The Mississippi Book Festival is back in person this year with a bigger than ever audience allowance and over 170 authors lined up to attend.
The Mississippi Book Festival was born in 2015 when the idea was created by a group of book enthusiasts. This year’s “Literary Lawn Party” will take place at the state capitol building and grounds on August 20 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
“Mississippi has such a rich literary history, and it just made sense that we had a book festival here,” Mississippi Book Festival Executive Director Ellen Daniels said. “We have some of the greatest authors working today living in this state. We want to celebrate them and celebrate the ones that came before them, but also bring other authors and book lovers to Mississippi to see what we are really all about.”
The book festival has grown every year since its beginning, but it had to be canceled in both 2020 and 2021.
“We had to cancel 10 days out from the event last year with the proliferation of the Delta Variant,” Daniels said. “It feels incredible (to be back in person). There is so much excitement and enthusiasm from the community about the book festival, and the book festival staff is just glad to be getting back to work without this dark ominous cloud hanging over our heads.”
Daniels said they are expecting about 10,000 people to attend this year because in 2019, they had over 10,000 people attend the panels, which is how they count attendance. Many more come without attending panels and enjoy the activities on the festival grounds. Daniels said they will be utilizing a new space to help continue to increase the number of people able to attend.
“We are offering something in Galloway Sanctuary, which is the largest festival venue we’ve ever offered before,” Daniels said. “We are also going to offer those sessions to be live streamed so there will be a link on our website where you can go.”
The festival, which is free and open to all, includes panels with the authors, book signings, self-published authors in Author’s Alley, book sales, retail, and food trucks. There are also activities and panels for children making the event family-friendly. The Friday before the book festival is completely dedicated to grade school students as well. Each child walks away with a free copy of the book of the author whose panel they went to.
“I’m just looking forward to seeing people gathering and meeting over their shared love of books and authors, especially seeing the faces of young people light up over seeing a favorite author,” Daniels said. “We have some great people who are lined up for the festival. We work all year to pick these authors and it’s such a labor of love, but it is a labor. Now we are going to be able to provide the opportunity for countless book lovers to sit in a session with one of their favorite authors or perhaps a new favorite author and get their book signed by them.”
With all these activities, volunteers are necessary to make the book festival a success.
“Volunteers steal the day,” Daniels said. “It wouldn’t work without the incredible volunteer force that we have.”
It takes about 150 volunteers each year, and they help out on the grounds, in panels, and managing traffic.
“To volunteer, you can go to our website and click on the ‘participate’ button and there will be a volunteer option that pops down,” Daniels said. “It is very easy to sign up. Volunteers will also get a special t-shirt that no one else will get.”
For more details of what the festival will consist of or to volunteer, visit their website at https://msbookfestival.com.
“There is something for everyone and that is very intentional,” Daniels said. “We have panels that range across the spectrum, and we want there to be something for every book lover.”
