March 28, 2003
For Immediate Release
Contact: Kevin McFadden
434-924-6890
kmcfadden@virginia.edu

VABook! Hits 17,000 Attendance Mark

Solid Festival Audience Edges Out Previous Record

Charlottesville, Virginia (March 28, 2003) …As the ninth annual Virginia Festival of the Book, produced by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, commenced on the first day of American attacks against Iraq, many expected the yearly rise in festival attendance would be checked. However, when the last attendance figures were officially totaled on Friday, March 28, the VABook! audience had reached 17,013—a slight increase over the previous Festival’s mark (16,986).

"We were concerned that the war would keep people from coming,” VABook! Program Director Nancy Damon said. “What we found is that many people came who wanted to be together to talk about what is going on in the world and in our country. And some wanted a break to talk about something else altogether.”

VABook! 2003 featured 350 authors in more than 150 programs for adults and 90 for young readers around town or in area schools. Highlights of the festival included the luncheon address by Lee Smith, the live interview with bestseller John Grisham, the Crime Wave day of mystery and suspense authors and a poetry reading by Nikki Giovanni.

The program also featured the conclusion of the Great American Novel contest, which announced three finalists: Kurt Ayau of Amherst, Virginia; Julia Elliott of Columbia, South Carolina; and Becky Hagenston of Mississippi State, Mississippi. The winners submitted sample chapters of novels, and each will receive a full manuscript reading, consultation and consideration for publication by editor Jeffrey Levine of Tupelo Press.

The tenth annual Virginia Festival of the Book will be celebrated March 24-28, 2004 in Charlottesville, Virginia. For more information on the Festival, consult www.vabook.org or call 434-924-6890.

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