It’s a little surprising when an excellent and important event, like the upcoming 21st annual Virginia Festival of the Book, goes largely unnoticed in our area. Chalk it up to being two hours away, or even that it always takes place during the first week of college basketball’s March Madness – both being significant strikes against it for some of us. But it’s time to bring it out of the shadows and recognize it for the great gift that it is to readers throughout the Commonwealth.
If you’re not familiar with the Festival, it takes place in Charlottesville during the third week in March, and is a program of the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. This year’s dates are March 18-22, each day filled with sessions about particular books cov-ering a huge range of topics and genres, both fiction, and nonfiction.
In addition, there are sessions on poetry, publishing, writing, as well as panel presenta-tions and a book fair. This year, there are 393 authors/presenters, 199 events, 77 ven-ues, and an expected 14,000 volunteer hours. Yes, it is a very big deal and, best of all, nearly all of it is free!
In previous years, it has hosted the likes of Frank DeFord, Stephen Ambrose, Michael Chabon, Lee Smith, Garrison Keillor, John Grisham, David Baldacci, Nikki Giovanni, Orson Scott Card, David McCullough, Rita Dove, Congressman John Lewis, Rita Mae Brown, Clyde Edgerton, Olympian John Carlos, and Pete Seeger, to name just a few.
There are big names this time, as well, like Frances Mayes (Under the Tuscan Sun), Newbery Award Winners Katherine Paterson (The Bridge to Terabithia) and Kate DiCamillo (Because of Winn-Dixie), crime fiction writer Karin Slaughter (Cop Town), Bill Curry (the former NFL star and college coach), and Charles Wright (the U.S. Poet Lau-reate).
This year’s slate includes a particularly strong group of authors with significant local connections: Beth Macy (Factory Man), who will be speaking at the event’s Leadership Breakfast on March 18 (she’ll also be appearing with noted musician and instrument maker Wayne Henderson at a pre-festival event on the 17th, Virginia-Made: Books, Beer, and Music), Newbery Award winner Cece Bell (El Deafo, on 3/20 and 3/21), Darcey Steinke (Sister Golden Hair, on 3/19 and 3/20), and Civil War writer William C. Davis (The Crucible of Command: Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee – The War They Fought, the Peace They Forged, on 3/18).
As great as it is to see authors you know, or to hear about topics that already interest you, one of the best aspects of the Festival is simply dropping in to hear an unknown author detail a book about a similarly unknown topic. That’s when you can really discov-er some gems, learning something new and interesting, or discovering an author you would have never, otherwise, known.
Whatever your approach – and whether you attend the festival for a day, a night, or for multiple days – if you are a reader, a writer, or even just a curious learner, you owe it to yourself to check out the Virginia Festival of the Book. You will not be disappointed.
For more information about authors, books, the daily schedule, and other goings-on go to: vabook.org.
– Eric Lawson
