Virginia’s Center for the Book’s 32nd annual Festival of the Book was held March 19 through 22, bringing authors, special guests and readers to venues across downtown Charlottesville for a series of events. This year’s theme was “Revolutions” to honor the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The wide-ranging lineup of talks also celebrated Women’s History Month by featuring several events that spotlighted women’s experiences.
Each year, the festival roots itself in a broad mission to “promote books, reading, literacy and literary culture.” Kalela Williams, author and director of the Virginia Center of the Book, reflected on how the slate of productions is a culmination of that mission.
“We bring in authors whose work resonates with Virginians, because we know that … Virginia is such a varied state,” Williams said. “We’re bringing people to the festival to celebrate our walks of life, and to celebrate our readership, to celebrate readers, to celebrate even people who don’t consider themselves readers.”
More than 20,000 people come to Charlottesville to attend the annual festival — with mostly free events — each year. Nearly 150 authors made appearances across its programming last weekend at book talks, workshops and exhibitions. The featured authors represented a wide range of genres, including nonfiction, poetry, children’s literature and mystery.
March 20 at noon, “Boldness and Burden: Women Through Time” took place at New Dominion Bookshop on the Downtown Mall, where authors Elizabeth Becker, Sharon Kurtzman and Stacia Pelletier discussed their recently released novels. Their three works of fiction feature women navigating the burdens of family obligations. When asked about how they found a balance between strength and vulnerability in writing strong female main characters, Becker — author of “The Moonlight Healers” — emphasized the importance of honesty in portraying their experiences.
“It’s only going to be honest if [the female characters are] vulnerable,” Becker said. “I don’t think that it compromises their strength to show their weaknesses and show they’re struggling. That’s one of the strengths of women, that we have that ability to be a little more open about our struggles and emotions.”
Expanding on Becker’s point about character vulnerability, Kurtzman and Pelletier also emphasized its importance in shaping authentic characters. They discussed how the women in their novels navigate expectations placed on them by family while working to assert their own sense of agency. The two authors agreed that this tension is central to writing characters who feel honest and fully realized.
One attendee at “Boldness and Burden” asked the authors about how they found the discipline to write full-length literary projects. Their answers underscored the realities of balancing creative work with other responsibilities, with Becker and Kurtzman sharing that much of their writing took place in the car while waiting in school pick-up lines and during soccer practices for their children. The moment highlighted the panel’s broader celebration of women’s voices, both on the page in their literature and behind the page in their personal lives.
This candid conversation prompted audience members to reflect on the significance of seeing complex female characters represented in literature. Virginia Palencia, another attendee of the “Boldness and Burden” panel, noted how the discussion resonated with her own experiences and reinforced the importance of telling stories that capture both the challenges and strengths of women’s lives.
“I think female protagonists are especially important,” Palencia said. “I really like to hear the process of writing, but definitely, that’s a draw for me, especially now politically.”
New Dominion Bookshop also hosted folk and bluegrass musician Alice Gerrard to discuss her recent memoir, “Custom Made Woman: A Life in Traditional Music,” March 20 at 2 p.m. Gerrard spoke with Katy Clune, Virginia state folklorist and moderator of the event, about her book, which documented a musical career spanning five decades. Gerrard shared experiences from her college days in the 1950s to the present, reflecting on her evolution as an artist and the challenges and opportunities she encountered as a woman in the folk music scene.
One of the festival’s largest events was “Claire McCardell: Author Talk and Historic Fashion Demo,” held at the ornate Paramount Theater downtown March 21 at 6:30 p.m. At the ticketed presentation, Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson discussed her critically-acclaimed biography that tells the story of Claire McCardell, a fashion designer who made clothes for women beginning to work non-domestic jobs in the 1930s and 1940s.
This discussion was accompanied by a demonstration of historical fashion by Marcy Linton, associate professor of costume technology and manager of the University drama department’s historical clothing collection. The presentation offered attendees a visual sense of how McCardell’s work transformed everyday dress, as Linton explained the functional aspects of McCardell’s work. By centering a revolutionary figure who reshaped how women dressed and moved in their daily lives, the event was a testament to women’s contributions across industries in history.
Across panels, readings and conversations, this year’s Festival of the Book highlighted the diversity of literary voices and the enduring importance of women’s stories. In a weekend centered on “Revolutions,” these discussions reflected both personal and cultural shifts, underscoring the role of literature in shaping how those stories are told and remembered.
Komal Reddymachu contributed to reporting in this article.
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