Would you rather do something else Saturday than watch football or rake leaves? Do you enjoy reading? Then, consider driving to Wichita for the 2nd annual Kansas Book Festival.
It runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at Koch Arena on the campus of Wichita State University.
The free festival is a celebration of books, arts and Kansas heritage. It features readings, panel discussions and book signings by more than 75 authors covering all genres, fiction and nonfiction, and writing for adults, teens and children.
“The Kansas Book Festival provides an excellent opportunity to enhance cultural appreciation and awareness within our state,” Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said in a prepared release.
She is the festival’s honorary chair and helped create the event last year in conjunction with the Governor’s Cultural Affairs Council and the Wichita Public Library.
“Literature, art and music are an important part of our history, and the Book Festival allows Kansans to reflect on our heritage and appreciate our past.”
Featured writers include Michael Korda, editor in chief emeritus of Simon & Schuster and author of “Ike: An American Hero;” Steve Doocy, Kansas native co-host of “Fox and Friends” and author of the “Mr. and Mrs. Happy Handbook: Everything I Know About Love and Marriage” and journalists Cal Thomas and Bob Beckel, authors of “Common Ground: How to Stop the Partisan War That is Destroying America,” a new book based on their column in USA Today.
Emporia authors include ESU professor James Hoy, a 2007 notable, and author of “Flint Hills Cowboys: Tales of the Tallgrass Prairie” and Don Coldsmith, Emporia Gazette columnist and author of “The Pipestone Quest.”
The Town Crier Bookstore is one of five independent bookstores hosting authors at the festival. They will host New York Times bestselling author, Steve Doocy, author of “Mr. & Mrs. Handbook,” and children’s author Brad Sneed, among others. The festival drew 7,500 children and adults last year.
The festival started today and featured “A Night of Notables Gala,” at the Wichita Art Museum. The $100 gala proceeds will go to the Kansas Library Association Educational Foundation’s Greensburg/Kiowa County Library Relief Fund.
Proceeds from the festival benefit the Kansas State Library’s Statewide Summer Reading Program, which annually reaches 80,000 children through public libraries in 400 Kansas communities.
For more information about the festival go to www.kansasbookfestival.ks.gov