Story Archives of 'Brattleboro'

If you’re in Brattleboro this weekend and you bump into a guy who looks a lot like poet Robert Pinsky, it’s probably really him. He’s one of dozens of accomplished writers gathering in Vermont for the annual Brattleboro Literary Festival.

It’s the seventh year for the event. It includes workshops on historical fiction, nature writing, poetry, children’s books - all the stuff you’d expect at a lit fest. This year, though, the organizers added a new workshop – a session on how to get your book optioned for a film. Some purists might think that’s a bit of a sellout, but in an age of intense competition in the publishing world, getting your story on the big screen is one of the best ways to make all your hard work pay off.

William Akers teaches screenwriting at Vanderbilt University. Three of his screenplays have been turned into movies. He’s author of the book Your Screenplay Sucks: 100 Ways To Make It Great. Suzanne Kingsbury is the author of two books, The Summer Fletcher Greel Loved Me and The Gospel According to Gracey. Both have been optioned for films. Suzanne and William will both be talking about this topic at this weekends’ Brattleboro Literary Festival.

And, you may see yourself as a film buff, but imagine this herculean task: compiling a list – a very long list, in fact – of 1,000 significant movies for good and bad reasons, and writing a short introduction for each. That’s just what British-born American-based critic David Thomson has done with his new book, Have You Seen?, and it’s full of his unique takes on masterpieces and classics, but also oddities, and some films other critics will regard as just plain boring. The volume is huge: half a million words, and over a thousand pages. He recently visited the BBC The Ticket with Mark Coles.

(Photo by Professor Bop)

We talk with Newspaper Columnist Joyce Marcel from Brattleboro, Vermont about what it's like to be an outspoken critic in a very small town. Her book is A Thousand Words or Less: Favorite Columns 1996 - 2005.

We'll also hear about an unsual oral history project undertaken by the Krempels Brain Injury Foundation. Members of the organization are recording the stories of people who've suffered from brain injury, and they're posting the audio interviews to the internet. We'll hear some of the stories of these folks in their own words, and Program Director Marquis Walsh will join us to talk about the project.

You can click here to go to the Krempels oral history page and listen to more stories.

***These pieces originally aired on June 19, 2006 and February 16, 2006. ***

Never-before-seen works of controversial pop artist Andy Warhol are currently on exhibit at the Brattleboro Museum and Art Center in Vermont. The collection on view belonged to Jon Gould who lived with Andy Warhol during the early 1980's. Host Liz Bulkley fills in for John Walters to talk with the show's curator Mara Williams and Museum Director Konstantin von Krusenstiern about the source and significance of Warhol's appeal today.

Vermont regulators gave a conditional OK late Monday to a plan to increase the output of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant by 20%.
Vermont Yankee is located just across the river from Hinsdale, New Hampshire. NHPR correspondent Eesha Williams files this report.

James Cramer is President of World Learning, which provides educational and cultural-exchange programs on six continents. It's goal is to promote cooperation and understanding and it was very influential in the creation of the Peace Corps. Its academic arm, the School for International Training, has been located in in Brattleboro, VT for 70 years.