WILLIAMSBURG — The Williamsburg Book Festival will be returning on March 7 at an all-new location — the William & Mary School of Education.
The festival made the move after realizing last year it had outgrown its previous home at the Stryker Center and Williamsburg Community Building. The new location has more parking and allows the event to host 75 authors over the previous 50.
The festival will be held in four breakout rooms. One will be devoted completely to Children’s authors, another will be primarily historical fiction and family histories, one room will be for the four speakers that will be presenting during the festival, and the last room will be an all-day program for poets.
The student writing contest awards will also be presented at the event. Currently, the festival is working on an anthology book for all of the contest winners. This year, the contest saw 44 entries, almost doubling the previous record of 25.
Organizers said the biggest challenge it has faced has been deciding among the authors. The event was expanded to a facility that could accommodate 75, and ended up receiving 245 applications from all over the country. Festival organizers judged the authors who applied for consideration and picked those who they believed were the best.
“I think we are bigger and better at this point because of the jurying of the books we have to do,” said Peter Stipe, local author and Williamsburg Book Festival Board President.
The Williamsburg Book Festival will be on March 7 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and is still free and open to the public. The William & Mary School of Education is located at 301 Monticello Ave. in Williamsburg.
To learn more about the speakers and authors who will be at the festival, visit the official festival website.
