LA Times Book Fest: A celebration of books and readers
Wednesday, April 15th, 2009
On April 25-26 every publisher, bookstore and literary organization in the United States will be converging on the gorgeous UCLA campus for a weekend celebration of books and readers. I am talking about the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, presented in association with the university.
140,000 people are expected to attend this year’s installment of the fair, which will count with 450 authors, 100 panel and speaker sessions, as well as hundreds of exhibitors. This is by far the most amazing and the largest book festival open to the general public in the United States.
The scheduled book signings include author John Stickler and illustator Soma Han, who will be signing copies of Land of Morning Calm (featured here) and Tigers, Frogs & Rice Cakes: A Book of Korean Proverbs (both by Shen’s Books), 10:00am-11:00am at the East West Discovery Press, Booth # 845. There are many other authors and books worth checking out, and the reason I mention these two in particular is simply because they relate to our current theme of Korea and the Korean diaspora in children’s books” (if you haven’t read our current issue yet, please hop on over to the website).
There’s plenty at this festival to inspire and entertain kids and adults, including an entire section for children’s books and book-related fun, and “The Comix Strip,” an area dedicated to comic books, graphic novels and manga, where fans have access to exhibitors and industry legends. If you’ve never been to the LA Book Fest and have a chance to attend this year, don’t miss the opportunity. It makes for a weekend very well spent.
For more information about this free event, please visit the festival’s website.
