More Fall Book Festivals

In this second part of our listing of fall book festivals, we note the creation of three new book festivals: Vegas Valley Book Festival in Nevada, Louisiana Book Festival and Ohio River Festival of Books in West Virginia. Major anniversaries include: National Press Club Book Fair celebrating 25 years; San Antonio Inter-American Bookfair and Hampton Roads African Heritage Book Expo both celebrate 15 years and the St. Petersburg Times Festival of Reading and Concord Festival of Authors both celebrate a decade.

National Book Festival
Washington, D.C., October 12
www.loc.gov/bookfest; (888) 714-4696
With support from the Library of Congress and hosted by Laura Bush, this festival returns for its second year. More than 70 authors, illustrators and storytellers, including Andrea Barrett, Billy Collins and Jules Feiffer, will inspire visitors at readings, discussions and performances on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol and the National Mall. Events range from an appearance by Clifford the Big Red Dog to a conservation clinic for books, family letters and albums. In late summer and early fall, the National Book Festival will be promoted at events sponsored by 22 state centers for the book. These centers are affiliated with the Library of Congress's Center for the Book, established by Congress in 1977 to stimulate interest in books, reading and literacy.

Twin Cities Book Festival
Minneapolis, Minn., October 12
www.raintaxi.com; (612) 825-1528
Co-sponsor Rain Taxi Review of Books promises this festival will be bigger and better than its inaugural year in 2001. By moving to a larger space, the Exhibition Hall of International Market Square, the festival will accommodate an expanded roster of exhibitors and 3,000 visitors. Book arts demonstrations, children's storytelling, a discussion of cartooning and comics, a "Reading Fortuneteller," a literary magazine fair and used book sale are planned. Poet/novelist/essayist Denis Johnson will cap the festivities with an evening reading.

Santa Fe Festival of the Book
Santa Fe, N.Mex. October 17–19
www.ci.santa-fe.nm.us/sfpl/festival.html; (505) 955-4866
The festival's featured author, Joseph Parisi, editor of Poetry Magazine, will present Dear Editor: Letters from the Poetry Archives. Youth author Gary Soto will attend the opening night of his play Novio Boy, presented by local high school students, and will also teach a master writing class for students. Other events include Wise Fools Puppeteers, Southwestern storyteller Joe Hayes and a workshop on using archeological artifacts as inspiration for writing. Now in its fifth year, the festival will present 125 authors and 80 exhibitors and will host 3,000 attendees at the Sweeney Convention Center and the Lensic Performing Arts Center.

Inland Empire Bookfest
San Bernardino, Calif., October 19
www.bookfest.org; (909) 384-8636
The fourth annual festival plans panel discussions, workshops, a variety of exhibitors, readings and book signings. Jodi Jill, Ron Aria and Kent Braithwaite are among the 40 authors who will participate. There will be an expanded Children's Program of puppetry, cartooning, magnetic poetry, storytelling, "Make-a-Story" and more. The Bookfest supports literacy throughout the region and will welcome 2,000 attendees to the campus of San Bernardino Valley College.

Northwest Bookfest
Seattle, October 19–20
www.nwbookfest.org; (206) 378-1883
In its eighth year, Northwest Bookfest will welcome 30,000 visitors to a new location—a 1930s retired airplane hangar at Sand Point Magnuson Park. More than 250 presenters will appear on 14 stages, including authors Michael Malone, Chuck Palahniuk and Jasmine Paul. Perennial favorites will return, such as a "Young Writers and Readers" area for children, "Bookfest Boulevard" activity area, 200-plus exhibitor booths and a book arts exhibition, with more than 50 one-of-a-kind artist and fine press books.

Boston Globe Book Festival
Boston, October 19–25
(617) 929-2641
Making its 36th appearance, the festival begins with a Book & Author luncheon at the Fairmont Copley Plaza. On October 20, there will be a panel discussion on publishing at the Boston Public Library. Author readings will occur on successive evenings at the Library.

