One year ago, as the Pages & Places website was about to launch, we were working hard to realize an ambitious idea: a one-of-a-kind book festival that would not only celebrate writing and writers, art and artists, thinking and thinkers, but also draw upon and showcase the many hopeful changes the city of Scranton had been undergoing. Stalking such a grand idea is a heady experience. What a high it was to imagine our thirty extraordinary panelists finally arriving in town, or to game out the panel conversations, or to picture Courthouse Square the center of a literary event, host to public readings and a book fair and the kinds of city-lovers Scranton needs to thrive culturally and economically in the 21st century!
There were also, of course, moments of pure, pulsating anxiety: what if, somehow, the panel discussions went flat, or no audience showed up, or the Courthouse Square events were swept away by a torrential early autumn storm?
In the end, the weather was splendid, perfect; the panelists were not only brilliant artists and intellectuals but fine and lovely people; and the audiences were both big enough to provide the day with a sense occasion and so enthusiastic as warrant what we’re striving to offer this year: a bigger, more dynamic, higher profile—-*better*-—Pages & Places Book Festival.
What does “better” mean? Well, let us share with you some of the changes we’ve made.
This year we’re offering five rather than nine panels, but this is not to suggest diminished ambitions. On the contrary, reducing the number of panelists to fifteen allows us to afford even higher profile writers and scholars and to extend the conversations to 75 minutes. And as opposed to last year, you can attend all five easily rather than pick and choose among sometimes concurrently running panels.
We’ve also organized the panel discussions differently. Rather than building around literary genres, we’re featuring in-depth discussions of five fascinating questions about who we are—-as human beings, as members of various communities, as Americans—-each of which draws upon current events and trends and the latest developments in the humanities and the social and hard sciences.
Perhaps the biggest changes will be apparent in our expanded Courthouse Square Book Expo. The booksellers co-op will be much, much bigger, including many more publishers whose titles will be available for sale. The Lackawanna County Library System will again host the day’s public readings—so stay tuned for calls to read your work and announcements about featured guest readers.
Entirely new to this year are three key elements. From noon to 1:00, all fifteen panelists will be available on Courthouse Square to sign books and meet festival-goers. Be sure to bring copies or your favorite books, or you can buy pristine new copies onsite at the co-op or in advance of the festival at Anthology Books, who will also sell copies at the panel discussions.
Pages & Places will be offering lectures and discussions about the craft of writing and the world of publishing. Six such lectures and discussions will be held between 9:00 am and 5:00 pm at Farley’s, on the corner of Adams Avenue and Linden Street. Check back for a complete schedule soon.
Finally, and in response to popular demand, Pages & Places will offer activities for children on the Linden Street side of Courthouse Square and at the Vintage Theater on Penn Avenue. Again, be sure check back here announcements and the evolving schedule.
With one festival under our belt, we’re focused now on establishing the Pages & Places Book Festival as a signature event that attracts the attention of readers, writers, idea-lovers, and city-watchers from across the northeast. We’re still smitten with what’s happening in Scranton, and we’re determined to stage an event that gives lots of folks reason to come see what their missing.
Here’s hoping you’ll join us!