From left, the books “I Heard Her Call My Name: A Memoir of Transition,” “A Century of Fiction in The New Yorker, 1925-2025” and “The Rock ‘N’ Roll Haggadah: Your Guide to a Seder That Rocks!” will be discussed at this year’s Hoboken Literary Weekend.
Lucy Sante will open the fifth annual Hoboken Literary Weekend, April 4 at 7 p.m., by discussing her latest powerful book “I Heard Her Call My Name: A Memoir of Transition.” The book recounts her journey transitioning her gender identity in her 60s. Sante will be interviewed by Hua Hsu, author “Stay True,” which received the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Memoir or Autobiography.
Recently retired from 24 years of teaching at Bard College, Sante continues to write noteworthy books. “I Hear Her Call My Name” was selected as one of the 10 Best Books of 2024 by the staff of The New York Times Book Review .
Donna Garban, left, and Kate Jacobs outside Little City Books in Hoboken.
The Literary Weekend will continue through April 6 and will include other author discussions, comedy, theater and music. All events are organized by Kate Jacobs and Donna Garban, co-owners of the intimate independent bookstore Little City Books, and will take place there.
Jacobs and Garban have developed much more than a bookstore. It’s a hub that attracts community through literature, performance and conversation. And civil conversation during these uncivil times seems like a high priority.
“Bookstores are fundamentally civil,” Jacobs said. “All manner of ideas and identities exist between the covers of a book.
“The Literary Weekend has shaped up beautifully this year. I always panic in January and think no one will come, but once again a bunch of wonderful authors are pleased to hop on the PATH and come to Hoboken.”
April 5 at noon, Jean Hanff Korelitz will read from her latest book, “The Sequel: A Novel,” a satire of the publishing industry. This book is a sequel to her New York Times bestseller “The Plot.” She has also published novels “The Latecomer,” “You Should Have Known” (which was aired on HBO as “The Undoing”), “Admission” (adapted as a movie starring Tina Fey), “The Devil and Webster” and others.
April 5 at 2 p.m., Deborah Treisman, fiction editor of The New Yorker since 2003, will discuss her book “A Century of Fiction in The New Yorker, 1925-2025.” She will be interviewed by poet and Penguin Random House editor Deborah Garrison. According to promotional material, “The book boasts inarguable classics like Salinger’s ‘A Perfect Day for Bananafish,’ Annie Proulx’s ‘Brokeback Mountain,’ and Shirley Jackson’s ‘The Lottery’ alongside stunners to be rediscovered.”
The New Yorker has been at the center of my life since I was 14. Its covers lined the walls of my dorm room. I’ve enjoyed finding it in the mailboxes of all the places I’ve ever lived — a comfort and a companion. Treisman’s book is bound to be captivating.
The cover of “Low,” by Nick Flynn.
April 5 at 4 p.m., Marie Howe (former poet laureate of New York and a Sarah Lawrence College professor) and Nick Flynn will read from their books of poetry: “New and Selected Poems” and “Low,” respectively.
April 5 at 8 p.m., Leah Williams will return to the Literary Weekend with “Little City Laughing,” hosting a night of standup comedy by Zach Pugh, Benny Feldman, Brittany Carney, Pooja Reddy, Sara Hennessey and Michael Good.
April 6 at noon, just in time for the Jewish holiday Passover, writer Meredith Ochs and illustrator artist Kay Miller will discuss their “The Rock ‘N’ Roll Haggadah: Your Guide to a Seder That Rocks!” Guitarist Dave Schramm, drummer Ron Metz and keyboardist Ed Horan will perform — as will Jacobs, who is a singer-songwriter and guitarist — celebrating some of the rock music referenced in this Haggadah (a text read by those who celebrate Passover at a ritual dinner known as a Seder). Click HERE for an NJArts.net feature on this book.
April 6 at 2 p.m., Hoboken resident David Levithan will moderate a panel of authors of books for young adults, including Brian Selznick (“Run Away with Me”), Libba Bray (“Under the Same Stars”) and Gayle Forman (“After Life”). In 2024, Levithan published “Wide Awake Now,” a queer love story set during the 2024 presidential election.
April 6 at 4 p.m., Caoilinn Hughes, author of “Orchid & the Wasp,” will discuss her latest novel “The Alternatives” with Julie Orringer, author of “The Flight Portfolio” and “The Invisible Bridge.”
April 6 at 6 p.m., “Little City Lights” will include short plays by Hanna Novak, Traci Parks, Ed Horan & Nate Perlmeter, BT Hayes, Joseph Gallo, and Juliet Lacey & Leah Williams.
Jacobs is thrilled about the participating authors this year.
“I love Lucy’s books about New York — ‘Low Life’ and ‘Maybe the People Would Be the Times’ — and her memoir is just as wonderful,” said Jacobs. “And ‘Stay True,’ Hua’s memoir, is a heartbreaker. Jean Hanff Korelitz — ‘The Sequel,’ a thriller so hilariously vicious about bookstore author events. As a lifelong New Yorker fiction reader, I’m overjoyed that Deborah Treisman is coming — with Deborah Garrison, yet. Poets Marie Howe and Nick Flynn … that’s super classy. I mean, famous poets.
“The ‘Rock’n’roll Haggadah’ will be a gas and I get to sing an Iris DeMent song with Dave Schramm. … Brilliant Caoilinn Hughes is flying in from Dublin on the day to chat with her friend Julie Orringer about ‘The Alternatives’ — that’s going to be some heady conversation. And comedy and fresh short plays!”
CINDY STAGOFF
Richard Thompson at the 2022 Hoboken Literary Weekend.
In 2019 The Hoboken Literary Weekend was launched to showcase notable books and celebrate storytelling.
Has the festival evolved over the years?
“The bookstore has evolved, along with our customers, and the Literary Weekend along with that,” Jacobs said. “We all continue to find each other. Every year there are more people I don’t personally know who attend enthusiastically. We’re 10 years old this spring, and publishers and authors have gotten to know us, and they know we host the best author events.”
After being on hiatus for two years due to the pandemic, the Weekend returned in 2022, featuring Colm Tóibín, Richard Thompson, Fintan O’Toole and others. Among those featured in 2023 were Jennifer Egan, N.K. Jemisin, Maya Kaimal and Rupert Holmes. The 2024 event welcomed Tia Williams, Joyce Carol Oates, Jonathan Santlofer, Kim Coleman Foote and others.
Hoboken Literary Weekend is an annual highlight for me, scheduled right before Passover and timed just as the first crocus bloom. It marks, for me, a period of renewal, book appreciation, and community connection.
For tickets and information, visit eventbrite.com or littlecitybooks.com.
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