On September 25th a friend and I attended the South Dakota Festival of Books in Sioux Falls. We didn't really know what to expect but we weren't disappointed. There were several sessions we could chose to attend; we first attended "Creating 2-D Characters" hosted by children's author/illustrator Gary Harbor. When we arrived and realized that it was actually a drawing session not a writing session (which now seems obvious), we were a bit worried. However, once it started the session flew by. Gary was extremely charismatic and he taught even the worst artist (me) how to step by step draw cartoon characters! Our second session was "Writing the Last Page First." This session, again, didn't turn out to be what we thought it was and as a result we left early to secure our seats for the third session: "Borrowing Books from the Siouxland Library Using E-Reader." This session was fantastically educational and informative. I had no idea my library system offered free digital downloads of entire books and audio books that I can load onto my laptop and iTouch (and hopefully, eventually, an E-Reader). It was great learning about all the opportunities I didn't know existed.
The next session was the main event of the Festival — "Are Books Obsolete?: Reading in the Digital Age." The three keynote speakers were Michael Dirda (book critic for the Washington Post), Michael Hart (founder of Project Gutenberg) , and Marilyn Johnson (author and librarian) . After the introduction to the speakers I was immediately in awe; I had no idea that this Festival would warrant the appearance of such "note-worthy" book people! It was a fantastic discussion with Michael Hart on one side claiming that everyone has the right to as many books as they can get their hands on (so much so that he THREW into the crowd CDs with the entire Project Gutenberg database on it!) and Michael Dirda on the other who argued the case that just because people have books at their fingertips doesn't mean that they are READING.
As a devote English Major and lover of literature I found myself agreeing with Dirda; perhaps Shakespeare wasn't meant to be read on a computer screen? I'm not sure, I know that I experience a certain sense of accomplishment and pride when I pick up Shakespeare in an old, musty book. But the teacher of today's youth in the digital age side of me whole-heartedly agreed with Hart: students are much more likely to read the classics, such as Shakespeare, if it is on a medium they can relate too (such as an ipod).
It was a fantastic discussion that was heated on both ends but still handled professionally. I felt very privileged to even be in the same room as minds such as these; shortly after the Festival I went online and listened to The Legend of Sleepy Hollow via The Project Gutenberg. If you haven't checked out PG — do it! It's a fantastic resource.
Michael Hart — Founder of Project Gutenberg
All in all it was a fantastic experience; the sessions were informational and anything but dull (most of the time). I was able to walk away from the experience without purchasing a single book (although I did write down some titles to look for in the future). While nothing compares to BEA, I have to admit that the South Dakota Festival of Books did not let me down — I didn't have to worry about getting mugged or pushed into the road and hit by a taxi cab.
