Bookstock 2025 — a celebration of books, poetry, and a diverse lineup of authors — took place last weekend, in a triumphant return to Woodstock. After Bookstock 2024 was canceled at the last minute, a new board took over the planning and execution of the literary festival, making significant changes to the event. Bookstock board members Jon Spector, Julie Moncton, Michael Stoner, and Priscilla Painton sat down with the Standard to discuss the ups and downs of Bookstock 2025, and to speculate on whether the festival will grace The Green again in 2026.
Stoner, Bookstock chair, began the conversation, stating, “I think that overall, this event was extremely successful. Measured both by our specific personal objectives and the reaction of those in our community who attended, I think we pulled off a wonderful literary event and created the blueprint for the future.”
Painton, vice-chair, echoed that sentiment, saying, “It was fascinating for me to see the degree to which books can impact a community. I found it quite moving that at the end of the day, in a world so overrun by media, we can still bring people together and make them forge a deeper connection with those around them through books.”
Like any complex event, Bookstock encountered a few difficulties last weekend. “There were a few minor complaints,” Spector said. “People complained that we should have had an intermission for some of the longer panels and that sessions were too long in general. Obviously, the uncooperative weather was the biggest negative.”
Late Friday night, the board made the difficult decision to cancel all outdoor events on The Green for Saturday, May 17 due to treacherous weather risks.
When pressed about Bookstock 2026, the entire board confirmed that the event will continue next year and that the planning has already commenced.
“We are just so overwhelmed by the support of our community, our sponsors, our donors, and our volunteers. Each and every one of these people showed up and supported us and reaffirmed that this is an event our community wants and needs. We are looking forward to next year,” Spector said.
There were some changes across the board for this year’s Bookstock — one being the implementation of tickets that were free but had to be reserved in advance. “The tickets this year gave us a realistic idea of how many attendees we would have at each event. I believe the margin is something along the lines of 50-60% of attendees will be ticketholders. There was, of course, room for people to show up without a ticket, and obviously we also had some no-shows. Overall, ticket sales helped us to gauge which venue should host each event so that we had full rooms instead of half-empty auditoriums,” Stoner said.
While no dates have been set yet, the board says they are confident that next year’s event will be even better than this year’s, and that they will continue to strive to bring fresh, exciting, and diverse voices to Woodstock.
Marjan Kamali talks with a guest while autographing copies of “The Lion Women of Tehran.” Rick Russell Photo
For more on this, please see our May 22 edition of the Vermont Standard.
