Big-time authors and bigtime fun are on tap at the ninth annual Arizona Book Festival. A few of this year’s notable writers scheduled to appear include Jodi Picoult, a New York Times best-selling fiction writer; Gail Carson Levine, a Newbery Honor-winning young adult author; and Stephenie Meyer, a sci-fi/ fantasy writer from Glendale.
The daylong festival — which takes place Saturday at Carnegie Center, Phoenix’s first public library — features four stages of events, which “range from author readings, panel discussions, theater performances, storytelling, performance poetry and a little music thrown in for good measure,” says Jill Bernstein, who has been coordinating the festival for two years.
“The goal of the event is twofold,” she says. “The secondary goal is to spread the word about what the Arizona Humanities Council is and what we do. But the primary goal is to bring readers and writers together.”
More than 100 authors are slated to appear, and thousands of books, both new and used, will be for sale.
“For the adults,” says Bernstein, “I think that probably their favorite thing is having an opportunity to actually meet and talk with some of their favorite authors.”
Bernstein points out that the event also has something for children, who enjoy “the storytelling and the PBS characters that come. This year, we’re having Bob the Builder.
“The (kids) who are a little bit older, the ones that are actually reading themselves, they also enjoy meeting the authors of their favorite books.”
There will also be a variety of hands-on activities. “It’s a lot of maskmaking, printmaking, folding paper,” Bernstein says. “Anything kind of related to printing, bookmaking, books.”
Ninth annual
Arizona Book Festival
When: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday
Where: Carnegie Center, 1101 W.
Washington St., Phoenix
Cost: Free
Information: (602) 257-0335 or
