Speaking of books, Chicago has one and so does Los Angeles. San Diego has its own Festival of books. This is the first hosted by the union Tribune will be held this Saturday at Liberty Station. Festivalgoers will meet dozens of writers including David, Caitlin and Parker and participate in panel discussions with topics including Mistry, romance and fake news. Joining me is the new developer for the union Tribune and one of the lead organizers. Welcome to the program.Here is John welcomes, a reporter and a writer for the union Tribune and helped plan the festival and is monitoring three panels. Welcome.Thank you for having me.Give us a rundown on what people can expect.It is a chance for people to come out and meet the authors and more than 50 local authors. People they may be familiar with and are fond of their books and a chance to discover writers they did not know about before.I know that you have interviewed lots of authors. Will there be anybody in particular or any kind of event you are looking for?There are several. I am a Mistry fan. Parker, who lives in Fallbrook and the author of almost two dozen books, there is a work called the Edgar awards and there is a prize for the best novel and maybe three or four people have ever one that more than once and he is one of them.He was here earlier this week.He will be there. He is in a panel with three other writers and there are couple that are just starting out. That is fun.Another one is the fate of our culture which has a number of local authors with interesting books.The LA Times has one of the largest book festivals in the country with 150,000 attendees. On their first year, they got 40,000 people. Any estimates on what we might expect at the first San Diego Festival ?I hope not 40,000 people. [ laughter ]I do not think we have room for that.We are saying thousands. It could be anywhere between 2 to 5.We have sold 1000 tickets. That is a good sign. Between the children area and the authors that will be there and some of the activities and exhibitors, I think it will be a big turnout.Just to explain, to go to the festival is free. Isn't that right ?Yes. But the panels cost a nominal fee.$3 to go to the panel.There has been criticism about the authors who have been picked to attend the festival of books they polished a column criticizing the festival were having few authors of color as panelists. Were you conscious, either review about the lack of authors of color invited to the festival?Yes. It is an issue that came up during the discussions.Several times.Writ can speak to the meetings. It was an issue whether there were enough people of color. I think Britt and her other members reached out to some authors who were not available to come.We did the best we could. We invited a wide variety of people. We got answers from whoever could attend. There was really -- we wanted to keep the base local and we reached out to hundreds of local authors and some said they could not be there. Some did not respond. I think after this year, next year, we will see a big difference.You were disappointed with the representation of the panels in the sense that the people that you contacted, they did not all respond.I am disappointed that people also came out outwards -- afterwards and he wanted to take part of it. This was our first year. We invited everybody we thought we knew of in the community. Again, we wanted to keep it local. We did our best to get a diverse mix. I think we do. We have a bookmobile and Hispanic books and we do have authors in criticism is left-field to me.What is the success for you in this first iteration of the festival of books ?For me, it is the participation and community involvement and I feel it is a success. The excitement that we hear and the support we have gotten from the panel and the bookstores that have helped and ordered books for the signings, it has been overwhelming with the response we are getting and how people are so exciting about having this in San Diego. To me, it is a success.This sounds like a little bit of heaven you.Yes.I love reading and I love talking to people who write books. This is an opportunity. It is a chance for readers to come to one place and celebrate together the community of words.The San Diego Festival of Books is this Saturday at Liberty Station. I have been speaking with the union Tribune staffers involved in putting the festival together.and John welcomes, thank you.Thank you.
San Diego book lovers have a reason to celebrate this weekend. The San Diego Union-Tribune and KPBS are launching the San Diego Festival of Books, a daylong event featuring dozens of local authors talking about their craft.
The festival is modeled after similar events organized by The Union-Tribune’s sister papers: The Los Angeles Times’ Festival of Books and The Chicago Tribune’s Printers Row Lit Fest.
San Diego’s festival runs 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday at Liberty Station. Panels will cover topics from mystery writing to "fake news," and a children’s pavilion will have a series of storytellers throughout the day. The festival is free, but tickets to panels cost $3 each.
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The Los Angeles Festival of Books is one of the largest in the country, drawing about 150,000 attendees. It attracted about 40,000 its first year. Union-Tribune new business development director Britt Nevetsky said she is expecting between 2,000 and 10,000 people at the San Diego festival.
“I already feel it’s a success,” she said. “The excitement we’re hearing in the community, the support we’ve gotten from everybody on our panels, the bookstores that have helped and ordered books for the signings, it’s really been overwhelming.”
CityBeat columnist Aaryn Belfer criticized the panel lineups last week, writing the festival was “having its Oscar-esque moment. That is, #bookfestivalsowhite.”
Nevetsky said the lack of authors of color came up during planning discussions, but maintained that the organizers reached out to a diverse list of authors.
“We wanted to keep the author base local and we reached out to hundreds of local authors and some said they couldn’t be there and some didn’t respond,” she said. “Next year, I think we’re going to see a big difference in people wanting to partake in it.”
Nevetsky joins KPBS Midday Edition along with Union-Tribune book columnist John Wilkens on Thursday to discuss this weekend festival.
