Literary Festivals, Library Style

In Shawnee, OK, it's the Red Dirt Festival, in Toledo, it's called "Claire's Day," and Chicago goes for something a little more straightforward: Chicago Book Festival. They focus on a single genre (children's lit in Toledo), span the broad tastes of an entire city (Chicago), or celebrate a region's unique literary experience (Red Dirt). Such literary festivals are multiplying fast nationwide, and though their sizes and themes vary widely, they all connect readers with writers and celebrate the union.

Literary festivals offer a unique proposition to libraries: host one, bring the reading public up-close and personal with writers of all kinds, and you will bask in the glory of that connection. Indeed, festivals can be the pathway for libraries to "own" the literary niche in their community. Bob Cannon, executive director of the Broward County Library, Fort Lauderdale, FL, founded the Novello Festival of Reading more than 14 years ago when he was director of the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenberg County, NC, and helped nurture its early years. He says in this time of unprecedented competition, libraries can use literary festivals to secure their role as the ultimate connection among readers, authors, and books. "We know books and authors better than most," says Cannon. "We need to take advantage of this knowledge and then take actions that distinguish us from everybody else."

Presented each October, Novello distinguishes the library in a big way. More than 40,000 people attend two weeks of communitywide programming that includes presentations by best-selling authors and reading-related activities--more than 100 events in all. It opens with WordPlay Saturday, a family-oriented gathering held in an urban park in Charlotte's city center. The day features stage acts, author appearances and autographing, themed activity areas, writing workshops, music, and storytelling. There are also a handful of exhibitor booths--mostly cultural institutions with a literary or learning theme. Events for all types of audiences continue in the subsequent weeks and include Carolina Writers Night, a business book and author luncheon, and a "Literary Adventure" that sends children's authors and illustrators into local schools. While most programs are free, some major author programs require tickets, with proceeds helping to fund the festival.

Books are sold at both children's and adult author events. Novello works with local bookstores (including chains) to facilitate sales. Bookstores choose the author event they want to participate in and pay a small fee to the festival.

Novello has reaped widespread acclaim that positions it as a city event, expanding the brand of the library. Creative Loafing, a widely read and cheeky Southern arts tabloid, named Novello "Best Local Literary Event" and "Best Big Festival," while CitySearch.com chose Novello as Best Arts Festival in 2000.

Organizing a literary festival can be a daunting prospect, and many have chosen to partner with other local groups to spread out the work. In addition to supplying extra minds, extra hands, extra funding, and extra venues, partnerships weave libraries into a larger network of like-minded organizations.

To wit, Southern Kentucky Book Fest, a citywide event held annually in Bowling Green, forged a deeper relationship among Bowling Green Public Library, Western Kentucky University Libraries, and Barnes & Noble. Faced with sobering statistics that showed more than 40 percent of Kentucky's working-age population had minimal to no reading skills and that 25 percent of Kentucky households did not own books, members of the Library Advisory Council for the university approached the public library and the local B&N for help in organizing a literacy program to celebrate National Library Week. The Book Fest was born and now, seven years later, draws about 10,000 people for a celebration of books, writers, and reading for both kids and adults.

A "Fest" management team composed of employees of each of the partners works to organize two days of programming. The first is designed for schoolchildren, with presentations and signings from such kid favorites as Rosemary Wells, Suzy Kline, and R.L. Stine. Other programs include dramatic and musical performances as well as creativity-stretching crafts. The second day of the festival repeats the children's activities and adds adult programming, e.g., book signings and author presentations. Most authors remain throughout the day, eliminating the pressure on attendees to see an author at a specific time. B&N, a conference organizer and partner, manages sales by placing books at each author's table and setting up cash/wrap stations at each fair entrance.

In 2004, the festival hosted over 200 authors from multiple genres. The festival's reputation has grown and attracts high-profile writers and performers, including David Baldacci, Marsha Mason, and David Halberstam. "We have been blessed that many authors enjoy their experience here, and word of mouth has brought us some major Southern authors, in particular," says Lisa Rice, assistant director of Bowling Green PL.

In addition to appearances by nationally known authors, Book Fest nurtures regional writers. Kentucky authors participate in workshops, readings, and special presentations (open to the general public but aimed more directly at high school and college students). This portion of Book Fest culminates with the presentation of the Kentucky Literary Award that honors a book written by a local author or with a local theme.

