Book lovers from around East Texas will gather Saturday, April 1, for the East Texas Book Fest. Tyler Public Librarian Amy Skipper has the storyline for the event, which will be held on the Tyler Junior College campus, from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m.
Transcript
Mike Landess: For UT Tyler Radio, I’m Mike Landess. The Tyler Public Library is part of a group called “SALT.” That’s an acronym for Smith County Libraries. Together, they’re putting on the East Texas Book Fest Saturday, April 1. Tyler Public Librarian Amy Skipper is our guest. Welcome.
Amy Skipper: Thank you.
Mike Landess: I counted 25 attending authors on the flyer for this event, and three high-profile speakers. Tell us about them.
Amy Skipper: Well, we have quite a few, and we’ve actually had more sign up since that flyer, that particular flyer went out. We’re up to about 40 authors now. They focus on all different age ranges. So we have adult authors, we have non-fiction ones, we have some children’s and a few YA ones.
And some are from this area or from all over Texas. And then our high-profile ones we’re really interested in, we have Reavis Worthham, who is a more of like a Western mystery writer who will be there. We also have Dan Gutman. He’ll be leading a virtual speaker session and Q and A. And he is a children’s author, very well known.
And then we also have Brianna Loenen, who is one of our featured speakers, and she is actually a debut graphic novel artist. And her memoir of Fera is actually debuting this month. And so we’re really interested to see what she has to say about comic books and just the evolution and how she ended up becoming a novelist.
Mike Landess: Now, how long has the East Texas Book Fest been around, and how has it changed over the years?
Amy Skipper: So it’s been a while since we had the East Texas Book Fest last. The last one was in 2015. There were about five or six prior to that. And then for whatever reason, there’s kind been a little bit of a hiatus there.
And so we’re really happy to bring it back. The previous ones had a lot more. I think the last one had about a hundred authors, which was quite a few. So it is scaled back a little bit, but we’re hoping quality over quantity. We’re really interested or really happy to be able to present some really great time for people from our community, kids and families and adults as well to come and connect with authors, new authors as well.
We have a lot of authors who are just starting out, so you might be finding some of your new favorites without even intending to by coming to the Book Fest.
Mike Landess: Now, for those of a certain age, there’s a tactile element to reading an actual book with pages rather than on a tablet or listening to an audio book.
How much of a challenge is that as a librarian in 2023?
Amy Skipper: Well, I mean, I think we have a little bit for everyone. We’re focused on, at the Book Fest, more so on the printed word and on the physical books you can actually maybe buy some copies of books from the authors who were there and everything like that.
But you know, we’re just as supportive of our digital works and as well we have less of emphasis on that. On this Saturday, we’re really wanting to get connected with the tactile printed word and maybe take a few books home. We’ll have book giveaways. We’ll even be selling some book totes that you can carry those books in.
But if you prefer to read digitally on your e-reader on your phone, that is great, too. And what’s good is a lot of authors and publishers nowadays, you can almost always find that option. So if we’re focusing more on the printed book this, this weekend, but if you prefer to read digital, go for it.
Mike Landess: Hey, Amy, vinyl came back finally. Outsold CDs this year. Who are you trying to reach with this Book Fest? Who’s likely to attend?
Amy Skipper: We’re hoping everyone. I mean, we have a little bit of everything from children’s authors, we have authors for our adults. We have some events as well that are gonna be happening throughout the day.
We have a writing session for kids. We also have a writing session for adults, both led by Chris Barton, who’s a very well-known author. And he’s from Austin. And so we are we have a little bit for everyone. We’re hoping what we see a turnout just from the community at large.
Come out and meet some new authors, meet your, maybe your favorite ones.
Mike Landess: When we were first talking about this as you came in today, I said, gosh, that’s a lot of plates spinning in the air. I said, I see somebody on a high wire with two sticks and plates spinning all around.
How are you gonna get people to all of the different events that you’ve got planned with all of these offers? How is that gonna work?
Amy Skipper: Well, we have a schedule starting out — the event itself goes from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and so we’re starting out with one of our breakout sessions, our writing session for children.
Then we’re just in 30-minute or hour segments. Then we’re gonna move into our virtual featured speaker session with Dan Gutman, then onto our writing session for our adults. Then, Brianna Loenen at one o’clock for her featured speakers session, as well as a Q and A and signing.
Code Ninjas is actually gonna be there as well. To do more of a stem activities with kids and with families, at three o’clock. And I hope I didn’t miss anyone. I think that’s when we’re wrapping up with our last featured speaker session which is with Reavis Worthham, who’s a local author.
Mike Landess: Now, where is all of this taking place and how will you marshal all of the people that come to this?
Amy Skipper: So this is all gonna be taking place on the Tyler Junior College, the TJC campus in the Rogers Student Center. The closest parking lot is S-4, I have heard. And we’re also of course gonna have out plenty of signage and balloons and all of that stuff, so we can show everybody exactly where they’re going into.
But yeah, TJC campus, I believe it’s right off of Lake Street that runs right there by that building.
Mike Landess: Let’s talk a little bit about libraries in general. Certainly with the pandemic economic issues, this, that and the other, Tyler Public Library still seems to be operating at a pretty high level.
Amy Skipper: We are. I mean, we had a pause there because of Covid, and so did the other libraries who were involved in this Book Fest. But we’re really back to where we were before. And in some ways, you know, better because there was a lot of people, I think after Covid, looking for somewhere to go and something to do.
And we’ve actually seen a lot of new faces or people who were new to the community come and see us. And so our programs, our activities, the checkout of our books, it’s going really well. So we’re really, really pleased with that.
Mike Landess: I mentioned earlier about people of a certain age want that tactile aspect. As someone with grandchildren, I have to say, the little kids love the tactile aspect of the book.
Amy Skipper: They do. Absolutely. We love, especially for our youngest kids, I’m actually the youth librarian at the Tyler Public Library, and so we work with little kids all the time. And having that tactile element is so important because that’s where it all starts: that love of literature and Early Childhood learning and literacy. It all starts with having the physical book. And it may start that they’re just holding it and maybe eating the book, and then kind of gumming the book. And then that can translate into learning to turn the pages, realizing that there’s not just pictures in that book, but there’s letters and there’s words.
So it starts very young. And yeah, having a tactile book, something to hold onto is so important for our little kids.
Mike Landess: It must be leaving you feeling hopeful for the future as a youth librarian.
Amy Skipper: It does. It really, really does.
Mike Landess: Our guest has been Tyler Public Librarian Amy Skipper, talking about the East Texas Book Fest, April 1. I’m Mike Landess for UT Tyler Radio.
(Transcripts are automatically generated and may contain phonetic spellings and other spelling and punctuation errors. Grammar errors contained in the original recording are not typically corrected.)