Florida Heritage Book Festival

*Featured image credit: Lisi4ka / Shutterstock.com

Held each year in St. Augustine, the Florida Heritage Book Festival celebrates the state’s rich literary heritage, bringing together those who have a love and passion for reading and writing. From fascinating talks by accomplished authors to sessions held specifically to encourage a love for literature amongst children, to a vibrant marketplace where you will find many one-of-a-kind items to take home with you, this year will be the ninth edition of the festival, and promises to be the best one yet.

Florida Heritage Book Festival Presentations
The Florida Heritage Book Festival Presentations feature 29 talented authors, who will each be offering a presentation that showcases some of Florida’s diverse literary culture. These bestselling authors, who cover a wide range of different genres, include everyone from award-winning author Susan Carol McCarthy to Katy Kelly, who has written two award-winning series for Random House, to Johnny Heller, a popular book narrator.

Festival Marketplace
With over 70 different vendors setting up stalls at the Festival Marketplace, this area will no doubt be buzzing, and you are likely to be able to find some truly unique books. To help you out, there will be numerous authors holding readings and signings here, as well as being on-hand to offer you advice when it comes to picking your next favorite book.

The Writers Conference
Taking place this year at Flagler College, the Writers Conference has so far attracted over 100 writers from around the country, all looking forward to coming together for inspiration, as well as useful writing and business workshops. Some of the workshop highlights include the session with Michael Morris on Creating Characters Who Stand the Test of Time, the talk by Brad and Darlyn Kuhn on how to brand and market yourself in the digital world of today, and the extremely education lesson by Jennie Jarvis on Crafting the Character Arc, where you will be provided with a step-by-step guide that is ideal for beginner writers.

Children’s Sessions
Reading and writing can provide such a fantastic creative outlet for children, and the Florida Heritage Book Festival aims to nurture and encourage that passion. This will be the first time that the festival is hosting their Children’s Sessions, and there are two to choose from. The Hands-On Poetry Session for 8-12-Year-Olds will be held by Peter Meinke, who has published eight books of poems amongst other accomplishments, and will be providing children with tips on how to start writing poetry, as well as how to come up with ideas of their own. The second session is the Hands-On Graphic Novel Session for 13-18 Year Olds, in which Andre Frattino will be introducing teenagers to the ways in which they can go about developing their very own graphic novel.

The Florida Heritage Book Festival is an absolute must for anybody who loves books, and each day of the festival is filled with so many fun activities. From the Writers Conference for all of those aspiring authors out there to the vibrant Festival Marketplace where you can browse a wide range of unique books and merchandise, this festival is definitely worth making time for, whether just for an hour to soak up the atmosphere, or for the entire three days.