raised eyebrow along with the downward dog.

Some of the evening’s most affecting books dealt with what happens when life refuses to follow the plan. Danielle Crittenden’s Dispatches from Grief and Kate Doerge’s Reimagining Grief confronted loss from different perspectives

Susan Klein and Cynthia Schaffner

while Susan Klein and Cynthia Schaffner brought Heart Art. David Biro’s The Unstoppables looked toward endurance, and April Reynolds’ The Shape of Dreams toward the landscapes we construct within ourselves.

Elsewhere beneath the tent were Lenny Ackerman with Moments Out of Time; Nelson Aspen with Kindred Spirits: A Titanic Talk; Andrew Blauner with On the Couch; Karen and Bill Brodsky with Beyond Honor; Judy Batalion with The Last Women of Warsaw; Harriet Newman Cohen with Passion and Power

Ken Davidoff

Ken Davidoff with 101 Lessons From the Dugout; Tom Freston with Unplugged; Luke Goebel with Kill Dick; Bianna Golodryga with Don’t Feed the Lion

Xochitl Gonzalez

 Xochitl Gonzalez with Last Night in Brooklyn; Harrison Hill with The Oracle’s Daughter; Madeleine Henry with The Last Celebrity

Andrew Lownie

Andrew Lownie with Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York

Conner Martin

Conner Martin with The Silver Fish

Lisa Raicek

Lisa Raicek with The Plunge; Deborah Goodrich Royce with Best Boy

Sydney Sadick

Sydney Sadick

 Sydney Sadick with Aim High; Allison Winn Scotch with The Insomniacs; John Seabrook with The Spinach King; Heather Ann Thompson with Fear and Fury; and Jessica Walker with The Secret Astronomers.

Monte Farber and Amy Zerner

Monte Farber and Amy Zerner

Monte Farber

Then there were Monte Farber and Amy Zerner whose books on Tarot are legendary. The longtime creative and spiritual partners arrived carrying a book they wrote 35 years ago, when Tarot existed considerably farther outside the mainstream than it does today. As they pointed out, they were writing about Tarot long before Tarot became a cultural trend. There is something rather wonderful about that. Authors Night is necessarily obsessed with what is new—the new novel, the new biography, the new investigation, the book everyone will be discussing tomorrow. But books have their own clocks. Some explode immediately. Others wait patiently for the culture to catch up with them. Thirty-five years later, Tarot is everywhere. What once occupied the esoteric edges now fills bookstores, social media feeds and conversations about spirituality and consciousness. Monte Farber and Amy Zerner were there before the fashion arrived.

That may be the perfect way to understand Authors Night itself. For all the famous names, beautiful homes, summer clothes and Hamptons glamour, the evening ultimately celebrates something considerably less fashionable and far more enduring. Ideas survive.

They move from writer to reader, sometimes immediately and sometimes decades later. They are argued with, rediscovered, rejected, reconsidered and occasionally understood by an entirely different generation than the one for which they were originally written.

On Saturday night in East Hampton, nearly 100 writers arrived carrying those ideas between two covers and thousands of conversations began.

For one magical August evening, the East Hampton Library once again proved that in the Hamptons, literary stars shine just as brightly as Hollywood celebrities. The Library’s 22nd Annual Authors Night gathered nearly 100 acclaimed writers beneath its signature tent, transforming an East End summer evening into one of America’s most celebrated literary gatherings.

More than a fundraiser, Authors Night has become a cultural institution where readers have the rare opportunity to meet the minds behind today’s most talked-about books. Between glasses of wine, beautifully prepared hors d’oeuvres, and stacks of freshly inked hardcovers, conversations flowed as freely as the evening itself before many of the featured authors departed for intimate private dinners hosted in their honor throughout the Hamptons.

The Library’s 22nd Annual Authors Night once again transformed the East End into the nation’s most sophisticated literary salon, bringing together nearly 100 authors spanning biography, science, politics, fiction, memoir, history, children’s books, and popular culture. Long regarded as the premier literary event of the Hamptons, the fundraiser has become one of the country’s largest and most successful author gatherings, where conversations matter as much as cocktails and where readers stand patiently in line—not for selfies, but for signatures.

