LitFest Pasadena March 17

The Pasadena area's first community-wide book festival-LitFest Pasadena-hits town Saturday, March 17, from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the city's Central Park. Admission is free.


LifFest Pasadena will be a celebratory day of readings and panel discussions featuring well-known local and California authors, hands-on activities for young people, good food, better books, and great fun, all aimed at promoting the literary arts.


Attendees can look forward to an irreverent and informative festival that incorporates theater, music, poetry, and more. Some of L.A.'s hottest gourmet food trucks, courtesy of Chefs Center, will be located along Raymond Avenue, and public parking is under the Gold Line Del Mar Station directly across the street from Central Park, a comfortable green space between Raymond and Fair Oaks Avenues just south of the historic Castle Green.


Panel discussions will explore topics such as 21st Century Noir; The Rise of the Graphic Novel; Local L. A. Publishers: Where New York Dominates, L.A. Innovates; The L.A. Canvas; and History, Fiction...Truth?


Confirmed authors include Pulitzer Prize-winner Jonathan Gold; novelists Mona Simpson, Michelle Huneven and Lian Dolan; L.A.'s unofficial poet laureate, Wanda Coleman; poet and Young Adult author Ron Koertge; scholar and Libros Schmibros founder David Kipen; and L.A. mystery writer Denise Hamilton. More than 25 publishers and vendors will have books by these and other authors available for sale at the event.


A children's area will feature storytelling, Shakespearean actors from Foshay Learning Center, and a Quidditch demonstration!


LitFest Pasadena is spearheaded by Larry Wilson, public editor of the Pasadena Star- News; Jervey Tervalon, novelist and USC creative writing teacher; and Tom Coston, president of the Light Bringer Project and driving force behind the DooDah Parade. The event's working team includes leaders from local government; local independent publishers Red Hen Press and Prospect Park Media; and USC and Caltech.


LitFest Pasadena is an EMERGE Project of the Pasadena Arts Council, a 501(c)(3) organization acting as the fiscal sponsor. All support is tax-deductible to the full extent of the law. Light Bringer Project, the Pasadena Arts Council, the Pasadena Public Library and the Pasadena Writing Project are also participating organizations.


www.litfestpasadena.org/