Photos provided by Unbound Book Festival
What: Unbound Book Festival
When: April 17-20
Cost: Free
Website: unboundbookfestival.com
A the UnboundBook Festival, all authors are rock stars. From local writers to nationally renowned novelists, the festival will celebrate a lineup of both inspiring and aspiring authors alike. This year, keynote speaker Min JinLee will take the stage at 7:30p.m. Friday night to discuss her novels. But that is just the tip of the iceberg of the exciting events Unbound has to offer this year.
As Columbia gears up for its 10th celebration of literature and writing, Board President Katie Doherty and Columbia Public Schools Library Media Coordinator Kerry Townsend are turning the page on the next decade of a life-long love for reading.
Unbound’s mission has always been to foster community and collaboration between readers and writers. This year, they are kicking off the festival with a Lit Crawl Thursday night, a pub crawl in partnership with LitQuake. Enjoy our city’s handcrafted cocktails and hear from local poets and writers at each stop.
On Friday, claim tickets for keynote speaker Min Jin Lee.Attendance for everything is free; tickets are only required to reserve seating. If you don’t reserve a ticket in time,Townsend says show up anyway. They’ve never had to turn attendees away from the keynote event.
On Saturday, there will be book signing opportunities and various panels hosted downtown, including children’s programming at the Columbia Public Library.
Sunday morning’s event is the Write On! Workshop, a place for aspiring writers to edit and hone their craft of writing. Location details will be updated on the website.
Doherty, who has been with the festival for six years and is now in her second term as board president, says they aim to be flexible and welcoming.
“Don’t be intimidated,” Doherty says. “Even if you don’t know an author’s name, just come anyway. If you think you can’t dedicate a whole Saturday, you can go to one or two sessions. If you’re interested at all on a topic, give it a go, and you could find out about a new author.”
The entire tone of the festival is one of celebration.Unbound aims to be a cozy, fun environment that facilitates up close and personal conversations between readers and authors. Doherty andTownsend strive to keep the event open to anyone by utilizing accessible venues, offering quiet rooms for those with sensory requirements and open-captioning for all of the panel discussions.
Townsend, who has volunteered with the festival for nine years, joined the board last year. She facilitates coordination between CPS and the festival to inspire students toward a love of literature. The festival is for readers of any age; all are encouraged to attend.
“Bring your friends,” Townsend says. “You don’t have to do any homework or have read the books. No one’s going to quiz you. You can just come and absorb the ideas, and enjoy that there’s no prerequisite.”
At its core, Unbound’s goalis to foster a love of reading throughout the community. Come celebrate 10 years ofUnbound this April by falling inlove with a new book or author.
To get the latest information on the Unbound Book Festival, visit unboundbookfestival.com or on Instagram@unboundbookfestival.
