On Friday, August 28, comedian, author, and Oscar nominee Tig Notaro takes the intimate stage at Van Buren Hall in Kinderhook to open The Rough Notes Festival, a new three-day literary event founded by Kinderhook Books owner Mindy Kay Bricker. Notaro performs at 6:30pm, then sits down with “Hacks” actor and comedian Lauren Weedman for a conversation about writing, stand-up, and the work of building a memoir. The show is currently sold out, though organizers plan to release a second round of tickets once a related round of fundraising wraps up.
It’s a big opening act for a first-year festival in a village of about 1,200 people. Bricker says that’s the point.
“Not a Traditional Literary Festival”
Bricker, who also works as digital editor for the New Republic, opened Kinderhook Books in December 2023, and the festival was part of the plan from the start. The spark, she says, came a few years earlier, in 2019, when Jack Shainman Gallery’s Kinderhook outpost, The School, mounted an exhibition of Basquiat and Warhol collaborations.
“I was struck by how crazy it was that this exhibit was on such a large, elevated scale, and that we’re in literally the smallest village in Columbia County,” Bricker says. “It was the coolest feeling—as a resident, I was so honored that it happened here. When I opened the bookstore, the festival was always part of that business plan. I wanted to replicate that: this moment where we’re celebrating the village and doing exceptional things in a small community.”
What she didn’t want was a conventional book festival. “What was very important to me is that this is not a traditional literary festival,” she says. “What I really want to do is celebrate the craft of writing in all its forms—stand-up, songwriting, screenwriting, any art that’s in conversation with writing. Not everyone is a reader, but people are drawn to good writing whether they realize it or not. They have a favorite song because they love the lyrics. They have a favorite movie because it’s written well.”…