In June 2004, the National Endowment for the Arts released a study entitled "Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading in America." This 47-page report showed an overall decline in reading as an American activity, with a loss of 20 million potential readers over the last decade and a rate of decline that threatens to increase in the coming years. Books, it seems, have fallen by the wayside in the wake of America's favorite pastimes: television and the Internet.
While these storm clouds hover over American culture, they won't be seen in Charlottesville this weekend during the 11th annual Virginia Festival of the Book. Packed with events that run the gamut of reading interests, the next four days promise to celebrate books and respond to those who claim reading is on the decline.
Numerous programs scattered throughout Charlottesville embody the Festival's goal to honor book culture and promote reading and literacy. Event locations include popular hotspots such as Gravity Lounge and Jaberwoke, as well as local bookstores including Old Dominion Bookshop and Barnes & Noble. The University will host events in Culbreth Theatre, the University Bookstore and the Special Collections Library. The events are as diverse as the locations and include panel discussions, intimate chats, readings and artistic performances.
This grand celebration is nothing new to the City of Charlottesville. The idea for the Festival germinated 12 years ago, according to Festival Program Director Nancy Damon.
"A group of people, including the president of the Virginia Foundation, Paul Collinge of Heartwood Books, Tom Dowd of Continuing and Professional Studies and Cal Otto ... came together with the concept of a festival to celebrate reading and literature," Damon said. "They thought Charlottesville was a reading town, with lots of readers and authors. They thought we might have eight to 10 panels, but it grew to 50 panels in the first year. It has continued since then."
Much work goes into the planning, organization and execution of the Festival and its free public events. Damon and her staff work full-time throughout the year with over 200 volunteers and local sponsors to ensure that the five-day Festival runs smoothly.
"We have a huge amount of support from volunteers and businesses, the government and other groups in the community," Damon said.
This year's sponsors include Wachovia, the University, the City of Charlottesville, and Albemarle County. The Festival is once again produced by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, an organization that develops and supports education, research and public programs in the humanities.
More than 22,000 people attended last year's Festival and its 200-plus events. It was the most successful year in the Festival's history and included appearances by poet and novelist Michael Ondaatje, whose novels include The English Patient and Anil's Ghost, as well as Michael Chabon, whose engrossing novel, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, won the Pulitzer Prize in 2001. Garrison Keillor, recognized for his books detailing small-town America, gave the Festival its highest single-program attendance with 680 people in the audience.
Building on last year's success, the 2005 Festival hosts more than 300 authors, including 125 non-fiction writers, 76 fiction writers, and 48 poets, as well as youth and family authors and representatives of the publishing industry. Overall, the Festival will host 244 events for adults, youth and families.
The Festival's subjects read like a bookstore catalogue: science-fiction, crime, current affairs, history and cooking are just a few of the many topics on display. Youth and family programs include visits from storytellers and illustrators as well as hands-on arts and crafts.
Though a complete list of events and authors is too numerous to list on these pages, there are many events which promise to display the best that books have to offer. The author Jonathan Safran Foer -- whose latest novel, Incredibly Loud and Extremely Close, deals with a child's reaction to 9/11
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