Virginia Festival of the Book

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The Virginia Festival of the Book is an annual literary festival held in March in Charlottesville, Virginia. Virginia Humanities is the organizer. [1]

Contents

History

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]

1995

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]

2024

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]

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References

  1. Wolfe, Brendan (7 January 2019). "Turning the Page". Virginia Humanities .
  2. 1 2 Provence, Lisa (25 November 2009). "Book Fest co-founder dies". The Hook (newspaper) . Archived from the original on 14 August 2024.
  3. Wheeler, Brian (27 October 2012). "The Corner transformed as connected green spaces and piazza". Charlottesville Tomorrow.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Charlottesville Daily Progress (6 September 2007). "BOOK FESTIVAL". The Daily Progress . Archived from the original on 31 January 2025.
  5. Mayo, Mike (April 1, 1995). "BOOK FESTIVAL TURNS OUT TO BE A BEST-SELLER". The Roanoke Times . p. B10.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Roth, Maggie (13 March 2024). "Virginia Festival of the Book Reads Like a Bibliophile's Dream". Northern Virginia Magazine.

Further consideration