LitFest at the Doo Dah Parade!
Rockin' Banner, LitFest! Photo by Kat Ward
LitFest Flashers: Brad, Peggy Sue, Michele & Billy; photo by Kat Ward
Brad flashing; Peggy Sue aghast! Photo by Kat Ward
Artwork by Peter Nye
Pasadena’s first community-wide book festival—LitFest Pasadena—hits town Saturday, May 12 in Central Park from 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m, just south of Old Pasadena. Admission is free.
View Central Park in a larger map
LifFest will be a celebratory day of readings and panel discussions featuring well-known local and California authors, hands-on activities for young people, good food, better books, and great fun, all aimed at promoting the literary arts.
Attendees can look forward to an irreverent and informative festival that incorporates theater, music, poetry, and more. Some of L.A.’s hottest gourmet food trucks, courtesy of Chefs Center, will be located along Raymond Avenue, and public parking is under the Gold Line Del Mar Station, 230 S. Raymond Avenue. directly across the street from Central Park, a comfortable green space between Raymond and Fair Oaks avenues, just south of the historic Castle Green.
Panel discussions will explore topics such as 21st Century Noir; The Rise of the Graphic Novel: Write the Image; History, Fiction…and Truth?; The L.A. Canvas; and local L.A. Publishers: Where New York Dominates, L.A. Innovates.
Confirmed authors include Pulitzer Prize-winner Jonathan Gold; novelists Janet Fitch, Michelle Huneven, Lian Dolan and Pasadena native David Ebershoff, author of the novel “Pasadena”; poet and Young Adult author Ron Koertge; scholar and Libros Schmibros founder David Kipen; and L.A. mystery writer Denise Hamilton. More than 40 publishers, institutions, and vendors will have books by these and many, many other authors available for sale at this event.
A children’s area will feature Vroman’s storyteller Mr. Steve, Theatre 360, Derek the Ghost, Little Junebugs, the California Shakespeare Ensemble, and a Quidditch demonstration!
LitFest Pasadena is spearheaded by Larry Wilson, public editor of the Pasadena Star-News; Jervey Tervalon, Altadena novelist and UC Santa Barbara creative writing teacher; and Tom Coston, president of the Light Bringer Project and driving force behind the DooDah Parade. The event’s working team includes leaders from local government; local independent publishers Red Hen Press and Prospect Park Media; and USC and Caltech.
LitFest is a project of the Pasadena Arts Council’s EMERGE Fiscal Sponsorship Program. All support is tax-deductible to the full extent of the law. The Pasadena Public Library and the Pasadena Writing Project are also participating organizations.
We look forward to you joining us at the first LitFest Pasadena, Saturday, May 12, 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m. in Central Park (275 S. Raymond Ave.). Get ready to eat well, buy incredible books, hear fascinating panelists, experience theatrical and musical treats, and have great fun!
Huge thanks to our major supporters:
Mary Blodgett
Louise and John Brinsley
Mary Lea and Bill Carroll
Adelaide Hixon
Ron Koertge and Bianca Richards
Peggy Phelps
Peter Moffat
Cynthia and Brad Thiel
Mary Urquhart
Michele Zack and Mark Goldschmidt
Parsons
Pasadena Community Foundation
Pasadena Public Library
City of Pasadena
Euro Pane
Prospect Park Media
Red Hen Press
Mountain View Mausoleum
The Castle Green
The Pasadena Playhouse
The Chef’s Center
In Memory of Octavia Butler
Colleen Dunn Bates
Tom Coston
Peggy Sue Davis
Ann Erdman
William Goldstein
Julia Harm
Patty Hurley
Colleen Jaurretche
Georgia Jeffries
David Kipen
Chris Konish
Sophia Kercher
Vicki Laidig
Deanna Plummer
Jan Sanders
Jervey Tervalon
Kat Ward
Can you provide a street address for the Lit Festival? I am not familiar with Pasadena.
Central Park, 275 S. Raymond Ave, Pas 91105, between Fair Oaks and Raymond, and (on the north/south side) E. Dayton St. and Del Mar Blvd. It’s just south of Old Pasadena, and across the street from the historical Castle Green.
I’m looking forward to meeting some of the writers.
Also: Out of curiosity, at what point did the plain old lunch trucks start being called a “food trucks”?
Probably when they started becoming more diverse in their menu!
Is the litfest on Saturday only?
Yes, it’s one day only; Saturday, March 17th. We hope you can join us for our very first one!
I have been looking forward to this event and possibly bringing my daughter but I see by the weather report that there is a 60% of rain on Sat. Will this be tented or have contingency plans for another date if rained out?
Hi, Craig,
We are soliciting the sun gods to work with us here, and it being Southern California, we know weather predictions can change hourly, and be unreliable.
Exhibit booths will be tented, as well as the stages and children’s area. We are proceeding forward with optimism. If there is excessive rain, we are planning on moving panels to indoor areas, but otherwise, we are a go.
Hope to see you there with sunglasses on!
Will the event go on rain or shine? Looks like it’s supposed to rain Saturday.
We will be announcing our game plan on this site on Thursday afternoon. We want to give as much time as possible to see if the storm may move back and not begin until Sunday, though at this point that looks doubtful. Please check back Thursday evening, and the site will have the latest information.
I just heard that the chance if rain is now 100%, having increased from 60%. So it would be good to know ahead of time where the indoor venue is that you’d be moving to, or starting at, depending upon the early morning weather.
Look for an update on this site early Thursday evening. Thanks!
Please post an address for this event. Your website assumes everyone lives in Pasadena and knows where Central Park is. I would to attend, but will need an address to put in my navigation systems.
Thank!
Thank you, Pearl, for pointing this out. We have now have a map for Central Park on the home page. See you at LitFest!
Also on May 12, immediately following LitFest at 5:00 p.m. at Vroman’s, author Chuck Greaves will be reading and signing HUSH MONEY (Minotaur), his Pasadena-based legal mystery, which has been called “an auspicious debut” (Kirkus), and a “stellar first novel” (Publishers Weekly, starred review), and a “delightful debut” (Library Journal, starred review.)
Wonderful! Congratulations, Mr. Greaves.
Brilliant! Congratulations, Chuck. If anyone wants to keep the literary day going, head on over to Vroman’s after LitFest.