Collingswood Book Festival this Saturday!

Press Release:

Readers and writers will converge here once again for the 14th annual Collingswood Book Festival. A week of activities will culminate on Saturday, October 1, 2016. Festival-goers will have an opportunity to stroll more than six blocks of the main street filled with nationally recognized authors/speakers for adults and children, as well as booksellers, storytellers, poetry readings, workshops, exhibitors and performance stages. All events are free.

What’s Happening at the Book Festival?

Returning to the festival will be Collingswood resident Jen A. Miller, an award winning freelance journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, Washington Post, Runner’s World, and SELF. Her new book, Running: A Love Story, is a memoir featuring Collingswood. Leslie Connor’s new book for middle grades is All Rise for the Honorable Perry T. Cook. Ms. Connor will return to the festival this year as well.

What’s New at the Book Festival?

The 2016 Collingswood Town Book is When Books Went to War: The Stories that Helped Us Win World War II. Author Molly Guptill Manning will attend the festival. This year’s town book tells the true tale of how America’s librarians and publishers educated the nation about the importance of books in wartime and distributed over 140 million books to American servicemen during World War II. When Books Went to War commemorates one of the most inspired and long forgotten chapters in American publishing history. The book is a New York Times best seller.

Joining the list of presenting authors this year will be Gregory Pardlo, whose collection Digest won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. Mr. Pardlo lives with his family in Brooklyn. In the fall of 2016, he will join the faculty of the creative writing M.F.A. program at Rutgers University-Camden.

Elizabeth LaBan is new to the book festival as well. Her name may be familiar to readers of Philadelphia Inquirer restaurant critic Craig LaBan. Ms. LaBan’s first adult novel, The Restaurant Critic’s Wife, follows a young woman adjusting to motherhood, life in a new city, and living with her food critic husband who is obsessed with keeping his identity a secret.

Peabody award-winning reporter Matt Katz will attend this year. In American Governor, journalist Katz weaves a compelling political narrative about New Jersey Governor Christie, including his family’s journey to America, his childhood, the years as a crusading federal prosecutor, his upset victory over Governor Jon Corzine, the story behind the Bridgegate lane-closure scandal and the announcement of his candidacy for president.

Also new this year is an Instagram account: CollsBookFest. Social media has been an effective method of imparting news and information to festival-goers, as well as a fun way to share photos of favorite books and authors. Social media users are welcome to follow the book festival on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

The Collingswood Book Festival is run entirely by volunteers. To continue the festival for generations to come, organizers are inviting new volunteers. Every year, dozens of volunteers give their time and talent to help make the event a success. Starting in April, organizers meet on the first Wednesday of the month. To learn more about becoming a book festival volunteer, email cbfvolunteer@yahoo.com. For additional information on the book festival, go to www.collingswoodbookfestival.com.