When being well-read is ultra-cool!
Connections to books, reading, and writing
When I was a kid, I was the one who buzzed with excitement the day of a book fair, wanting to get in early to have time to browse all the books, and then have time to calculate the maximum number of books that I could purchase with the small budget my parents had allotted.
As a teenager, I didn't date much because I was both nerdy and naive, much preferring to stay home and read a book than go out and socialize.
In the last two decades of life with my husband, my favorite "dates" were the Saturday afternoons we would drive the thirty-five minutes to browse at the Barnes and Noble, spending hours reading magazines, loitering in the aisles, sipping coffee and relishing big cookies before piling up our purchases and heading home, where we'd continue to delve into our treasures.
My favorite gifts relate to books, bookstores, or writing materials. So yes, compared to other people, I get turned on by the strangest things. Ideas that seem like torture to others, (doing nothing but reading for hours; spending time writing pages of notes; using vacation days to do research and write drafts) are rip-roaring fun to me.
You might imagine how excited I got when I read about how young people were flocking to literary festivals in India by the tens of thousands. Where individuals were deemed "cool" by how much they knew; where people used social media to establish intellectual credibility after attending book discussions; where reading was both a communal and a private affair; where authors and writers were encouraged and lauded.
"I want to do that, too!" I thought, even though I am far from young and live in a much different nation.
Literary Festivals in India
More than 150 literary festivals are flourishing in this country, many in rural settings. While the Jaipur festival draws in tens of thousands of people and calls itself "the greatest literary show on earth," other festivals are blossoming too, many of them in rural settings with smaller crowds and more intimate atmospheres.
One huge draw of these literary festivals is that India's publishing industry is changing to meet the demands of its audience. Not only are books printed in English, but now many publishers are producing books in the dozens of languages of this vast country, so thousands of young people can now read both classics and new writers in their own dialect.
Another draw is that for young people aspiring for college admittance, reading books is the secret ingredient to getting into India's higher education system. Preparation for exams is extensive and time-consuming, but test-prep doesn't provide the broader knowledge that reading books does.
Activities for bookish people
What do you do at a literary festival, you might ask?
Attend panel discussions about publishing, trends, and genres.
Hear your favorite authors discuss their works.
Meet people and talk about your favorite books.
Look for possible agents or houses to publish your work.
Perhaps the most interesting of all possible activities is to read by yourself, together with others doing the same thing. There's a brain-buzz of energy in places where people are reading. Isn't that why many people prefer to study in a library or read in a lobby where other people are also reading? The commonality of purpose results in motivation and excitement for indivivduals.
Book Festivals in the United States:
I doubt that tens of thousands of young people will be rushing to literary festivals in the United States, but wouldn't it be wonderful for the future of our nation if they did? What would happen if our youth won popularity and acclaim based on how much they learned from reading and how that knowledge might benefit us all?
"The greatest gift is the passion for reading. It is cheap, it consoles, it distracts, it excites, it gives you knowledge of the world and experience of a wide kind. It is a moral illumination." - Elizabeth Hardwick
Here's to book festivals and the readers who delight in them!
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