Bookmarks celebrates 21 years of bringing authors and readers together

---

The weekend of September 25th marked the 21st anniversary of the largest book festival in the Southeast.

Over 25,000 people attended the festival of Books and Authors. Book Fest was hosted by a nonprofit organization called Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. This event highlights bestselling authors, keynote speakers, and showcases a creative panel to promote literary discussion and dialogue. While of course getting books in the hands of readers. 

The 21st chapter was kicked off with a full house to welcome keynote speaker John Green, most notably known for his history Crash Course videos on YouTube. Green is also widely known for some of his books such as Everything is Tuberculosis, The Fault in Our Stars, and Looking for Alaska.

Green took a deep dive into his writing process, admitting “I listen to music until I can hear the words,” and praising his wife Sarah for her input and support.

Green then read the first few pages of his new book called Hollywood Ends and concluded the night with an anecdote about fame and how some fans pick the grass from his front yard. But, most importantly, Green says “fame is not a bad thing, it's a matter of how you use it.”

Then, on Saturday, thousands of readers came together in downtown Winston-Salem to listen to author panels and go to book signings.

Some of the most notable authors were Anika Noni Rose and Emily Wilson.

Rose, voice actress of Princess Tiana in the Disney movie Princess and the Frog, did a reading of her new book titled A Princess is a Princess and ended with singing some of the crowd’s favorite songs from Princess and the Frog.

Later on Saturday, Wilson discussed the art of translation specifically when translating The Odyssey by Homer. She ended up reciting the Ancient Greek translation of The Odyssey. She also shared some of her criticism of the ethos, logos, and pathos regarding the accuracy of Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of The Odyssey. Wilson criticizes the accuracy specifically regarding the portrayal Calypso as holding Odysseus captive and wanted to see an intimate scene between Matt Damon and Charlize Theron. 

To end the 21st chapter—or, should I say era? Jodi Picoult made an entrance wearing a white dress with different phrases from her books, admitting she was inspired by Taylor Swift’s Tortured Poets Department dress. She even went through the different eras of different author headshots taken, and book covers that were created over the years. 

She ended the era by reading her newest book, titled Hollow Bones.

She knew the theme had been “a long time coming,” knowing she wanted to write about 9/11 since witnessing everything unfold on September 11, 2001.  Picoult told the audience “ I knew I wanted to write a story about 9/11 but, people needed some time to comprehend what happened to the United States”.  She mentioned the news very rarely follows up on stories. She wanted to understand the impact 9/11 had on the families of first responders specifically, children of first responders whose parents died during 9/11. 

Picoult ended up interviewing specialists in their fields specifically polygraph examiners and the state of Rhode Island’s director of the Department of Emergency Preparedness in order to ensure the occupations of characters Molly and Jessie Fitzgerald are accurate in the story. 

Be sure to keep an eye out for all these books at your local bookstore or visit Bookmarks in Winston Salem to pick them up. 

A 9/11 passenger, Todd Beamer, once said ‘Let’s roll’. 

I say, “ Let’s read.”