The Lilith Fair of literature, the Coachella of covers, the Woodstock of words (too much?) is upon our city and, with hundreds of thousands of pages published among them, the 300 or so guests on hand for the event have a lot of knowledge to drop for bookworms and brainiacs of all ages. The problem with a slew of books is always where to start.
Caroline Preston
|
Andrew Carroll
|
Doug Marlette
|
Frank X. Walker
|
C-VILLE flipped through the pages of offerings for the 13th Annual Virginia Festival of the Book and came up with a few must-reads. For a complete listing of events, call 924-6890 or visit www.vabook.org.
March 21
Caroline Preston, author of the recently released Gatsby’s Girl and New York Times notable book Jackie by Josie, opens the 2007 festival (in what we hope will be flapper mode) at noon to ’20s tunes by the Silvertones. (Central Jefferson-Madison Regional Library). At 4pm, the UVA Bookstore begins a series of three discussions entitled “Learning from War.” During the first, Andrew Carroll, editor/collector of Grace Under Fire: Letters of Faith in Times of War, discusses writing under fire. Building on the theme of artifacts, a collection of photographers and editors discuss America’s underappreciated monuments and memorials—a must-see for tireless Rotunda fans (2pm, Gravity Lounge).
Some of the more provocative, debatable topics of the festival—perfect for shaking those Chatty Cathys who can’t turn a page without yapping—are offered today, including “Is Pluto a Planet?” (4pm, Small Special Collections Library); “The Civil War: Lessons for Today’s Wars” (6pm, UVA Bookstore); and “Life Before Life: Previous Lives” (6pm, Central JMRL Library).
March 22
While the majority of the events at the Festival of the Book are pro bono, the Festival Luncheon costs a pretty penny ($45…so, 4,500 pretty pennies) to attend—and, according to the fest’s site, this one may be off the maps thanks to a sold-out crowd (get on that waitlist!). Doug Marlette, Pulitzer Prize-winning creator of Kudzu, the syndicated cartoon strip about the Reverend Will B. Dunn, speaks at the luncheon, scheduled for 11:45am at the Omni Hotel.
National Public Radio affiliate station WMRA hosts “This I Believe: A Collection,” in which essayists including Affrilachian Poets founder Frank X. Walker and UVA creative writing professor Gregory Orr read from their contributions to the NPR show based on Edward R. Murrow’s 1950s radio program about ideas that structure individual lives.
In fact, individual lives seems to be today’s guiding theme (hey, egoism is healthy!). Under the banner “Reading Across Generations,” today offers more than a half-dozen lectures and activities focused on everything from subjective nonfiction to memoirs. In short, if you try to sneak a James Frey, Million Little Pieces-inspired move by the authors of the “Memoirs Come in Different Shapes and Sizes” event, these folks will know (6pm, Northside Library).
March 23
If personal nonfiction is still your bag, then head out early for “Lives Up Close,” a three-author discussion featuring Charles Shields (author of the well-received Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee) and Nelson County’s Earl Hamner (who recently published Generous Women: An Appreciation) (10am, visitors center). However, the largest helpings of poetry fall on March 23 and 24, starting bright and early on Friday morning (what an idyllic way to start the day).
Three UVA professors lead “Poets on Teaching Poetry,” and discuss their experience with the works of Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson and James Wright (10am, Small Special Collections auditorium). Make sure to catch “After Appalachia,” three poets’ takes on life in the wake of the mountains (noon, Barnes and Noble), and follow it with the UVA Bookstore’s “Music of the Spheres,” a reading by Victoria Chang (featured in Best American Poets) and Eric McHenry (who writes about poetry for The New York Times) at 2pm or the Small Special Collections’ “Collecting Dante in Tuscanny,” for Christian DuPont’s lecture on Daniel Fiske’s Indiana Jones-esque treasure hunt for Dante and Petrarch poems (4pm).
For fans of John Grisham’s An Innocent Man, make sure to catch Kirk Bloodworth’s lecture about his move from Death Row to a new life thanks to DNA testing, as documented in his book Bloodsworth.
March 24
Three days into the Virginia Book festival may have you feeling a bit shiftless—where is your Leaves of Grass? Your Ulysses? Your Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants? Time to catch up on your writing, and today’s “Publishing” lecture series will give you the skills necessary to add your masterpiece to the canon.
Start with “Book Publicity Basics” at 10am (Salon A, Omni Hotel), and carry your new ambitions to a slew of noon programs, including “Literary Editors” (featuring editors of Shenandoah and The Virginia Quarterly Review; in Salon A, Omni hotel), “Here’s the Pitch: Book Publicity” (James Monroe Room, Omni Hotel) and “Late Bloomers: Women Novelists Over 40” (New Dominion Bookshop).
If you’re feeling a bit sinister, the “Crime Wave” series hits full stride with a noon luncheon featuring Lee Child, author of the “Jack Reacher” series (Salon BC, Omni Hotel; $45 ticketed event). A few crime-related lectures at 2pm may hold you at literary gunpoint (“Small Towns are Murder” in the Monroe Room, Omni Hotel; “There Ought to be a Law” in Salon A, Omni Hotel), but we recommend dropping by Gravity Lounge for “Writing ‘The Wire’,” in which UVA drama professor Doug Grissom moderates a discussion with David Simon, head writer for HBO’s Maryland-based cop drama, “The Wire.”
Today also offers a chance for the kids to meet Sonia Manzano (who plays “Maria” on “Sesame Street”), and speak to her about her books No Dogs Allowed and A Box Full of Kittens, at Key Recreation Center (noon).
March 25
Though the last day of the Book fest is also the shortest, the politics junkies will have more than enough events to keep busy. “Virginia Politics: Where Have we Been, and Where are we Going?” (1:30pm, City Council Chambers) and “Vietnam: The War, and its Aftermath” (3pm, Barnes and Noble) offer a few specific battlegrounds for the red- and blue-blooded. “Press Pass: From the White House to the World” features Washington reporting vets from Helen Thomas to Alicia Shepard discussing their time covering the Hill (3pm, Albemarle County Office Building).
The Virginia Arts of the Book Center offers open hours on a weekly basis, but welcomes Marie Claude Bastien, a papermaker and binder of classical and modern methods, for a special session of book-binding lessons (1:30pm). Or, if you prefer the invention of whole worlds rather than book covers, Virginians Gwenyth Dunnington and Robert Fannéy offer a discussion titled “For Fantasy Fans” (1:30pm, Village School). If you see the creation of object and story as inseparable, then drop by “From Page to Stage to Page,” in which playwrights Doug Grissom, Keith Bridges, Betty Hale and Todd Ristau lead you from first drafts to stage production to publishing (1:30pm, Live Arts).
For the complete schedule, go to: www.vabook.org.
