Annual book festival spotlights local writers

The annual Baltimore Book Festival took place at the Inner Harbor this weekend from Sept. 23 to Sept. 25.

The festival featured nonstop readings by local fiction and poetry writers across multiple stages alongside hundreds of author appearances, book signings, workshops and panel discussions. Exhibitions, book sellers, street theatre, live music and food stations added to the festivities.

One of the booths at the festival advertised “Poe Forevermore,” a radio theater series recorded with live studio audiences, created by Mark Redfield.

The series includes a host of stories that range from thrillers to mysteries. They can be streamed online from his website or purchased through iTunes.

Redfield explained his personal fascination with Edgar Allan Poe’s work and the way it inspired his research on Poe’s work and life.

“I was looking for a Poe story that I could adapt into a movie that hadn’t been done before,” Redfield said. “While reading and researching, I got more and more interested in Poe’s life and death. Many of the stories were ones written about Poe and there weren’t any about his own life. After this, opportunities opened up for me to do talks about him, and I even did some work at the Poe House and Museum. Doing cartoons and telling stories of Poe at events led to my interest in radio plays.”

Redfield’s initial interest in Poe prompted him to create the radio theater series about Poe’s life and death. The series quickly expanded as he began writing stories about other famous legends as well.

“I started out the radio series with The Death of Poe, a story about a mystery that will never be solved,” Redfield said. “Now, I have about a dozen total plays, including a sequel to Dracula, a Western about Tom Mix, and another about Sinbad the Sailor.”

The Maryland Writers’ Association (MWA) occupied another one of the booths at the festival. The MWA advertises a diverse membership, ranging from published authors and professional freelancers to even aspiring writers or freelancers in the Baltimore community, looking for a creative outlet.

MWA members and volunteers used the festival booth as an opportunity to advertise their organization and sell their own books.

Writer and MWA member Wendy Sand Eckel spoke about why she joined the MWA and the many opportunities the association offered for writers.

“I joined the Maryland Writers’ Association because I had published a book untraditionally on demand and I was working on another book that I wanted a critique group for,” Eckel explained. “The MWA holds monthly meetings. At the MWA annual conference, there are guest speakers, workshops on the craft of writing, and opportunities to pitch agents and network. It was a life-changing experience. I think writing is a lost art, but a good art.”

Eckel has published two murder mysteries and recently entered another unpublished novel in the annual MWA contest, which won the category for ‘Best Novel’.

The Ivy Bookshop was the festival’s official bookseller and offered a selection of books by local authors for purchase. The Ivy Bookshop also had a stage at the festival, featuring ongoing readings by local authors.

On Saturday afternoon, award-winning writer Jessica Anya Blau read sections from her new novel, The Trouble With Lexie: A Novel. Blau is a graduate of the University’s Writing Seminars Masters program and is currently an adjunct faculty member. She has published more than two dozen short stories.

There were multiple booths selling classic literature books at the festival as well.

The Maryland Book Bank, whose mission is to cultivate literacy in children from low-income families, held a booth selling classic editions of books at low prices.

Rock Paper Books held another booth selling reinvented classic books with modern versions of cover art.

The Chesapeake Shakespeare Company held live theatre performances, including a staged reading of Desdemona, a reimagined story of the women in Shakespeare’s Othello.

B’More Books’ booth sold necklaces with small bronze lockets of famous book covers. The necklaces featured a number of popular book titles, including Catcher in the Rye, Alice in Wonderland and Twilight. B’More Books is a family business that has advertised their products at festivals across the country.

George from B’More Books explained the inspiration behind his innovative business venture and how the business was founded.

“I saw a necklace online, it was To Kill a Mockingbird, made entirely out of paper,” he explained. “I bought it for my wife and she loved it, until two weeks later in the rain, it fell apart. I wanted to make her one that would last, so I used software to minimize the image and set it on a bronze cover covered in clear acrylic. A couple of her friends liked it and wanted one of their own, so I made their favorite books into necklaces as well, and then the business just took off.”

Many Hopkins students attended the festival and enjoyed the festivities as a break from their schoolwork.

Sophomore Matthias Gompers attended the festival two years in a row and spoke about his favorite aspect of this year’s festival.

“I went because I went last year, and I had a lot of fun. My favorite part was the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library table; I didn’t know that existed, and he’s my favorite author,” Gompers explained. “The library was founded in Indianapolis, but they have a Baltimore specific branch book club. It was really cool to meet and talk to other Vonnegut aficionados and to read the literary magazine that the library publishes every year and to see other fans emulate his writing and carry out the tradition.”

As a Baltimore local, Gompers explained that he particularly enjoyed the festival because it combined together aspects of his home and school life.

“I am an avid book lover, and as a local I, love seeing any big festival that brings people to Baltimore, because it’s nice to share my city with others and show people that Baltimore is more than just their first impressions of it,” he said.

Gompers also appreciated how the Book Festival brought attention to the humanities in a society focused on science and technology.

“I think in today’s world, where we are ever increasingly technology-fixated and STEM-driven, it’s important to remember that the humanities are just as important for the existence of society. What better reminder than a festival celebrating literature throughout the ages?” he said.

Sophomore Astrid Oberbrunner had been looking forward to the festival since she first heard about the event a month ago.

“I wanted to go because I loved to read,” Oberbrunner said. “I thought it would be fun to celebrate that and also to meet writers and other people in the book industry.”

Sophomore Isabella Altherr has also attended the event in prior years. She compared her experience at this year’s festival to last year’s.

“It was actually a bit bigger than last year’s festival, and the food was a lot better, with more new Baltimore-y stands,” Altherr said. “As far as the books, they’re always great. I love seeing the different small publishers and bookstores.”