Andrew Krivak

THIS YEAR’S ARTDESK Conversation series at the Green Box Arts Festival featured six conversations, including one with author Andrew Krivak centered around his award-winning novel The Bear.

Even though Krivak set his endemic, post-apocalyptic allegory among the mountains of New Hampshire, the Green Box audience recognized similarities between Krivak’s home mountain, Mount Monadnock, and the peaks of the Pike National Forest that surround the valley of Green Mountain Falls—Krivak’s family hails from nearby Pueblo, Colorado, after all.

As part of the Green Box Book Club, some festival goers read the novel in advance, and Krivak’s lively presentation brought the characters to life with stories about how the book took shape and readings of some of the most stirring passages.

In addition to his writing, Krivak is a volunteer for the New Hampshire Department of Corrections and a visiting lecturer for creative writing classes at Harvard University. – SCOTT LEVY