Report on VABook! 2001

The Seventh Annual Virginia Festival of the Book Attracts Record Crowds

Charlottesville, VA (May 24, 2001)
The numbers are in—the Seventh Annual Virginia Festival of the Book attracted 15,710 audience members, an increase of more than 2,000 from last year. Authors traveled from Australia, Germany, England, Ireland, Canada and all over the United States to read and participate. Book lovers came from 31 states and seven countries to hear and see the most culturally diverse events held in the seven years of the annual festival. Folk icon Pete Seeger demonstrated the art of storytelling through song and prose, 95 year-old U.S. Poet Laureate Stanley Kunitz captivated his audience through verse, and Clyde Edgerton brought tears and laughter to listeners. Local business leaders were inspired by Michael Gelb’s "How to Think Like Leonardo Da Vinci," Fernando Operé hosted a poetry reading entirely in Spanish, and internationally acclaimed jazz musicians accompanied poet Jayne Cortez for an evening of jazz poetry.

Produced and organized by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, the Festival attracted the attention of many national media outlets. This year’s symposium "The e-Book: How to Publish and Promote Online" was featured on the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, in Publishers Weekly, and made headlines on numerous websites including Wired.com, NPR Online, Bookreporter.com and eBookAd.com. Programs were recorded for broadcast by C-SPAN’s BookTV, the Odyssey Channel, Public Television, Public Radio, and NHK, the Japanese Broadcasting Company.

The 2002 Virginia Festival of the Book is scheduled for March 20-24. This five-day free literary event offers more than 200 author readings, panel discussions, workshops, informal conversations among writers and readers, and book signings at venues around Charlottesville. Information about attending authors and programs for VABook! 2002 will be posted in the fall on the web site at www.vabook.org as information becomes available. For more information about attending, participating or volunteering for the Festival, call VABook! 2002 at (434) 924-6890.