Charlottesville, Virginia. The Sixth Annual Virginia Festival of the Book (VABook!) took place on March 22 – 26, 2000 in Charlottesville, VA. This year’s Festival-goers attended readings, book signings, panel discussions, informal conversations and workshops – in all 183 free programs and events. The spectacular array of participants in this year’s Festival included 298 authors, storytellers and publishing professionals. Festival program attendance at VABook! 2000 exceeded past years numbers, reaching over 13,500 audience members.

From the Opening Ceremony with Ralph Nader to the Closing Celebration with David Baldacci, audience members and Festival participants alike brimmed with excitement over the wide variety of Festival programs this year. Programs ranged from turning books into movies to "American Lunacies"; from publishing on the Internet to food writing; from beginning a novel to Deaf empowerment, just to name a few. Festival highlights included full houses at both the Reynolds Price reading and Nikki Giovanni’s poetry reading on Friday evening; readings by fiction novelists Fred Chappell, Elizabeth Strout and Connie Briscoe and Rita Dove’s reading and discussion of her poetry. One Festival participant put it this way, "It is so refreshing to be a part of an event that is not about the bottom line of book sales, but the true promotion of reading and books."

The Statewide poster contest winners were announced during the Motheread and Fatheread Day, a full day of children and family programming including storytellers, children’s authors and crafts. This year’s elementary school winners were Ne Burns of Pungoteague Elementary School (1st Place), Anne Renee Parent of Crozet Elementary School (2nd Place) and Paul Riedel of Waterford Elementary School (3rd Place). Middle school winners included Jaomi Thi Thach of Falling Creek Middle School (1st Place), Ashley Berry of Falling Creek Middle School (2nd Place) and Jordan Coiner of Kate Collins Middle School (3rd Place). In the High School category, Melissa Ashley of West Point High School won 2nd place and Katie Trott of Clover Hill High School took 3rd place (no 1st Place High School category was awarded).

"Now past it’s sixth year, the Festival has truly reached a point of prominent standing in both the community and nationwide," states Virginia Foundation for the Humanities President, Robert Vaughan. "I am delighted with the success of this year’s Festival, the exceedingly high caliber of the participants and the positive reactions of those who attended programs."

Ninety-four percent of audience members surveyed rated the overall Festival as "Excellent", with ninety-two percent of individual programs receiving an "Excellent" rating. Festival-goers attended an average of five programs throughout the five-day event.

The 7th Annual Virginia Festival of the Book will take place March 21 – 25, 2001. For additional information, visit our web site at www.vabook.org. or call VABook! at 804-924-6890.