FIVE EVENTS. 11 DAYS. EASY TO SLIP VISITS THE HUDSON VALLEY

New York, NY – Following standing-room-only appearances in D.C., L.A., and NYC, Cal Hoffman’s debut novel, Easy to Slip, tours the Hudson Valley. Five events in eleven days: Rhinebeck, Woodstock, Kingston, Saugerties.

As critic John Freeman noted, “The Hudson Valley may be the most literary region in America. Every town has a writers’ group, a poetry series, and an independent bookstore.” New Yorkers come here not only to unwind but to read, reflect, and muse. The Hudson Valley boasts the highest density of independent bookstores per capita in New York State, making it not just a destination for readers but a proving ground for the books they love.

And that’s exactly how Easy to Slip is making its mark—not in curated shelves or hushed corners, but through a literary convergence between readers, writers and a community that honors both. Between weekend drives and riverside picnics, in the quiet minutes before dusk on the porch, Easy to Slip is a book to explore, cherish, savor.

THE HUDSON VALLEY’S FIVE EVENTS FROM JULY 1 – 11

July 1 – Rhinebeck, Oblong Books (with actor Peter Riegert)

July 5 – Woodstock, Woodstock Library (with journalist David Wallis)

July 9 – Kingston, Camp Kingston (with playwright Cate Berg)

July 11 (afternoon) – Saugerties, Jane Street Art Center

(Live figure drawing session featuring a reading by Cal Hoffman)

July 11 (evening) – Saugerties, Inquiring Minds Bookstore

(With writer Martha Frankel, Executive Director of Woodstock Bookfest)

ABOUT THE NOVEL

Easy to Slip follows a gifted 17-year-old confronting emotional unraveling, family pressure, and the seductive pull of fame he resists. What emerges is a life shaped by honesty, humility, and the private work of becoming whole.

Shared in picaresque form, Easy to Slip is told from the inside out—you don’t just read it, you flinch, laugh, cry, and remember. Cal Hoffman has done something increasingly uncommon: made the act of remembering an act of survival. His path, guided by emotional honesty, intellectual rigor, and creative independence, delivers not just catharsis, but confrontation, clarity, recovery, and grace.

Cal Hoffman’s recovery from schizophrenia at Chestnut Lodge, the institution where author Joanne Greenberg found healing, echoes the emotional force of her best-selling classic I Never Promised You a Rose Garden. It’s been 60 years since a novel told from the patient’s perspective landed in the cultural zeitgeist with this kind of clarity, precision, and emotional impact.

Pulitzer Prize winners Geraldine Brooks, Carl Bernstein, David Auburn, and Doug Wright praise the novel for its rare clarity and lived-in emotional depth.

“Raw, brave, and gripping…an uncommon exploration of adolescence, psychosis, and recovery.”

-- Geraldine Brooks, Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author of March.

WHY IT MATTERS

This isn’t simply a tour—it’s a grassroots movement, gaining traction not through hype, yet through intimate, resonant moments between the readers, the novel, and the author. Hudson Valley, with its rich cultural soil and summer reading rituals, is the perfect home for this literary discovery.

Five Easy to Slip Events in the Hudson Valley. From bottom right, counter-clockwork: Rhinebeck, Woodstock, Kingston and Saugerties (two events, afternoon and evening.)