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StoryFest 2025 Presents: 10th Anniversary Celebration of Year of Yes with Award-Winning Producer and Best-Selling Author Shonda Rhimes
Event Details
StoryFest 2025, The Westport Library’s eighth annual literary festival, will wrap up in style this year with a special appearance by award-winning producer and Shondaland visionary Shonda Rhimes, who will be on hand to celebrate the 10th anniversary of her New York Times best-selling memoir, Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand in the Sun, and Be Your Own Person.
What happens when one of the most powerful voices in television decides to say YES to everything for a year? For Shonda Rhimes — the creative force behind Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, Bridgerton, and more — it sparked a transformation that changed her life forever.
Now, after saying YES for a decade, Shonda offers an expanded edition of her New York Times bestselling memoir YEAR OF YES with never-before-told stories, and brand-new reflections on growth, courage, and the magic that happens when you step into the unknown.
In this anniversary event, Shonda will take the stage with Craig Melvin to share new moments that shaped her, the fears she conquered, and the unexpected joy of embracing life with an open mind. Come ready to laugh, reflect, and maybe even walk away a little braver–and a little more ready to say YES yourself.
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Tickets are $30 and include a signed copy of the 10th-anniversary hardcover edition of Year of Yes, which features updates and exclusive new chapters. It is the same price for one seat and a copy of the book or two seats and a book.
This event is presented by the Library in partnership with RJ Julia Booksellers of Madison, Connecticut.
StoryFest marks a return trip to the Library for Rhimes, who served as the BOOKED for the evening honoree in 2022. She also held a special screening of her critically revered documentary Black Barbie last year and served as the guest of honor for Westport’s 19th annual Martin Luther King Jr. celebration, held at the Library in January of this year.
About StoryFest & StoryFest 2025
StoryFest 2025 runs October 13 to October 20, with individual evening events on Monday, October 13, and Friday, October 17, and the talk with Rhimes on Monday, October 20. Saturday, October 18, will feature a series of events and panels starting at 10 am and going until 6 pm.
Now in its eighth year, StoryFest is the largest annual literary festival in Connecticut and one of the biggest in the Northeast. It is a celebration of the story in all its forms and storytellers from across all media, each year drawing scores of authors and hundreds of readers, writers, and fans.
Past participants include National Book Award finalist Jason Reynolds; Goosebumps author R.L. Stine; acclaimed essayist and memoirist Roxane Gay, New York Times best-selling authors Michael Lewis, Mitch Albom, Claire Messud, Angie Kim, Stephen Graham Jones, and Caroline Kepnes; young adult superstars Nic Stone, Tiffany Jackson, and L.L. McKinney; Emmy Award winner Sheila Nevins; best-selling memoirist Isaac Fitzgerald; Kirkus Prize recipient Saeed Jones; and Pinkalicious author/illustrator Victoria Kann.
About Year of Yes
In this 10th Anniversary Edition, Shonda Rhimes, executive producer of Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, Bridgerton, Queen Charlotte, and more, not only revisits her galvanizing New York Times best-seller but gives readers an extraordinary cache of brand new stories that showcase the continuing power that saying YES has had on her life.
In Shonda’s own words: “This book is the same as before, but it also is not. It is brand new. It has changed. Transformed. Evolved. Grown. Just like me.”
In 2015, Rhimes, the trailblazing creative force behind some of television’s most beloved series, took on a challenge that would change her life forever. She decided to say yes to everything for a year, and the results were exhilarating. Hailed as “honest, raw, and revelatory” (The Washington Post) and “as fun to read as Rhimes’s TV series are to watch” (Los Angeles Times), Year of Yes quickly became a New York Times best-seller, captivating readers everywhere and inspiring them to undertake their own YES journeys.
In this celebratory and expanded anniversary edition, you’ll find more wildly candid and transformational chapters that reveal how the mega-talented Shonda, once a self-described introvert, achieved badassery worthy of a Shondaland character — and how you can, too.
About the Author
Rhimes is an award-winning television creator, producer, and author. She is the first woman to create three television dramas — Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice, and Scandal — that achieved the 100-episode milestone.
In 2017, Rhimes shifted the entertainment industry’s business model by leaving network television for an exclusive Netflix partnership. Bridgerton, her first Netflix series, became a worldwide franchise with seasons holding three of Netflix’s Top 10 English-language spots. She also created Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, Inventing Anna, and executive produced The Residence and the documentaries Dance Dreams: Hot Chocolate Nutcracker and Black Barbie.
In addition, she founded The Rhimes Foundation supporting arts, education, and activism, and serves on boards including the American Film Institute, Debbie Allen Dance Academy, Dartmouth College, Lincoln Center, and Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Rhimes also serves on special committees for the USC Film Council and Obama Foundation.
A three-time Time 100 honoree, Rhimes has been appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire as well as inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame.
About the Moderator
Craig Melvin is the co-anchor on NBC News’ “TODAY,” a co-host of the “3rd Hour of TODAY” and a host of syndicated “Dateline NBC” broadcasts. Melvin has covered a wide range of news events, including several Republican and Democratic National Conventions and three Presidential Inaugurations. His coverage of politics has included notable interviews with former President Bill Clinton, then-Vice President Joe Biden, former Ambassador Nikki Haley, and former Secretaries of State John Kerry, Mike Pompeo and Condoleezza Rice. In addition, he has also covered five Olympic Games and six Super Bowls. Prior to joining NBC News and MSNBC in July 2011, Melvin was a weekend anchor for WRC, NBC’s owned-and-operated station in Washington, DC. Before that, Melvin earned acclaim as an evening news anchor at WIS in Columbia, South Carolina, which is also his hometown.
Melvin is the author of two books: Pops: Learning to Be a Son and a Father and the children’s book I’m Proud of You.
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