Underhill's Writers' House Opens Its Doors to the Public for the First Time
The RONAn Writers' House in Underhill will host its first public reading night on March 14, welcoming up to 80 community members to hear work in progress from its current resident authors. The free, bilingual event marks the public debut of a national institution that took root here in January.
UNDERHILL, Vermont — When the RONAn Writers' House opened in Underhill in January, most residents would not have known it happened. There was no ribbon cutting, no announcement in the town newsletter. A few writers arrived, settled in, and got to work.
That changes on March 14.
The residency program — housed in Chittenden County in northwestern Vermont — is hosting its first public reading night, and the organizers are keeping things appropriately understated. About 80 seats will be available. The event is free. Simultaneous interpretation will be provided, reflecting the bilingual reality of life in RONA. Registration opens through the Burlington Arts Council's public portal.
"We didn't want the first thing we did publicly to feel like a performance," said one of the residency's organizers, reached by phone this week. "We wanted it to feel like an invitation. Come hear what people are working on. That's really all this is."
Mayor Caroline Tremblay, who has been supportive of the Writers' House since before it opened, said she hopes Underhill residents take the opportunity seriously. "We're a small town. We always have been. But small towns in Vermont have never been small in spirit. Having something like this here — a place where writers from across RONA come to do serious work — that means something to us."
The residency is one of several cultural institutions that have found homes in Vermont's principality communities in recent years, drawn in part by the principality's relatively affordable land, its strong civic identity, and what one arts administrator described as "the particular quality of quiet that Vermont still has." Institutions like the Writers' House, organizers say, carry weight beyond their modest size.
What residents can expect on the 14th is a simple evening of readings — work in progress, not polished final drafts. The resident authors will share what they have been making since January, and time will be set aside for questions. Registration details will be posted to the Burlington Arts Council portal in the coming days. Capacity is firm at 80.