BOOK FESTIVAL

Charlottesville Daily Progress
Published: September 6, 2007

The Virginia Festival of the Book has proven year after year that it is among Charlottesville's most popular annual events.

Total attendance at the many programs has exceeded 20,000 people for each of the past four years. Not bad when you realize that the founders, Calvin P. Otto and Paul Collinge, initially worried about it not taking hold.

Their fears were quickly put to rest when readers flocked to the first festival in 1995. The 14th installment of the festival that's produced by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities will be held March 26-30.

There will be about 200 events during the upcoming festival. Approximately 125 of the programs will be geared to adult audiences, and 75 or so will be for children.

More than 300 authors and writers are expected to attend the upcoming festival. Big-name authors who have participated in the past include John Grisham, Joyce Carol Oates, Rita Dove, Malcolm Gladwell, Rita Mae Brown and David Baldacci.

The festival is easy on the pocketbook. The few events that require buying tickets include the main luncheon and a business breakfast co-hosted by the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce.

Tickets for the ticketed events go on sale at 9 a.m. Sept. 20. Those wishing to be added to the festival's mailing or e-mail lists in order to receive occasional updates on festival matters can do so at the festival's Web site.

When the final numbers were tallied for last year's festival, 95 percent of those attending programs gave their events a "great" or "excellent" rating.

"We've been around long enough now that people tell us that even if they're not familiar with an author's work they know if they attend his or her event they will find it interesting," said Nancy Damon, program director for the five-day festival.

"This is a festival for the general readership, and we continue to try to have something for just about everybody. Nearly all the programs are free, and people have the opportunity to meet the authors and actually talk with them," Damon said.

"One of the things we often hear from authors is what a good time they had meeting the public and other writers.

"I would say our single biggest complaint last year was that the chairs were too hard. So maybe you'll want to bring a cushion to events next year," Damon said.

For more information, visit www.vabook.org or call 924-6890.