The Virginia Festival of the Book is an annual literary festival held in March in Charlottesville, Virginia. Virginia Humanities is the organizer. [1]
The festival was established by Cal Otto, Paul Collinge, Tom Dowd. Cal Otto was the founder of the American Ephemeral Society and active in the American Antiquarian Society. [2] Paul Collinge established Heartwood Books in The Corner in 1975. [3] Tom Dowd, a University of Virginia professor, brought Cal Otto to meet with Paul Collinge at his bookstore, and together, they started the festival. [2] [4]
In 1994, an article in U.S. News & World Report ranked Charlottesville as third highest in the United States for books read per person. [4] In that context, the organized set the theme for the first festival as, "Charlottesville: a place for books". [4]
The first festival was on March 30, 1995. [4] Speakers at that first festival included Rita Mae Brown, [4] [[|George Garrett (poet)|George Garrett]], [4] Rita Dove, [4] John Casey, [4] Jonathan Coleman, [4] Joyce Carol Oates, [4] Gregory Orr, [4] and Charles Wright. [4]
That first festival had good attendance and all involved recognized it as a success worth repeating. [5]
The 30th annual Festival featured 80 events and 120 authors over 4 days. [6] Presenters included Roxane Gay, [6] Jeannette Walls, [6] Adriana Trigiani, [6] and Ada Limón. [6]
Fairfax, Virginia, is an independent city in Virginia and the county seat of Fairfax County, Virginia, in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 25,536.
Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in Virginia, United States. It is the seat of government of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Queen Charlotte. At the 2020 census, the city's population was 46,553. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the City of Charlottesville with Albemarle County for statistical purposes, bringing its population to approximately 160,000. Charlottesville is the heart of the Charlottesville metropolitan area, which includes Albemarle, Fluvanna, Greene, and Nelson counties.
Rita Frances Dove is an American poet and essayist. From 1993 to 1995, she served as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress. She is the first African American to have been appointed since the position was created by an act of Congress in 1986 from the previous "consultant in poetry" position (1937–86). Dove also received an appointment as "special consultant in poetry" for the Library of Congress's bicentennial year from 1999 to 2000. Dove is the second African American to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, in 1987, and she served as the Poet Laureate of Virginia from 2004 to 2006. Since 1989, she has been teaching at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, where she held the chair of Commonwealth Professor of English from 1993 to 2020; as of 2020, she holds the chair of Henry Hoyns Professor of Creative Writing.
John Paul Jones Arena, or JPJ, is a multi-purpose arena owned by the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia. Since November 2006, it serves as the home to the Virginia Cavaliers men's and women's basketball teams, as well as for concerts and other events. With seating for 14,623 fans John Paul Jones Arena is the largest indoor arena in Virginia and the biggest Atlantic Coast Conference basketball arena located outside of large metropolitan areas. Sports Illustrated named John Paul Jones Arena the best new college basketball arena of the 2000s.
The Library of Virginia in Richmond, Virginia, is the library agency of the Commonwealth of Virginia. It serves as the archival agency and the reference library for Virginia's seat of government. The Library moved into a new building in 1997 and is located at 800 East Broad Street, two blocks from the Virginia State Capitol building. It was formerly known as the Virginia State Library and as the Virginia State Library and Archives.
Boyd Calvin Tinsley is an American violinist and mandolinist who is best known for having been a member of the Dave Matthews Band.
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The Daily Progress is a newspaper published in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States.
Virginia Humanities (VH), formerly the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, is a humanities council whose stated mission is to develop the civic, cultural, and intellectual life of the Commonwealth of Virginia by creating learning opportunities for all Virginians. VH aims to bring the humanities fully into Virginia's public life, assisting individuals and communities in their efforts to understand the past, confront important issues in the present, and shape a promising future.
William Robert Catton, Jr. was an American sociologist known for his scholarly work in environmental sociology and human ecology. More broadly, Catton is known for his 1980 book, Overshoot: The Ecological Basis of Revolutionary Change, which is credited by younger generations of environmental scholars and activists as foundational for their own works in calling attention to humanity's role in expanding ecological overshoot to the global level.
Morton Patrick Traylor was an American fine artist, designer, serigrapher and founder of the Virginia Art Institute in Charlottesville, Virginia.
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Thomas Alexander Garrett Jr. is an American politician and attorney. He served one term in the United States House of Representatives for Virginia's 5th congressional district. A Republican, Garrett formerly represented the 22nd district in the Virginia Senate. In November 2022, Garrett announced he would run for the Virginia House of Delegates in 2023. In the 2023 Virginia House of Delegates election he was elected in the 56th district.
Howard A. Rodman is a screenwriter, author and professor. He is the former President of the Writers Guild of America, West, professor and former chair of the writing division at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, alumnus of Telluride Association Summer Program and an artistic director of the Sundance Institute Screenwriting Labs.
Elspeth "Elle" Reeve is an American journalist. Before joining CNN as a correspondent in 2019, she reported on the 2017 white-nationalist Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia for HBO's Vice News Tonight. Reeve and Vice News Tonight won a Peabody Award, four Emmy Awards, and a George Polk Award for their reporting.
Henry Hoke is an American author known for hybrid books. He directs Enter>text, a business organising annual events, described as a 'living literary journal', and his short fiction and non-fiction have been published in Electric Literature, Hobart, The Collagist, Birkensnake, and Joyland.
Maurie D. McInnis is an American art historian, currently serving as the 24th president of Yale University since July 2024. She previously served as the sixth president of Stony Brook University from 2020 to 2024.
Daedalus Books is a used bookstore based in the Downtown Mall of Charlottesville, Virginia. It was established in 1975. It contains more than 100,000 books and is a quirky institution in the city. A reviewer for The Washington Post described Daedalus as the best bookstore south of the Strand Bookstore in Greenwich Village.