T he 13th annual Virginia Festival of the Book began yesterday, attracting famous authors and avid bookworms from around the country to Charlottesville. The festival, which ends Sunday, features more than 200 readings and discussions with authors, illustrators and publishers. To further the festival's goal of promoting reading and literacy, most of the events are free and open to the public.
When the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities introduced the idea for a book festival years ago, it found Charlottesville was the ideal city to host.
"This is such a reading town, and there are so many writers here," said festival program director Nancy Damon.
According to Damon, the festival is the result of collaboration among local educators, organizations and community members. She said the University, one of the festival's major sponsors, plays a significant role in planning events and luring guest speakers. Professors and administrators from the English, history, environmental science, astronomy and psychology departments have all hosted festival functions in the past.
"Sometimes, they will come to us and say, 'We'd like to host a program,'" Damon said. "And sometimes they say, 'We have somebody we'd like to bring.' It works both ways."
Regardless of the sponsor, the festival has managed to attract some of the biggest names in the literary world. In years past, some of the festival's major guests have included John Grisham (The Client), Barbara Kingsolver (The Poisonwood Bible) and Michael Ondaatje (The English Patient). Damon is also quick to note that the festival has welcomed four U.S. poet laureates.
"We're never really surprised that some great person would come, because it's been our experience every year; things just happen that are great," Damon said. "It's like a miracle every year to me."
Home to such reputable publications as the Virginia Quarterly Review and Poetry Daily, Charlottesville is not only an attraction for the festival's attendees but for its featured authors as well.
"For some I think, if they are used to a bigger city, at first they are kind of amazed that it has so many neat things for a town of its size," Festival Associate Program Director Kevin McFadden said. "Then there are folks who come to us from a rural direction, and we're kind of citified. We're just that kind of an in-between city, and I think that's one of the reasons we're unique."
Last year's Festival set a new attendance record with 26,433 visitors, most of them from the Commonwealth. This outnumbers the total attendance for Charlottesville's other major annual arts event, the Virginia Film Festival, which attracted more than 15,000 attendees last year.
According to Damon, the two festivals do not compete; rather, they complement each other. Whereas the Film Festival focuses on one theme, the Festival of the Book focuses on many. This year, the Festival of the Book is hosting events relating to everything from journalism and politics to photography and travel.
"We try to do something a bit different," Damon said. "It's more like a smorgasbord or a buffet with different kinds of books."
Unique to this year's calendar of events is a discussion of what the festival calls the "brave new genre" of graphic nonfiction. Friday's discussion at the Omni hotel will feature three comic artists who have created graphic novel adaptations of such non-fiction works as The 9/11 Report and The Autobiography of Malcolm X. The event will take place at 4 p.m.
This event, among others representing edgy genres and topics, is one of the festival's attempts to attract younger attendees, including University students.
This event, however, is only one of many that will take place before this year's Virginia Festival of the Book is finished. Students should consult the festival's Web site or pick up one of the print brochures for more information. There is an event for every literary palate. So, take a break from the library and let your inner bookworm burrow its way into a good book.
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