The 19th annual Louisiana Book Festival was hosted Oct. 28, and the State Library of Louisiana is already preparing for next year’s festivities.
The festival is hosted annually to allow members of the community to explore their literary heritage while meeting hundreds of local authors.
State Librarian Meg Placke said Louisiana has a great literary heritage and culture. This festival is meant to shine a spotlight on that. The work in planning every year starts before the current one is over.
“We are trying to promote literacy and just get everyone reading and loving books,” Placke said.
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According to a pamphlet handed out at the event, Lt. Governor and Honorary Chairman of the Louisiana Book Festival Billy Nungesser said that this event has been considered one of the 10 best literary festivals in the country.
“Building that love of literature in our kids is the best thing we can do for the future,” Plake said. “That is really what we are doing with this festival.”
Ranging from art to comic books and cooking demonstrations, the festival provided many learning opportunities in a day. With over 200 writers, publishers, poets and more, everyone had the opportunity to find something they liked.
64 Parishes, a project of the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities and magazine dedicated to telling Louisiana stories, is one of the festival’s many sponsors. The LEH is a nonprofit focused on exploring the state’s past.
LEH Marketing and Sales Director Lauren Noel said its mission is to support access to the humanities statewide.
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LSU had a prominent presence with booths ranging from the English department to the LSU Press.
“The Louisiana Book Festival is a wonderful occasion for the press to come out and be forward facing to interact with book-loving people and to see our authors,” LSU Press Director Alisa Plant said.
One of those authors is Marlene Trestman, who tells the first comprehensive history of the Jewish Orphans’ Home of New Orleans in her “Most Fortunate Unfortunates.”
“It’s a real honor to be here and I couldn’t be happier,” Trestman said.
Trestman said this story is personal to her as she grew up in New Orleans as a Jewish Children’s Regional Service client.
At the English department’s booth, first-year doctoral student Caitlyn Jones said that they are currently working on sending students to the University of California-Santa Cruz for the Dickens Project.
The Dickens Project offers an array of opportunities such as graduate student mentoring, community outreach and a research network for scholars.
One of the most notable authors at the event was 11-year-old Zariah Cherry. Zariah was diagnosed with dyslexia at age six, but that didn’t stop her from writing. Her book “Lulu, the Lollipop” is the debut of her “Lulu” series.
“I just loved getting pieces of paper and writing little stories out,” Zariah said.
Plake said that hundreds of volunteers will join the library staff to orchestrate the plans for the festival’s 20th anniversary in 2024.
“It’s just a wonderful day for books in Louisiana,” Plant said.
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