Book lovers find treasures at Printers Row Lit Fest
By Jean Lotus Chronicle Media — June 6, 2016
Customers look for literary treasures at Printers Row Lit Fest in Chicago. (Courtesy Printers Row Lit Fest)
The Printers Row Lit Fest, billed as the “Midwest’s largest gathering of book lovers” returns to Chicago June 11-12 for its 32nd year.
The literary street party stretches several city blocks and features more than 200 booksellers and author events. This year, the fest will even feature a science writer-astronaut.
Even in the digital age, books are still going strong, said Rachel Weaver, proprietor of The Book Table, an independent bookshop in Oak Park.
“Things are very good in the indie-bookstore world these days,” Weaver said.” I’m very optimistic. The number of independent bookstores in the country has increased drastically over the past few years,” she added.
The festival was started in 1985 by the Near South Planning Board to draw attention to the newly gentrifying Printer’s Row neighborhood. The idea was to bring authors, readers and sellers of new, used and antiquarian books together in one event. The Chicago Tribune took over the festival in 2002, according to the festival website. The site estimates 150,000 people will attend the festival.
As online retailers have gobbled book dollars, booksellers face a new, more challenging world. Even the Tribune experienced disappointment in December 2015, when it cancelled its special books section “Printers Row Journal” print edition, named after the Lit Fest. Not enough subscribers were willing to pay $99 per year, editors said. Those who have kept their digital subscription will receive discounts at the Lit Fest.
Though the Lit Fest is an outdoor event, many workshops, readings and signings will also take place at affiliated indoor locations walking distance from the fest: The Harold Washington Library, The Hotel Blake, Jones College Prep High School and Grace Place.
“Sometimes there’s bad weather,” Weaver said. “Even with a tent it’s hard to display books without damaging your product with wind and rain.”
This year’s Lit Fest theme is “Expand Your Mind.”
Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, 86, is an author of three nonfiction books and an advocate for science education. He’ll speak at Harold Washington Library on Sunday.
This year’s special guest is master-spook writer R.L. Stein who has thrilled kids (and their parents) with the Goosebumps children’s books and movies for 25 years. Stein will receive the 2016 Chicago Tribune Young Adult Literary Award at the Lit Fest.
Two Pulitzer Prize winners will share the stage at the Harold Washington Cindy Pritzker Auditorium when prize-winning Columnist Mary Schmich interviews Marilynne Robinson, author of Pulitzer-winning novel Gilead.
Later Saturday former U.S. Marine and author Maximillian Uriart and War Correspondent Kim Barker discuss “How to represent the contemporary war experience?”
Two important books exploring the history of African Americans in Chicago will be discussed Sunday at Jones College Prep. Ethan Michaeli, author of The Defender: How the Legendary Black Newspaper Changed America, and author Natalie Moore, who wrote The South Side will be interviewed by Lolly Bowean.
Activities for writers
For those who excel in the succinct, 500 words are all one needs Saturday at the “flash fiction” contest taking place at the Mystery Writers of America tent. This year’s MWA contest will be judged by Chicago’s favorite detective novelist Sara Paretsky, creator of investigator V.I. Warshawski. Joining her to judge will be mystery author Lori Rader-Day, who wrote The Black Hour and Little Pretty Things. Other mystery authors will sign new books and host panels and games, said Heather Ash, coordinator. Suburban bookseller Augie Aleksy of Centuries and Sleuths bookstore in Forest Park will be hosting.
Workshops in several different genres will be offered for aspiring authors wanting to try their hand at historical fiction, memoir, children’s books or romance novels.
Other authors and events
Voices of Chicago neighborhoods will be celebrated as local authors tell tales about Chicago Saturday at an outdoor stage. Children’s writing from the nonprofit 826CHI program will also be featured.
The event also features a dining stage where food fans can see presentations by Chicago Chef Rick Bayless, Gourmet magazine editor Ruth Reichle, “Food Swap” innovator Emily Pastor and the authors of the Eli’s Cheesecake Cookbook, among others.
The White Plaines, New York-based American Bookseller Association, a trade group for independent bookstores, calls the new growth in bookshops an “Ongoing Indie Resurgence.” Locations of member shops have grown over the past seven years, up to 2,300 locations from 1,651 in 2009, the association reported this spring.
Even as some bookstores in Cook County have gone out of business, new ones are opening with innovative business models such as Volumes – a Wicker Park bookstore financed partially through crowd-funding. Publishing history was made this year when the international publishers convention BookExpo America moved from New York to McCormick Place in Chicago this May. Chicago traditions like the Printers Row Lit Fest may help attract more publishers, authors and booksellers to Illinois in the future.
