Book festival closes chapter on eighth annual event

Photo by Jenny Gerow

Children and parents crowded around storyteller and radio host Peter Jones at the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library on Saturday, captivated by the tale he told — Caps for Sale, by Esphyr Slobodkina — and the hats he wore. Also participating in the readings were his partner Jen Hoffman, a U.Va. faculty member in the Career Services office. The events were part of StoryFest, a five-hour program of family-centered, book-related entertainment.

From children’s programs to talks on thinking like a genius, getting published and whether erotica helps sell prose, the contents of the eighth annual Virginia Festival of the Book were as varied as the words in a dictionary.

“We try to have programs that will reach the widest range of the community,” said festival director Nancy Damon.

Authors of poetry, fiction, non-fiction and special interests, as well as publishing professionals, book illustrators and storytellers, participated in this year’s five-day literary fest, March 20-24.

Committees began meeting last July to plan the program, culling ideas from people who’ve been to the festival or heard about it, as well as publicists and authors, local residents and U.Va. faculty.

For more on the festival, produced by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, visit http://www.vabook.org/.