Readers show their love for books at U-T festival
Beth Haynes’ T-shirt, appreciated by many, said it all.
“The Book was Better,” the message read across the front.
Haynes could be seen Saturday as she walked all around Liberty Station in Point Loma, where she and roughly 10,000 others attended the first San Diego Festival of Books.
“I love books,” Haynes said. “I bought this shirt a few weeks ago at Target of all places.”
Crowds far larger than anyone expected packed the event rooms and outdoor areas where local authors by the dozens mingled with readers and hawked what they had written.
Sponsored by the San Diego Union-Tribune in partnership with KPBS, the festival was modeled after the Los Angeles Book Festival and is expected to become an annual happening.
“It’s super cool to see so many people that are passionate about reading and books and to have a place for people to come together,” said author Jake Heilbrunn, who as a teenager hiked through central America and wrote “Off the Beaten Path.”
San Diegan Leslie Radwan, formerly of New York, said she took a bus, then a trolley and then another bus to get to the festival.
She lifted a bag heavy with purchases to explain why.
“New York City use to have a festival off Fifth Avenue. It ended after the towers were hit. I guess they didn’t want that many people gathering in one place. I miss it.”
The festival kicked off with a talk before roughly 400 people in the main hall by college and professional basketball superstar Bill Walton, who was there to promote his book “Back From the Dead” about his recovery from debilitating injuries.
Later Walton spent hours autographing copies of his book for fans who at times stood in a block-long line.
“Television is the antitheses of what this is about,” the sometimes television basketball commentator told the crowd. “Television sells fear and death. It constantly barrages you with the message, ‘If you don’t buy this you’re going to die.’ ”
San Diego Union-Tribune Publisher and Editor Jeff Light said he was thrilled by the turnout and welcomed attendees with an introductory speech.
“Readers are good people,” he told the crowd prompting a loud round of self-apprecitive applause. “Any gathering about reading and writing, it just feels like it’s in the spirit of everything that’s good and decent.”
Later Light said he wasn’t surprised by the big turnout.
“It’s a whole set of values that goes along with being a reader,” he said. “This isn’t just about meeting an author and buying a book. There’s something about the message of literacy and critical thinking and thoughtfulness that is really energizing this group.”
Carrie Targetta, an English teacher at El Camino High School, agreed.
“I love the Festival of Books in Los Angeles and it’s really nice to see San Diego is doing something like this,” she said.
Author Ronnie Friedman-Baron, who conveniently lives at Liberty Station, said the festival is great for someone like her who has self-published a three-part “non-traditionally spiritual” poem illustrated by a 17-year-old artist.
“I’m able to get it out there and to get people to see it,” she said. “I think it’s a great way to get literature back on the table.”
One of the afternoon speakers was Vinny Green, co-owner of Snopes.com, a website that debunks bad information on the Internet.
Green said some say climate change, terrorism, or even artificial intelligence is society’s greatest threat.
“I would say it’s misinformation,” he said.
“If we can’t stop the unfettered spread of misinformation, if we can’t stop the commodification and weaponization of this information, we will never be able to fight climate change or terrorism or understand the world of artificial intelligence,” Green said.
A $3 fee was charged at the festival for various panel discussions. Of that, $1 of each ticket was donated to the San Diego Council on Literacy.
Other sponsors of the event include Qualcomm, the San Diego County Credit Union, San Diego Gas & Electric, Cox Communications, Infinity Replacement Windows and The BackStore.com.
jharry.jones@sduniontribune.com; 760/529-4931; Twitter: @jharryjones
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