Brattleboro Retreat Sponsors Brattleboro Literary Festival for the Second Year, Celebrating the Healing Power of Storytelling
by Kurt White // October 31, 2025
For the second year in a row, the Brattleboro Retreat was a proud sponsor of the Brattleboro Literary Festival!
Some might wonder: why would a mental health hospital collaborate with and contribute to such an event? For us, the connection is clear. Beyond the shared humanistic enterprise of understanding and reducing suffering, so many writers are bravely exploring the world of mental health and substance use disorders.
This year, the Retreat was especially honored to sponsor one of the Festival’s most talked-about and anticipated readings: Ocean Vuong in conversation with Cara Blue Adams. In his most recent work, The Emperor of Gladness, Ocean touches upon issues that have deeply affected our community and region—the ongoing and devastating impacts of the opioid epidemic. He described this region as an epicenter and noted that Brattleboro is referenced in the book, sharing that “some of the words in the book were written at Mocha Joe’s.”
The festival was filled with these powerful connections. Authors like Betsy Lerner (Shred Sisters) drew from personal experience to explore the effects of Bipolar Disorder on families. Peter Mendelsund, who read from his new book Weepers, also discussed his book Exhibitionist, which journals his experience of deep depression during the COVID pandemic.
We were thrilled to sit down with both Betsy and Peter for future episodes of the Retreat’s Unravelling podcast, where we’ll continue these important conversations. (This follows our wonderful podcast interviews with last year’s authors, Emmeline Kline and Anna Shechtman!)
This partnership creates a wonderful, virtuous cycle that helps to inform and engage the community about complex mental health topics, and to bring some of the county’s most talented and creative individuals to our region. Last year’s festival featured a panel on eating disorders moderated by Retreat clinician Mary Iellamo. A connection made at that same 2024 festival allowed us to bring comedian Gary Gulman—who has spoken so powerfully about his recovery from depression—to Brattleboro for a special Retreat event. The money raised from that event, in turn, helped sponsor this year’s Literary Festival.
We are so proud to support an event that champions the power of stories to heal, build understanding, and connect us all.
