Literary Festival starts Friday in Little Rock

It will be book lovers heaven in Little Rock this weekend when the 2008 Arkansas Literary Festival gets underway.

The festival, which benefits the Arkansas Literacy Council, will run April 4-6 in the River Market area. Festival attendees will have the opportunity to meet authors, attend readings and panel discussions, take writing and professional workshops and buy books and have them signed by festival authors. There will also be a number of events for children.

Featured authors this year include Jill Connor Browne, author of the popular “Sweet Potato Queens” books; political commentator E.J. Dionne; former pastry chef to presidents Roland Mesnier; and mystery novelists Ace Atkins and Carolyn Hart. As usual, the festival features a number of Arkansas authors including novelists Kevin Brockmeier, Donald Harington, cookbook and children’s author Crescent Dragonwagon, and historians Margaret Bolsterli and Carolyn LeMaster.

Most events are free, but there are a few ticketed events. The Author Party takes place Friday at 7 p.m. at the Lafayette Building at Sixth and Louisiana streets in Little Rock. The party is the place to mingle with authors and get books signed. Tickets are $55.

Saturday at 12:30 p.m., Mesnier will preside over “Let Them Eat Cake,” where he will talk about his new book, “Basic to Beautiful Cakes” and his experiences serving five presidents in the White house.

At 3 p.m. Dragonwagon will present “Food�“Shelter�“Story,” about how our needs for food, shelter and telling, hearing and writing our stories are all intertwined. Tickets to both these events are $15. Tickets for all three events can be reserved by calling (501) 907-2490.

Author sessions will run from 9:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Saturday throughout the River Market district. Sunday sessions will begin at 1:30 p.m., with the last session starting at 4:30 p.m.

Children’s programs are scheduled for all day Saturday at the Historic Arkansas Museum. Dragonwagon will lead fourth- and fifth-graders in writing a group story. Beth Finke and her seeing-eye dog Hanni will help children understand what it is like to be blind and have a seeing eye dog. For older children, Lurlene McDaniel will discuss her book “Prey,” about a teenager whose relationship with his history teacher starts getting deeper than the boy can handle.

Favorite storybook characters such as Johnny Appleseed, the Cat In the Hat, Winnie the Pooh and Clifford the Big Red Dog will also be strolling throughout the festival grounds. They will be happy to pose for photos and sign autographs.

For more information visit the festival website at www.arkansas literaryfestival.org.

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Literary Festival starts Friday in Little Rock

It will be book lovers heaven in Little Rock this weekend when the 2008 Arkansas Literary Festival gets underway.

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