ST. GEORGE — The celebration of literacy with the joy of reading — as well as writing — kicks off Monday as the St. George Book Festival starts its week-long series of events highlighting the importance of reading.
This family-friendly event will have readers of all ages and genres coming out for a “howling” good time, according to a press release.
The City of St. George, Heritage Writers Guild, Utah State Poetry Society, Washington County School District Foundation’s “Spooky Town Fair” and Comics Plus “Comic Spook Day” have partnered together with the Utah Humanities Book Festival to bring the St. George community the biggest Halloween literary event in Southern Utah.
The book festival kicks off Monday and wraps up with the ever-growing Book Expo Friday and Saturday at the Spooky Town Fair in the St. George Town Square.
The keynote speaker for Monday evening, Brad Wilcox, a professor in the department of teacher education at BYU who works in such programs as “Especially for Youth,” “Women’s Conference” and “Campus Education Week,” will be talking on the topic “So Many Books, So Little Time.”
Wilcox is also the author of more than a dozen books such as “Developing Literacy: Reading and Writing To, With, and By Children,” “The Best-Kept Secrets of Parenting: 18 Principles that Can Change Everything” and “Raising Ourselves to the Bar: Practical Advice and Encouragement for the Next Generation of Missionaries and Their Parents.”
Joining Wilcox will be speakers Janice Brooks-Nichter with the welcome address on “Inspirational Talk on Writers” and Jack W. Rolfe on the topic “Straight A’s of Life — A Positive Disruption to Education.”
Free to all, family fun and activities for kids will start at 4:30 p.m. at the Dixie Applied Technology Center at the Ridge Top Complex, 610 S. Airport Road in St. George. There will be face painting, story time with Bosley Bear author Jeremy L. Bird, arts and crafts, games and a special “Learn to be a Magician” with author and magician David W. Smith.
Also in conjunction with the book festival, Barnes & Noble Booksellers Inc. will be hosting its first of a series of book signings with Spencer Anderson signing his adventure book, “The Last Raider,” from 4-7 p.m. at the St. George Barnes & Noble store.
Author and poet Gary Dop will be at Dixie State University in Room 475 of the Holland Centennial Commons Building Monday at 7 p.m. This free presentation will feature some of Dop’s award-winning poems, many of which have been published in magazines.
The festival is also offering its low-cost “Writer’s Journey: One-day Writing Workshop” Friday. See the workshop schedule, speakers, topics and sign-ups online. A “Speaker Box Lunch” is offered for $20 and will be served buffet style. This is a great opportunity to talk with the guest speakers and get some inside information you normally don’t get in writing classes or presentations.
If you have books ready for sale, you can take part with an author table. No booth tables will be available for purchase after Oct. 21.
The book festival week will be filled with a wide variety of events: workshops, live entertainment, youth poetry contest and a fun festival atmosphere.
For those of you looking for a date night or just a great cause that supports literacy, there’s the “Literacy Charity Dinner” Friday at 6 p.m. This is a night to raise awareness for literacy while networking with others with your passion to write. Celebrity authors and speakers for the night are Craig Clyde, Joe Nipote, Justin Osmond and many more. To learn more and to buy tickets, visit the festival website.
The deadline to sign up for many events is fast approaching. If you have any questions, please contact Festival Director, Virginia Grenier by email or at 435-625-1743.
Event organizers hope to make the 2015 St. George Book Festival the best ever literary event in Southern Utah and keep its ranking as Sister Book Festival to the Utah Humanities Book Festival event.
Event details
- What: St. George Book Festival
- When: Oct. 19-24
- Where: Various locations, see schedule
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