Westchester Book Festival proves playful, thought-provoking, risqué

Fanta Diallo and Pemi Aguda in conversation at the second annual Westchester Book Festival in Katonah. AMY SOWDER PHOTO

By AMY SOWDER

A young woman in the audience at the Westchester Book Festival on Nov. 7 clutched the microphone to ask the award-winning author a question burning in her mind: “What does she think about some people pigeonholing her novel as a horror story?”  

“People who think it’s horror, they can’t — they refuse to — believe that these horrible situations could be a reality,” replied Pemi Aguda, a National Book Award finalist for her “Ghostroots” short story collection and first-time novelist with “One Leg on Earth.” “But I think, if horror is about being unsettled, then yes, there are unsettling things happening in my book.”  

Aguda’s haunting novel examines motherhood in a merciless world and the price of progress. “There’s something about longing that somehow also brings clarity,” the architect-turned-author said about living away from her home city of Lagos, Nigeria.

This chat was one of eight ticketed Authors in Conversation events at the second annual book festival in downtown Katonah on Nov. 7.

In most cases, a moderator, often a writer themselves, held court with two authors on a stage while the audience watched until their chance came to ask questions. To select authors for the festival, organizers prioritized local and regional authors with nonfiction and fiction published within the last year, said John Glusman, chairman of the festival and vice president and executive editor of W.W. Norton & Company.

He called the second rendition of the  festival, with over 1,000 attendees, 75 volunteers and an additional venue that tripled seating capacity,  a “tremendous success.”

“My only regret is that I couldn’t attend all of the events, not being able to be in two places at once, that is, the Katonah Village Library and the Presbyterian Church, where simultaneous events were held this year.”

Glusman was pleased to hear that people traveled from New York City, West Point and throughout the Hudson Valley to attend.

“So, we are clearly extending our reach,” he said. “But the truest sign of success, I think, is how our authors felt about it, and the responses I’ve heard thus far have been glowing.”

The Katonah Reading Room hosted about 14 other authors for the Authors’ Corner, a series of meet-and-greets and book signings. Bookshop and café owner, Gretchen Menzies, focused on featuring local authors, or authors who’ve held events there before, all with new books. There were no repeats from the 2025 festival.

“It’s nice because people kinda know what to expect this year, and they wanted to come back,” Menzies said in between greeting those who came in the shop door and talking about books with everyone around her. “And people who missed it last year really, really wanted to make the most of it this year.”

From left, Megan Labrise, Madeleine Cash and Amy Calhoun. AMY SOWDER PHOTO

Each participating venue, including the bookshop, library, church, a park, art center, gallery and boutique, experienced a surge of happy mingling as writers, readers, publishers, journalists, poets, teachers and fans converged to talk about what they like to talk about best — books.

With their Westchester Book Festival tote bags swinging in their hands, the booted feet of book lovers crunched on the dry red and orange leaves decorating the sidewalks as they ambled along the downtown Katonah blocks between venues.

“I came to connect with my community and talk about literature,” said Meredith Schorr, a White Plains author of 13 books, including her latest, “Roommating,” a cozy rom-com. “It’s nice to see people celebrate books in the age of A.I.”

One table over, Eric Eichhorn of Bedford Corners sat behind hard copies and paperback editions of his debut novel, “Ogallala,” filled with dark humor, twists and adventure. 

For the ticketed events, the board paired authors whose books had a common theme, evoking discussions that ranged from playful and witty to risqué and thought-provoking.

Attendees met household names like Malcolm Gladwell, journalist and author of nine major books and a podcast, and first-time authors navigating new success, like Madeline Cash, author of “Lost Lambs.”

Gladwell’s investigative journalism background met David McCloskey’s CIA background in a talk that delved into what comprises a good spy novel, the moral ambiguity of government spies and spy story tropes. As far as the James Bond spy-thriller book series that predated the movies, “I just find the whole thing appalling. “I don’t like when things get cartoonish,” Gladwell said. What he does like is a flawed, multidimensional protagonist: “I’m fascinated by this dysfunctional turn in many of our narrators.”

The third author in this spy novel chat, Emmy-winning producer and screenwriter Noah Oppenheim proposed a theory on why spy stories are so popular.

“It speaks to our childish hope that there’s more to this world than it seems; there’s something primally appealing to that,” Oppenheim said.

Megan Labrise, editor-at-large of Kirkus Reviews, host of the “Fully Booked” podcast, opened the conversation with acclaimed author and journalist Ada Calhoun and debut novelist Madeline Cash by asking about their book-writing process.

“Are you a plotter or a panster?” Labrise asked with a grin, referring to the axiom “fly by the seat of your pants” for the latter. Cash, whose book was originally a short story, likes to plot out her book, while Calhoun, whose memoir-turned-novel called “Crush” didn’t outline her book in advance.

Calhoun titillated the audience as she discussed writing about the fallout of her character’s newly opened marriage. 

“As far as writing about unsexy sex and sexy sex, I’ve written so much bad sex in my books, it’s not fun,” Calhoun said. “Writing this book, I wanted it to feel exciting and dizzy and be completely enthralled.”

Cash drew a variety of reactions from the crowd when she shared her suspicion that many men don’t read fiction because they’ll feel silly and vulnerable about becoming attached to a fictional character. She recalled the most important feedback about her novel was when her grade school crush reached out after 10 years, sending her a direct-message on Instagram to congratulate her on the book.

When a journalist from Sarah Lawrence College stood up and asked her what her intention was when she created a stereotype of a Muslim terrorist online in her book, she seemed satisfied with the answer. “I tried to satirize every major religion with a corrupt priest, a Jewish billionaire, a Muslim terrorist,” Cash said. “I wanted to explore these cultural fears without necessarily promoting them.”

As people filed out after their chat, attendee Meg Sussman of Katonah, a book club member for 19 years, shared her impressions of the authors. “I loved their humor, both of them. Madeline had this self-deprecating manner that wasn’t down on herself, just honest, and Ada was just funny,” Sussman said. 

Back at the Reading Room, author Aimee Pokwatka said the haunted house in her novel, “Accumulation,” is based on the real Cross River home that she moved out of a week prior. The house creates the framework for the story that Goodreads calls a “supernatural suspense and psychological horror novel,” but the book is really about the horrors of domesticity, the uneven mental load and emotional labor, she said. Pokwatka has come full circle in 2026. She attended the festival in 2025 too, but as a volunteer, not an author.

“I volunteered because everyone wants to talk books,” Pokwatka said. “Here are my people.”