Concord Festival of Authors
Concord, Mass., October 24–November 2
(978) 371-3167
James McPherson, Ha Jin, Susan Power and Randall Kennedy are among 35 authors who will take part in the tenth annual festival. Events include "New Literary Voices" for first-time novelists and "Recreation of Tolkien's Middle Earth," with characters, games, crafts and a Hobbit marketplace. "An Evening of Music and Poetry" will present readings and string quartet music based on the themes of love and memory. For the first time, some events are planned in nearby Lowell, the birthplace of Jack Kerouac. Some 4,000 attendees are expected at the Concord Museum, Concord Library and other venues.

Vegas Valley Book Festival
Las Vegas, Nev., November 1–2
www.vegasvalleybookfest.org; (702) 895-1878
Las Vegas is kicking off its first valley-wide book festival. "Book festivals are rapidly growing in popularity all around the country, and the time is right to introduce this concept to the residents of our valley," says Kris Darnall, program coordinator. Keynote speakers John Irving and Tom Robbins are among the 50-plus writers slated to attend. There will be an outdoor fair of over 50 booksellers, as well as panels and readings featuring works about Las Vegas, comics-as-literature, action-adventure writing, poetry and children's literature.

Buckeye Book Fair
Wooster, Ohio, November 2
www.buckeyebookfair.com, (330) 262-3244
Founded in 1987 by the Daily Record of Wooster, this fair's mission is to promote literacy in Ohio by providing grants to schools, libraries, adult literacy programs and other agencies. The fair features authors, illustrators and photographers who are Ohio natives or residents, or whose subject matter relates to the state. This year, over 80 authors are expected, including Helen Thomas and Tom Batiuk. Roughly 5,000 visitors will attend the fair at the Fisher Auditorium of the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center.

Delaware Authors Day
Dover, Del., November 2
www.state.de.us/heritage/authors.htm; 302-577-5044
Created to honor the 400-plus authors who make Delaware their home, this event is now in its seventh year. At the Delaware Agricultural Museum, amid antique tractors and crop dusters, over 40 writers will meet readers and sign books. Programs include "What is Good Children's Literature?" and "How to Get Published" as well as workshops led by experts on the Internet, romance novels and printing. A silent auction of antiquarian books and a used book sale sponsored by local libraries are also planned.

Kentucky Book Fair
Frankfort, Ky., November 2
www.kybookfair.com; (502) 564-8300 x297
For its 21st year, this fair will run earlier than its traditional Saturday-before-Thanksgiving date and will move to the Farnham Dudgeon Civic Center. Events include "Who's Who of Whodunit," a mystery symposium, and discussion of satire and U.S. politics featuring Capitol Steps, the D.C.-based political satire musical troupe. A new partnership with Joseph-Beth Booksellers will help the fair attract more authors and patrons, as well as streamline ordering and sales.

Louisiana Book Festival
Baton Rouge, La., November 2
(888) 487-2700
Inspired by the Texas Book Festival and the Southern Festival of Books, this sparkling new festival will present more than 70 authors, most of whom are Louisiana natives or residents. The line-up includes Rick Bragg, Andrei Codrescu, Ernest Gaines and Shirley Ann Grau. The Louisiana Writer Award will be presented to novelist James Lee Burke for his contributions to the state's literary heritage. The grounds of the State Capitol and the State Library will be the scene of signings, bookseller exhibits, appraisals, a lecture on the history of the book and an abundance of children's activities.

Sarasota Reading Festival
Sarasota, Fla., November 2
www.sarasotareadingfestival.com; (941) 308-7323
As the city of Sarasota celebrates its 100th year, this festival marks its fifth. Downtown Sarasota's Five Points Park, library, opera house and other locations will host 18,000 visitors for readings, exhibitors and performances. Ha Jin, Bruce Feiler, Jane Leavy and John Erickson are among 120 authors who will participate. With support from the William G. and Marie Selby Foundation, the county school system will select 5,000 books to be given free to children who attend. The festival was founded by Sarasota News & Books and has raised $250,000 for area libraries.

