The annual Literary Hill BookFest will celebrate many esteemed and talented writers you might also call “neighbor” this Sunday. From 11 a.m to 3 p.m. in the North Hall of Eastern Market, meet local authors, buy books, and join in on discussions, readings, and signings.
Forty writers are joining the festivities this year and seven will be speaking. Literary attendees include sports writers (like Fred Frommer, You Gotta Have Heart: A History of Washington Baseball from 1859 to the 2012 National League East Champions); Washington Post’s resident comedian (Gene Weingarten, the newspaper’s “Below The Beltway” column); a storyteller chef (Jonathan Bardzik, Simple Summer); a movie critic (Mike Canning, Hollywood on the Potomac: How Movies View Washington, D.C.); and a former cop (Quintin Peterson, D.C. Noir) — not to mention a slew of novelists, D.C. historians, award-winning journalists, children’s authors, and more.
For the first time, a segment of the festival will be dedicated to Capitol Hill poets, who will share some of their work inspired by the one and only District of Columbia.
The Literary Hill BookFest was started in 2011 in an effort to bring Karen Lyon’s Hill Rag book review column to life. Lyon, who is president of the BookFest, tells DCist that while writing her column, she was astonished to come across an “endless supply” of local writers. She and others decided to bring the authors together with the BookFest in order to network and meet fans and avid readers in Washington.
This is part of what she says separates the event from other book festivals held in the area — it is uniquely D.C. The Literary Hill BookFest’s stated mission is to “make Capitol Hill a respected center for literacy and the humanities” and provide a venue for “authors who live on, write about, or have some strong connection to Capitol Hill.”
The BookFest is a labor of love run by Lyon and a dedicated team of volunteers. A schedule of talks and more information is available here. The event is free and participants can come through at any time on Sunday.
