Bookmark March 21-25

Staff Report

The eclectic group of writers featured in this year's seventh annual Virginia Festival of the Book, March 21-25, promises to take book lovers back and forth in time, across oceans, through the labyrinths of poetry and mystery, and into the virtual world of e-publishing.

Some of the special guests include U.S. Poet Laureate Stanley Kunitz — at 95, one of the masters of contemporary poetry; author Lee Smith, known for her depictions of Southern life in novels such as Saving Grace and Fair and Tender Ladies; and veteran folk singer Pete Seeger, who will participate in a program of storytelling and song for families, with young adult author Norma Fox Mazer.

A reading with international writers will feature Irish novelist John Banville, a Booker Prize finalist, and Indian author Amitav Ghosh, who has recently won the Prix Medici Etranger, one of France's top literary awards.

Tickets for the annual luncheon March 23 with novelist Paule Marshall are sold out, but people can call 924-6890 to be placed on a waiting list. Almost all of the events are free, with the exception of the luncheon and an evening reception March 24, which costs $30, at Carr's Hill, with novelist Jan Karon and U.Va. Spanish professor Fernando Operé.

As in years past, many U.Va. departments and faculty are participating in the festival, which is coordinated by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and Public Policy. See the Web site at http://www.vabook.org for the program schedule, which is tentative until the final copy comes out in the March 18 edition of The Daily Progress. Printed programs also will be available in area bookstores and libraries during the festival.

Among the 200-plus events:

David Seaman, director of U.Va.'s Electronic Text Center, will lead a Saturday program on electronic-book formats, reading devices and industry trends, as part of the festival's focus on e-publishing this year. The E-Text Center provides the world's largest public e-book library.

Alderman Library's Special Collections department will hold an exhibit of the work of John Dos Passos. His daughter, Lucy Dos Passos Coggin, will be the guest speaker at the event.

The Women's Center will host a reception bringing together women writers, featuring Dr. Sylvia Rimm, author of See Jane Win. The center and the Curry School of Education are sponsoring a talk with feminist theorist bell hooks.