Book festival brings in local, national authors

The Vegas Valley Book Festival is returning for a second year Thursday through Saturday. The event will feature approximately 50 local and national writers in genres running the gamut from fiction and poetry to screenwriting and children's writing.

"The book festival is really the only event of its kind in Southern Nevada," said Kris Darnall, Nevada Humanities Committee program coordinator. "What we try to do is really outreach to people who maybe haven't picked up a book in a while."

Chicano literature is a key feature of this year's festival, presented by the Nevada Humanities Committee, Henderson District Public Libraries and the city of Henderson.

Scheduled participants include author Rudolfo Anaya, author of "Bless Me Ultima," poet Alberto Rios, who wrote "The Smallest Muscle in the Human Body," Lucha Corpi, author Richard Yanez, writer of "El Paso del Norte: Stories on the Border," and Jose Skinner, author of "Flight and Other Stories." The festival includes a keynote address by Anaya on Friday and a panel discussion Saturday.

"We set some themes based on what people say they're interested in," Darnall said.

Workshops, panel discussions and readings are slated throughout the weekend at various locations, including the Henderson Pavilion at Liberty Pointe, the Paseo Verde Library and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. On Saturday more than 40 booksellers, children's activities, poetry readings and book signings are scheduled at the Liberty Pointe complex, which includes the library and the Henderson Multigenerational Center.

Three local authors who are involved in the festival include children's author David Winkler, who wrote "The Return of Calico Bright," H. Lee Barnes, a Community College of Southern Nevada English professor and author of the fiction piece "Gunning for Ho", and "Monster Fashion" poet Jarret Keene. Other locals included will be Tod Goldberg, author of "Fake Liar Cheat," Hal Rothman and John L. Smith.

The festival is sponsored by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Las Vegas Mercury, Mervyn's, Borders, Clark County Parks and Community Services, the Nevada Arts Council, American West Airlines, Nevada Center for the Book, the Southwest Regional Humanities Center and the UNLV College of Liberal Arts. The Review-Journal and the Mercury are owned by Stephens Media Group, which owns the View newspapers.

Keene, a poet and arts and entertainment writer for Las Vegas City Life, said supporting the arts and literary scene in Las Vegas is more important than worrying about the ties local writers have to area publications.

"(The festival) is absolutely crucial to the valley," Keene said. "That's how the literary community starts. Our job as writers is not only to interact with each other but to interact with the market. It can't remain as incestuous as it is."

Las Vegas and what it has to offer will be a hot topic during a handful of Saturday's panel discussions at the Multigenerational Center. Some of the topics include life beyond the Strip, community in the urban West and using Las Vegas as a literary symbol.

In addition, Review-Journal publisher Sherman Frederick and UNLV professor Gary J. Hausladen will receive awards during the Friday night keynote address. Frederick is the recipient of the 2003 Humanities Award. Hausladen is receiving the Wilbur S. Shepperson Book Award, a prize given by Nevada Humanities and the University of Nevada Press.

Those interested in more information, including a full schedule of events, can log on the Internet to www.vegasval leybookfest.org.


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