St. Petersburg Times Festival of Reading
St. Petersburg, Fla., November 3
www.festivalofreading.com; (727) 445-4142
Nearly 15,000 reading enthusiasts will converge on the Eckerd College campus to enjoy this festival's 10th year. New events include a Spoken Word Poetry Stage and participation by "One Bay, One Book," a community-wide reading program, which has selected Killing Mr. Watson by Peter Matthiessen. Bruce Feiler, James Swain, Ha Jin and Sara Ban Brethnach will be among the 50 author participants. Look for the return of "The Famous Dead Authors," including Ernest Hemingway and Marjorie Kinan Rawlings.

Ohio River Festival of Books
Huntington, W.Va., November 9
www.ohioriverbooks.org; (304) 528-5700
For its inaugural year, this festival will honor contributions to writing from West Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky. Two state poet laureates, James Baker Hall of Kentucky and Irene McKinney of West Virginia, as well as Ohio poet David Citino, will read and discuss their work. In "Literary Appalachia," Mary Lee Settle and Keith Maillard will discuss the use of regional setting in fiction. "Oral Traditions of African Americans in Appalachia" will focus on writers discovered through the oral history process. Soupy Sales, who grew up in West Virginia, will sign copies of his autobiography, Soupy Sez!: My Zany Life and Times. There will be workshops on illustration, small and independent press publishing, memoir writing and more.

National Press Club Book Fair and Authors' Night
Washington, D.C., November 14
http://npc.press.org/library/bookfair.shtml; (202) 662-7564
For 25 years, this event has raised funds for the Eric Friedheim Library at the National Press Club (NPC), a reference center for members of the press. Among commemorative events for this special anniversary year is an exhibit about past Book Fairs. More than 70 authors of recently published books will participate, including Lisa Beamer, Sarah Brady, Joe Gibbs, Jim Lehrer, Alexandra Stoddard and George F. Will. Some 1,000 book lovers will mingle with authors in the NPC Ballroom.

Texas Book Festival
Austin, Tex., November 14–17
www.texasbookfestival.org; (512) 477-4055
More than 100 authors, including Rick Bragg, Tim O'Brien and Fannie Flagg, will be on hand for readings, signings and discussions to inspire and entertain 25,000 visitors. Events include an outdoor book fair, "Bon Appetite, Y'all" with Mario Batali and other chef/authors, and "First Edition Literary Gala," with Walter Mosley, Annie Proulx and Robert Caro. "Author! Author!" will bring writers into six underserved Austin schools. Student winners of a new fiction writing contest with the theme, "Growing Up in Texas," will be recognized. Over the past six years, the festival has raised $1.35 million to benefit more than 450 Texas libraries. First Lady Laura Bush, a festival founder, continues as honorary chairman.

Miami Book Fair International
Miami, November 17–24
www.miamibookfair.com; (305) 237-3258
Hosting half a million visitors and 250 authors over eight days, this is one of America's largest festivals. The fair will be opened by Sandra Cisneros, whose book, The House on Mango Street, was recently selected by South Florida's reading initiative, "One Book, One Community." "Evenings with..." will feature readings by Michael Ondaatje, Amy Tan, Scott Turow and others. Prominent Spanish-language authors will discuss literature at the IberoAmerican program. A weekend Street Fair offers 300 publishers, author presentations and Children's Alley. The festival was founded in 1984 by Miami-Dade Community College.

San Antonio Inter-American Bookfair & Literary Festival
San Antonio, Tex., November 21–23
www.guadalupeculturalarts.org; (210) 271-3151
Presented by the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, this festival will celebrate its 15th anniversary as a quinceañera (traditional 15th birthday party for Latina girls). Sandra Cisneros, Mayra Montero and Ruben Martinez are among 47 authors who will conduct readings, discussions and workshops. Also planned are a book fair featuring multicultural publishers and a discussion by small press publishers that support Latino writers.

Hampton Roads African Heritage Book Expo
Norfolk, Va., November 30
www.blackwordsonline.com; (757) 547-5542
For its 15th year, this expo will honor Langston Hughes's 10oth birthday, including performances from Kwame Alexander's theatrical tribute Jazz Jive & Jam. There will be a panel discussion by African-American descendants of Revolutionary War veterans, as well as a poetry slam and storytelling about African heritage and traditions for children. The expo will take place at the Waterside Marriott Hotel.