The third annual READING READS: The Greater Reading Literary Festival will turn its first page on Wednesday, October 1 at Reading Area Community College when a new Poet Laureate of Berks County will be named.
This significant literary event will set the stage for the 2008 festival that will play out through the entire month of what could be called "Booktober" in more than two dozen venues in Greater Reading, Pennsylvania.
The festival will celebrate reading and writing, storytelling and stage, illustration and the imagination. Included in the dazzling array of activities is the appearance of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Russo at Alvernia College and an "Author Extravaganza" featuring more than 20 authors signing and discussing their works at Borders Books and Music.
This year's festival will also embrace several new venues, including the Hard Bean Café in Boyertown, which will present a program as part of its grand opening; the Speckled Hen Pub, which is inside the oldest building in Reading; and Gravity Books and Music in Exeter Township.
As the famed Pagoda atop Mount Penn observes its 100th anniversary in 2008, the Literary Festival will dub it the "Book-oda" and several events will be held there. The mountaintop landmark will host a day of poetry workshops for children, a night of ghost stories, and a "mixer" of members of writers groups in Greater Reading and the Lehigh Valley.
The heart of READING READS: The Greater Reading Literary Festival remains its intent to provide exposure for local and regional authors and illustrators as well as to bring in noteworthy writers and artists to share their works with those who attend the many events.
The Literary Festival is the product of a totally volunteer committee that operates with no budget, but much energy to inspire festival participants to organize and execute events that tweak imaginations, tickle funny bones, and tempt the senses.
Have a look at the wide variety of events of the 2008 festival, attend as many as you so desire, and spread the word about the written word that is celebrated in The Greater Reading Literary Festival.