Guests filled the grand reception tent, wine glasses in hand, weaving from table to table to meet the authors whose words have shaped conversations far beyond the East End. Books disappeared into tote bags almost as quickly as they could be signed before many of the featured writers departed for intimate private dinners hosted throughout the Hamptons in their honor.

Stewart F. Lane

Stewart F. Lane, Bonnie Comely. James F. Comley

Broadway producer Stewart F. Lane entertained theater lovers with Let’s Put On A Show, an insider’s look behind the curtain from one of Broadway’s most accomplished producers.

Bonnie Comley

Beside him was producer Bonnie Comley, proudly supporting her father, James F. Comley, whose memoir The Ups and Downs reflects on a remarkable personal journey marked by resilience and perseverance.

Neil deGrasse Tyson

Neil deGrasse Tyson

Neil deGrasse Tyson

Neil deGrasse Tyson and Lenny Lane

Neil deGrasse Tyson and Lenny Lane

Neil deGrasse Tyson

As always, one table seemed to have a gravitational pull all its own. Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson once again proved that science can rival any celebrity attraction. His table remained consistently packed throughout the evening as guests eagerly waited to meet the bestselling author of Take Me To Your Leader, reaffirming that curiosity about the universe remains one of humanity’s greatest attractions.

Bobbi Brown

Bobbi Brown

Beauty entrepreneur Bobbi Brown attracted a steady stream of admirers with Still Bobbi, an honest reflection on reinvention, entrepreneurship, and building a life that continues evolving long after becoming a household name.

Helen A. Harrison

East Hampton’s own Helen A. Harrison brought her signature blend of art history and mystery with A Far Corpse, once again demonstrating why she remains one of the East End’s most respected literary voices.

Patrick Markee

Architectural historian Patrick Markee explored forgotten spaces and overlooked histories in Place Less, inviting readers to reconsider the landscapes we often take for granted.

Valerie Greenberg

Beth Stern, Valerie Greenberg and Cindy Karen

Author Valerie Greenberg offered a timely look at modern relationships and emotional affirmation in You’ve Been Validated, examining our collective search for recognition in an increasingly digital world.

Brisa Carlton

Novelist Brisa Carlton captured old-world glamour and bittersweet nostalgia with Last Call at the Savoy, transporting readers to an era where elegance and heartbreak frequently shared the same table.

Beth Stern

Beth Stern

Animal advocate Beth Stern delighted families with CoCo and Stephen Together, another charming addition to her beloved collection celebrating compassion and friendship through the eyes of rescue animals.

Leslie Gelb

Leslie Gelb book Wake the Bear, is the true story of C.R. Liles, a man who survived more than 30 foster homes, extraordinary childhood abuse and a turbulent life, ultimately finding survival, identity and purpose through his art and his Lakota heritage.

Susan McGuirk

Susan McGuirk’s heartfelt Dear Missing Friend explored the enduring bonds of friendship, memory, and loss, resonating deeply with readers searching for connection in an increasingly fragmented world.

Heidi Evans

Heidi Evans, Josh Getlin

Entertainment journalists Josh Getlin and Heidi Evans drew considerable interest with their eagerly anticipated biography of Liza Minnelli, offering a richly researched portrait of one of entertainment’s most enduring and enigmatic icons.

Peter M. Wolf

Roselie Rachel

One of the evening’s lighter moments came when social media personality Roselie Rachel was spotted enthusiastically purchasing Peter M. Wolf’s fascinating historical work The Etruscans and the Jews, proving that curiosity crosses every generation and platform.

Denise Kiernan

Historian Denise Kiernan captivated readers with Obstinate Daughters, shining a light on remarkable women whose determination helped shape history despite formidable obstacles.

Norah Lawlor

Norah Lawlor

Norah Lawlor

Rounding out this first look was longtime publicist Norah Lawlor, whose heartfelt Mom’s Book of Wisdom celebrates the timeless advice mothers pass from one generation to the next. It was Nora’s first time here and she sold out!

Authors Night has never been simply about autograph lines or book sales. It is about conversations—between writers and readers, ideas and imagination, history and possibility. It remains one of the rare places where intellectual curiosity takes center stage, reminding us that stories still have the power to bring people together.

Stay tuned for Part Two, where we continue our tour through one of the Hamptons’ most beloved literary traditions, introducing more of the remarkable authors and unforgettable moments that made this year’s Authors Night another chapter worth remembering.