Charity and Sylvia Author Talk: Vermont Reads 2026

Weybridge, Vermont in February 1807 is small, cold, lonely, and beautiful. As an unwed woman with few prospects, Sylvia Drake resides with and cares for her sister’s rambunctious family. But today the house is abuzz awaiting a guest—Charity Bryant. So opens Charity and Sylvia by Tillie Walden, the award-winning, Vermont-based cartoonist and author of Spinning and On a Sunbeam.

Created by Walden from archival materials at the Henry Sheldon Museum of Vermont History in Middlebury, and other primary and secondary sources, Charity and Sylvia is a groundbreaking biography that is also the story of 19th century America.

Join us in John Dewey Lounge, Old Mill 325 for this special presentation from Tillie Walden, in conversation with Coco Moseley, Executive Director of the Sheldon Museum, about the creation of this book. The talk is free and open to all – students, faculty, staff, and the general public!

After the program, join the world premiere of Composer Clarice Assad’s work, Summerland, also based on the story of Charity Bryant and Sylvia Drake. It will be performed at the Flynn Center that same evening, Friday, September 18.  The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available at www.flynnvt.org, student discounts are available.

Sponsored by the UVM Humanities Center in partnership with the Vermont Humanities Council through a New England Humanities Consortium Community Collaborative Grant