Some of the most important connections in staging a literary festival are with publishers. Organizers of the Chicago Book Festival--a sweeping, month-long event that blankets the city with author appearances and book signings at libraries, bookstores, and museums--work closely with publishers, piggybacking on national book tours to bring in top-tier writers without top-tier honoraria. The Chicago Public Library (CPL), the central organizer and marketing entity for the festival, hosts about 25 percent of the 125 authors who appear during the month, paying only the authors connected to "One Book, One Chicago," a centerpiece of the festival. In turn, publishers have learned to rely upon the Book Festival to connect their authors with a geographic market that has a rich literary tradition.

While challenging to establish, the relationship that literary festivals develop with publishers can benefit a library year round. Amy Eschleman, director of outreach for CPL, says because of the foundation they've built with Chicago Book Festival, she hears from publishers who want to plan events at the library throughout the year. "Libraries are great for author events. It's a beautiful space [where authors] can read and be heard... [without competing] with noise from cash registers," she says.

The Chicago Book Festival includes numerous types of events, including literary contests, tours, workshops, and the two-day Children's Reading Stage, featuring performances and readings by authors writing for kids aged two through ten. Multilingual fairy tale presentations and explorations of stories from ancient societies offer fresh views of multiple cultures. Some events, such as the festival's extensive assortment of book signings, include book sales. Like Novello, CPL trades on the close ties it's built with area bookstores, which manage both inventory and sales. The partnership provides a "win" for all. The library needn't tangle with the intricacies of retail and is able to satisfy a key need of publishers--selling books. Bookstores benefit not only from the revenue they generate but from attaching themselves to a powerful community event.

While Chicago clearly has an edge in terms of size (estimates place total attendance at the Book Festival at 100,000), events don't have to be huge to spark a relationship with publishers. As publishers seek to introduce an increasing number of authors to readers, libraries can become important partners.

Building the connection takes determination (making phone calls to be sure requests move into the hands of someone who can help), preplanning, and homework. Marcia Purcell, vice president of library marketing for Random House, recommends investigating publishers' web sites, looking for a library marketing department as a first contact point. Not all have dedicated staff for libraries and in those cases contact is with the publicity department. Random House posts a tip sheet on its site for booking authors (www.randomhouse.com/library/authortips.html). Purcell also recommends getting on publisher radar screens by making certain each has the name of your festival, its details (description, date, location), and the appropriate contact name and address to send catalogs. (For more advice on working with publishers, be sure to check out "Booking Authors: Advice from the Pros," LJ 2/15/03, p. 32-35.)

Connecting with publishers is all about finding authors. But where do you start to assemble a list of whom to feature?

Novello's events manager Rita Rouse starts in the library, analyzing circulation to assess whom her community would most like to hear. She layers that with information gleaned from librarians on the front lines (such as, "We're getting a lot of requests for Stuart Wood"). Additionally, now that Novello is well established, the community willingly requests authors.

Rouse also sometimes attends BookExpo America (BEA), the publishing industry's annual trade show, to connect with a number of publishers face to face and get a sense of an author's "presence." BEA is particularly useful for identifying who will be hot in the next season and who's likely to go on book tours. There may be regional book shows in your area that can provide a look at smaller local and regional publishers--important for tuning up the community flavor of a festival. Local talent can also be identified by establishing connections with neighborhood independent booksellers, often invaluable sources of information on the local writing scene.

Misse Talmadge, Broward Public Library Foundation's (BPLF) manager of special events, takes an annual trek through the publishing houses in New York City to renew contacts and make new ones. Talmadge plans Broward's "Literary Feast," a unique three-day happening that encompasses educational, social, and reading programs. Day one consists of author outreach to school kids and a short-story writing contest. On day two, library funders pony up $150 a ticket to mix with authors at an elegant cocktail party. After cocktails, authors are the guests of honor at dinners given in private homes or restaurants, a rare opportunity for supporters to hobnob with celebrity authors. Day three is "Literary Lecture Day," a free event where authors engage in panel discussions, give lectures, and sign books. Proceeds from the "Feast"--its 18th anniversary is in 2005-- benefit BPLF. Talmadge says her New York tour gives her the ability to put a name (and voice) with a face. Talmadge also relies on past speakers to recommend colleagues. "It means so much more when one author can call another and recommend Literary Feast," she says. "It's such a special event, and they know because they appeared there themselves."

