NARROWSBURG — Joyce Carol Oates, a grande dame of contemporary American literature, transfixed a standing-room-only audience the moment she stepped onto the stage at this year’s Deep Water Literary Festival. On the final day of the festival, Oates sat down with writer and fellow Princeton University professor Amy M. Homes at Narrowsburg’s historic Tusten Theater to chat about her approach to writing through the decades and her latest short story collection, The Frenzy.

In her effortless, scholarly demeanor, Oates discussed her early love of the written word while growing up on a farm in Lockport, New York with access to only a handful of books. Even before she understood what writing was, she would scribble on a tablet and copy drawings from her beloved copy of Alice in Wonderland.

When Homes asked Oates what she thought about her prolific body of work crafted over six decades, she responded with humility. “I literally don’t know how I did it,” she said, explaining that it takes her a long time to write each page. She also looks back at her earlier work in ways she never expected. “I have written stories that if someone else wrote them I couldn’t read them.” She recalled the isolation of the pandemic, and how during that time thoughts would often arise for her in a discontinuous way. “Sometimes I think I experience time different from other people,” she said. 

Narrowsburg local artist Brian Grady was in attendance. “My wife and I have lived here in town for a long time, and we take advantage of all the different arts events that go on,” says Grady. “One of the things that we’ve done for the past couple of years is host some of the authors in our home when the literary fest is going on.” 

Sat next to Grady was one of those guests, Ben Fountain, who was visiting from North Carolina. Author of the recently published novel Rasputin Swims the Potomac, Fountain appeared in a panel during the festival. “I think [Oates] is a tremendous force for good in the literary world,” said Fountain. “She just turned 88 and she has another book out…so she’s a huge inspiration to everyone who cares about books and literature and writing.” The festival location was also a highlight. “It’s been a wonderful weekend here,” added Fountain. “This is a lovely town, and the people could not be finer.” 

Oates also had high praise for the festival’s location. “Well, this Narrowsburg area, it’s very, very, evocative to me. I could live here and write about this,” she said. “There’s something about this town. I grew up right near a small river. We just called it a creek. It was nothing like the Delaware River. But there’s something about a stream, just the movement and the mystery.”

At the end of the chat, the audience sang “Happy Birthday” as Oates was presented with a birthday cake by festival founder and director Aaron Hicklin. For just a moment, the room felt like a big family gathered to honor a treasured matriarch, who also happened to be a literary icon.