Festival goers strolled under umbrellas and ponchos, ducking into tents to flip through books and escape the drizzle.
Authors, vendors and readers congregate for a weekend to celebrate the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books each April. Saturday and Sunday marked the event’s 21st anniversary and sixth consecutive year at the University of Southern California, after it was relocated from UCLA in 2011. The festival drew alumni from both universities to promote books and speak with interviewers from the Los Angeles Times.
The interviews were hosted on larger stages throughout campus Saturday and included comic writer Stan Lee, former astronaut Buzz Aldrin and U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera.
Herrera, who graduated from UCLA in 1972, described his childhood in Fowler, California and his elementary school teacher’s influence on his career.
Herrera said he sat silently in his third grade class, unwilling to participate because of the language barrier he faced as a Spanish speaker. Rather than trying to force him to speak, his teacher asked him to sing “Three Blind Mice.” She told him his voice was beautiful.
A surprised Herrera was inspired to continue using his voice, and his love of language led him to express himself through poetry. Herrera said he wanted his teacher’s words to encourage the festival goers to use their voices and explore the written word.
“That’s what I tell everyone: you have a beautiful voice. And beauty needs to be shared,” Herrera said. “There are no rules in a poem: It’s just you.”
He used the opportunity to urge attendees to begin writing more, regardless of their level of experience.
“Human beings are natural poets from day one,” Herrera said.
In addition to guest speakers like Herrera, the event’s website said over 150,000 people attend the festival each year, exploring tents filled with books ranging from literary classics like F. Scott Fitzgerald to trendy cookbooks about ramen.
Festival goer Michelle Smith has attended the event for nine years and said she appreciates the fewer number of stairs to climb since the move to USC.
An avid reader of Jennifer L. Holm’s books, Smith said she enjoyed meeting Holm and hearing authors speak.
Steven Salardino, manager of the Skylight Books in Los Angeles, said the company has been at the festival for about 20 years. The events at USC draw more diverse crowds than those at UCLA, he said, because USC has easier access to downtown Los Angeles, freeways and public transportation lines.
An author and USC alumna Isabelle Oxford promoted her newest book, “Children of the Sun” in one of the tents Saturday. Oxford, who graduated in 1959, said despite the rain she enjoyed the bustling crowds and meeting likeminded, literary people at her alma mater.
Contributing reports by Joshua Greenberg, Daily Bruin contributor.