Literature Festival (That is NOT Boring)

City festivals have the unique opportunity to engage and strengthen communities, to create a strong sense of place for a human being. What better way to strengthen and create a sense of belonging than through books?

To many people, a festival about books seems boring. How could books possibly bring people together? All they do is sit on a shelf and collect dust; how can pieces of paper promote vibrancy and belonging within a community? Contrary to many people's opinions, for centuries, and even today, people have clung to books as a recourse of comfort, joy, pain, compassion, love, adventure, and truth. Books reveal some of the most innermost feelings of being human, and every reader can find characters they can relate to. Authors use books as means to express their ideas and frustrations. Ultimately, by reading, we learn about ourselves and others. C.S Lewis said it best: "We read to know that we are not alone." If a community can fall in love with characters such as Jane Eyre ("Jane Eyre"), Pharoah and Lafayette ("There are No Children Here"), Esperanza ("House on Mango Street"), or Anne ("Anne of Green Gables"), if they can understand what it means to be human, that community can more easily love its members and pursue what is true, good, and beautiful for a community.

Books have unified people since authors first began to write. Books are worth celebrating. Picture this:

You are new in town, and you feel like a stranger in a far away land. You decide to go into the heart of the city with the hope of finding interesting stores, nice areas to walk, or cool hang out spots. You step outside your front door and brace yourself for the new adventure. The sidewalk feels different, and the grass seems like the wrong shade of green. You continue to walk with your eyes wide open. Suddenly, as you encroach on the heart of the city, you begin to hear the sweet cry of a cello, and a high hum of a violin. You take a right, following the sound. Where is it coming from?

You turn the corner and the sound hugs you. In the distance, students from the local music school play a simple, yet beautiful baroque tune on a stage. In the sky are flying pages of books, pages attached onto strings that hang magically from tree branch to tree branch. On an open lawn, a public area of the city, you see an beautiful display of books begging anyone and everyone to open them up. You see people passionately discussing authors, children reading out loud, and people sitting by themselves peacefully. You are intrigued.

You receive a warm welcome by a lady standing by the welcome sign. You feel more at home already. She tells you to keep your eyes out for literature characters. People mingle around the book shelves, purchase interesting finds, and closely examine the fronts and backs of books with the hope of finding a new literary gem. You get to know the local literary exhibitors and local sponsors of the event as you peer around the lawn. A book catches your eye and you grab it off the shelf. You begin to have a discussion with the seller as you purchase it.

You finish a conversation with a young author as the quartet concludes their piece with a major chord, and someone begins to read poetry. You never liked poetry before, but this sounded new, different, beautiful. As the words are spoken, you cannot help but listen. The words draw you in and you take a seat on a bench near the stage. With a new book in your hand, your hear the rhymes of a local aspiring artist. In the distance you see Harry Potter talking to a couple, Gandalf pacing the lawn, and Jo from "Little Women" sitting across from you. More people take seats on the benches around you, and families sit together on picnic blankets around the stage. Altogether as a community you listen.

It is getting late, and the air begins to grow chilly. Before you leave, the host of the festival takes the stage and says a few words before the festival comes to a close. She explains her love of books, and how this festival was meant for her community. She desired for local people to come and fellowship among great books. Anyone was welcome to take a book and read it, and buy it if they wanted to keep it. The music and poetry was meant for all people to enjoy. Donations were to go towards the artists. She thanked everyone there for coming.

As you walk home, the sidewalk was now familiar, and the grass was the right shade of green.