Festivals that work mark themselves with local flavor and connect to the heart of the community. For example, Hartford Public Library, CT, does a variety of niche festivals that celebrate its community's diverse roots. With funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, each year the library chooses a genre such as West Indian Literature, African American Literature, or Puerto Rican Literature and organizes a festival celebrating it. Attracting hundreds, the festivals are day-long affairs held at the library. They feature music and crafts as well as literature. For each festival, the library enlists booksellers that specialize in the genre to manage sales right at the library.

"Mayhem in the Midlands," sponsored by the public libraries in Omaha and Lincoln, focuses on a targeted audience within its communities: mystery lovers. Conference participants, held to 200, pay a $75 registration fee for two days of what Rivkah Sass, director of Omaha Public, says is "indisputably the best regional mystery conference in the universe." Registration includes a cocktail party, panel discussions and conversations with guest authors (more than a dozen), book signings, and meals that allow conferees to meet other mystery buffs and authors. Booksellers are given a room of their own, where they can display and sell books; an auction held in conjunction with the conference raises funds for library programs.

Bette Ammon, director of the Missoula Public Library, describes her Montana community as a readers' and writers' paradise. As a result, the Montana Committee for the Humanities and its Montana Center for the Book holds their Montana Festival of the Book in Missoula. Now in its fifth year, the festival attracts 4000-5000 people and features important voices of Western literature, including Richard Ford, Annie Proulx, and James Lee Burke. The two-day festival's activities spread over downtown Missoula venues, including the library, with 60 sessions of readings, panels, performances, receptions, and galas. In 2004, the festival included the "Happy Tales" literary contest, which challenges participants to take any literary work with a disturbing or negative ending and supply a happier, humorous one.

The Montana festival also manages book sales through bookstores. However, logistics are left to the bookstores to determine. Representatives from stores that want to participate meet several times in advance to plan their strategy. "Sometimes they have divided the authors, and each store has sold books at those particular sessions. Other times they've created a central 'store' with various employees staffing it," says Ammon.

If building a festival from scratch seems an intimidating first step, take a look around the community for established literary events that could use the credibility or, at the very least, the participation of the library. Ruthie Maslin, community education coordinator at the Lexington Public Library, says the Kentucky Women Writers Conference was well established as an academic conference, based primarily at the University of Kentucky, when the library spotted an opportunity to get involved. The library became the conference's connection to a broader audience, expanding its horizons to a communitywide program with events for all ages.

The conference is unique, bringing a dozen or more noted women writers and thinkers for three days of readings, panel discussions, and workshops. In addition to providing staff to serve on the conference advisory board and help with promotion, the library hosts a number of activities and donates free space for other partners' gatherings. The library's participation has built a stronger local network and attracts new people. New World Reading 2004, the library's major conference event, drew 200 attendees.

Donna Hill, public relations associate for the Queens Borough Public Library, NY, uses festivals outside of the library's traditional geographic territory to recruit new patrons. As a result, Queens was the first library from across the river to get involved in the Harlem Book Fair--an afternoon featuring poetry readings and writers of all types that attracts about 40,000 visitors. To increase the library's impact among the 250 exhibitors, she asked editors at publishing houses to donate publicity copies of books. The library was then able to give free books to its booth's visitors. Hill says it helped generate traffic and introduced potential patrons to the library.

Establishing a literary festival is a years-long process, but it's worth the effort. Reputations build over time, and though festivals can start small, quality in planning and execution are visible from the beginning. Each element should be reviewed with these questions in mind: "Can this be better? Is this what we want to show to our community?"

"Libraries can provide, or help to provide, literary festivals, bringing real books and real people together in their communities. But, if that's the goal, we need to aim high for its outcome," advises Broward County's Cannon. "We need to acknowledge that it will cost money and time to put the program together and commit to it year after year until everybody who thinks about books and authors, thinks about the library. It's a major, institution-changing accomplishment for any library, for any community."

See our Get Festive listing for information on events around the country.