Alexander Chee, Imani Perry, and Edgar Gomez to appear at the Provincetown Book Festival
September 19 – 21, 2025
Provincetown, MA —The 2025 Provincetown Book Festival, scheduled for September 19 – 21, features the prestigious author Alexander Chee, who will be reunited with a former student, novelist Lucas Schaefer, for a program entitled “Teacher and Student: How Writers Learn from Each Other,” on Saturday, September 21, at 6:00 p.m. The bestselling author of the historical novel Queen of the Night, Chee is perhaps even better known for his essay collection, How to Write an Autobiographical Novel. Lucas Schaefer recently published The Slip, a critically acclaimed novel of transformation, identity, and boxing.
National Book Award winner and Harvard Professor Imani Perry will speak about her newest book, Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People. She will be joined by Aquinnah Wampanoag writer Joseph Lee, author of Nothing More of This Land, about his life and travels among indigenous Americans. Aided by moderator Cleyvis Natera, they will discuss issues of identity, community, and their heritage as people of color.
Edgar Gomez, author of the highly acclaimed memoir High Risk Homosexual, will talk about his new book of essays, Alligator Tears, with Mako Yoshikawa, author of the acclaimed memoir-in-essays, Secrets of the Sun. They will talk about form, subject matter, humor, mothers, fathers, family history, and adult life in a program entitled “Flashes of Life: Essays as Memoir.”
The Provincetown Book Festival opens on Friday night, September 19, at 6:00 p.m., with the Rose Dorothea Award Reading and Reception at the Provincetown Library. The Rose Dorothea Award will be presented to the weekly newspaper The Provincetown Independent, represented by Teresa Parker, Publisher, and Edward Miller, Founder and Editor. The Rose Dorothea Award is given annually by the Board of Library Trustees to someone with a strong connection to the Outer Cape who has made a significant contribution through the written word.
The final session, taking place at 4:00 p.m. Sunday, September 21, is a tribute to the late LGBTQ+ activist and writer Urvashi Vaid, who lived in Provincetown. In a session entitled “What Would Urvashi Do?” editors Amy Hoffman and Jyotsna Vaid will read from Urvashi’s last book, The Dream of a Common Movement. The editors, along with a panel of local and national activists, will try to answer the question “What would Urvashi do?” using Urvashi’s wisdom to give us direction in a seemingly impossible political climate.
For more information about all of these programs, including appearances by Cape Cod writers Cynthia Blakeley, Dennis Minsky, and Judith Stiles; queer poets Elizabeth Bradley and Miller Oberman; and many wonderful novelists like Elizabeth Gonzalez James and Ruben Reyes, go to provincetownbookfestival.org. All programs are free and open to the public, but reservations are available online.
The Provincetown Book Festival is supported in part by the Friends of the Provincetown Library, the Massachusetts Center for the Book, the Massachusetts Cultural Council/Provincetown Cultural Council, and the Provincetown Tourism Fund.
Contact:
Nan Cinnater, Provincetown Book Festival Director
774-216-1228
OR
Amy Raff, Provincetown Public Library Director
508-487-7094