FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Jane R. Goodman
804-979-2678 ext. 27
December 6, 1999

VABook! 2000
The 6th Annual Virginia Festival of the Book
A Celebration of Books and Reading

March 22-26th, 2000
Charlottesville, Virginia

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. — The sixth annual Virginia Festival of the Book (VABook!) will be held March 22-26, 2000 in Charlottesville, Virginia. Produced by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, the Festival is a free, public event featuring authors and publishing professionals in programs for adults and children. The 2000 Festival will feature confirmed participants National Book Critics Circle Award winner Reynolds Price, renowned poets Nikki Giovanni and Sonia Sanchez, Pulitzer Prize winner Henry Taylor, Caldecott-winning author and illustrator David Wisniewski, best-selling author Connie Briscoe, and National Book Award for Poetry recipient Charles Wright, among others.

At last year's Festival luncheon, 1998 National Book Award Winner Alice McDermott said, "Nothing else in the course of a lifetime can change us as thoroughly as the poem, the novel, the written word." Those who attend the Festival would agree.

Throughout its five-year history, attendance at this 4-day event has grown, with over 13,000 people in attendance at VABook! 99. Audience members attend readings, book signings, informal conversations, panel discussions and workshops-in all more than 200 free events designed for those who love to read. During the Festival, an entire day is dedicated to family literacy. Last year's Motheread and Fatheread Day drew over 800 parents and children for book-related activities, which culminated in storytelling by authors David Baldacci and Clifton Taulbert. Similar programming is scheduled for VABook 2000!

Past Festival participants have included best-selling authors John Grisham and Anita Shreve, former Poet Laureates Rita Dove and Robert Pinsky, National Book Award winners Alice McDermott and John Casey, Oprah Book Club authors Jane Hamilton and Sheri Reynolds, children's authors Lois Lowry and Connie Porter (Addy books), and many more.

Charlottesville is a book town. According to Standard Rate & Data's 1996 Lifestyle Market Analyst, Charlottesville is the number one-ranked ADI (Area of Dominant Influence) in the United States in "Avid Book Reading." Additionally, the American Booksellers Association ranks Charlottesville eighth in the country for "book stores per 10,000 households." The Washingtonian stated, " Charlottesville has been home to such noted writers as Thomas Jefferson, Edgar Allan Poe, and William Faulkner. So it's fitting that the town hosts a festival celebrating books."

For additional information, program updates and the latest participants, visit our web site at www.vabook.org. or call VABook! 2000 at 804-924-6890.