Craft talks, open mics, book awards, oh my! Summer on the Steps is the newest Chautauqua Literary Arts program that will begin at 12:15 p.m. today on the porch of the Literary Arts Center at Alumni Hall and continue every week the 2025 season.
“(Our Friday program) has had a few different evolutions over the past few summers,” said Managing Director of Literary Arts Stephine Hunt. Formerly a weekly craft talk with Writers’ Center faculty, Summer on the Steps now combines a variety of literary arts programming that otherwise might not fit into regular programming.
“Porch discussions, porch talks, porch mingling is part of a historic, lovely Chautauqua tradition,” Hunt said.
The Michael I. Rudell Artistic Director of Literary Arts and Inaugural Writer-in-Residence Kwame Alexander will continue that tradition today in the season’s first Summer of the Steps, when he discusses “Everything You Want to Know About Publishing, But Didn’t Know Who to Ask.”
Alexander is an award-winning author, poet and producer. He is the No. 1 New York Times bestselling author of 44 books, including Why Fathers Cry at Night, Rebound and The Undefeated, the Newbery Medal and Caldecott Medal-winning book illustrated by Kadir Nelson, whose work often appears on the front page of The New Yorker. Alexander’s Newbery Medal-winning novel The Crossover was turned into an Emmy award-winning Disney+ series, for which Alexander is the executive producer, showrunner and writer.
In Week Seven, CLSC Young Readers will discuss J vs. K, Alexander’s most recent graphic novel written and illustrated in collaboration with Jerry Craft, cartoonist known for his graphic novel New Kid.
Alexander offered a similar craft talk at the beginning of last summer, said Hunt. Back by popular demand, Alexander will share from his “wealth of knowledge of all levels and genres — poetry, children’s literature, picture books, adult books and more.”
The discussion will end with a book signing of Say Yes, adapted from Alexander’s 2024 commencement speech delivered at American University. From graphic novels to commencement addresses, Alexander’s breadth of experience in writing and publishing signals an engaging event for readers and writers of all ages interested in the journey of a book from draft to bookshelves.
Each Summer on the Steps event will open with spotlight readers from that week’s Writers’ Center Workshops. This week will feature readings from participants from Deanna Nikaido’s poetry workshop and Sally Wen Mao’s fiction workshop.
Looking ahead to local author presentations, community poetry readings and CLSC Unbound watch parties in the coming weeks, Summer on the Steps promises an engaging lineup for the literary-minded community of Chautauqua.
