Literature is alive and kicking in Baltimore

Some will tell you that books are dead.

They have clearly never been to the Baltimore Book Festival.

This past weekend's 16th annual Book Festival in Mt. Vernon was crammed with vendors, panel discussions, live readings, food trucks, street performs and, well, people. Lots of people.

It was undeniable proof that, despite the tech generation, people are still writing, publishing, reading and loving books.

As a Writing Seminars major, this makes me incredibly happy. It is rare that you get to see such noticeable evidence of how important books are in our day-to-day lives.

But the truth is that Baltimore is a great place for writing.

One of this city's best-kept secrets is its amazing, true-to-Baltimore style, quirky literary history.

The most obvious example is Edgar Allan Poe, master of mystery and the macabre.

Poe spent years writing in Baltimore, and stories like "Bernice" and "The Masque of the Red Death" were supposedly inspired by actual events that happened here.

For those looking for some ghostly inspiration, the Poe House and Museum is on 203 Amity Street. Lack of funding may shut it down, so go while you can. It promises to be spectacularly eerie, especially during Halloween weekend.

However, the tons of other Baltimore greats should not to be lost in Poe's shadow. F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote Tender is the Night here. Upton Sinclair was born and raised in a Baltimore row-house. Gertrude Stein attended our very own Johns Hopkins Medical School.

And as the Baltimore Book Festival showed, there is still an incredible amount of literary talent in this city. Authors like Russell Baker, Anne Tyler and William Manchester all have lived in and been inspired by Baltimore. Their works are reflections of the city we experience every day, so as Baltimoreans, they are definitely something to check out—perhaps at the Enoch Pratt Library, one of the oldest and most visited public libraries in the country.

Little-known fact: Last year there were more people who visited the Pratt Library than who attended Ravens games. How is that for Baltimorean priorities?

The literary scene is alive and well in Baltimore, so it is definitely something even the casual reader should take advantage of.

If you could not make it to the Book Festival this past weekend, there is still plenty to do until next year.

One must-see is the George Peabody Library at 17 East Mt. Vernon Place. Founded in 1857, it has an other-worldly charm to it. Stepping in there feels like stepping back into history.

Chances are that it will also be a great stop for your next research paper. It has astounding collections on almost every subject imaginable: archaeology, British art, ancient classics, the history of science, American literature, and geography, just to get the list started. There are over 300,000 books at the Peabody Library, many from the 18th and 19th centuries, so the discoveries can be practically endless.

But if you are looking for something a bit more 21st century, you should head to The Book Thing of Baltimore. It is on 3001 Vineyard Lane, basically eight blocks from campus, and is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. every Saturday and Sunday.

While The Book Thing looks like a massive library, there is one substantial difference: you don't have to return any of the books.

As college students, I don't think any of us take for granted the word "free." So drop by and leave with all the books you can carry, no strings attached. The collection of roughly 200,000 books ranges from fiction novels all the way to psychology textbooks, so you are bound to find something interesting.

The Book Thing is a perfect example of Baltimore's character: a bit off-the-wall, eclectic and definitely unpretentious. There is something indefinably unique to our city's literary history and culture. As Baltimoreans, it is something we should celebrate.

Baltimore-native Robert Ward once wrote that "there never was a story with a happy ending in Baltimore."

Wrong, Mr. Ward. Things could not be better.