From Ernest Gaines to Anne Rice, Louisiana has long earned praise for its writers. Whether you attribute it to the state’s inspiring landscapes, cultural depth or rich—and often sordid—history, there’s no ignoring the many great stories woven by Louisianan minds. 
If you’ve yet to delve into the treasure trove of Louisiana’s written arts, you can always dip your toe in at a local bookstore, or a Wikipedia query on the history of Louisiana’s famous authors and poets. But if you’d prefer to dive in head-first, there’s no better place than the Louisiana Book Festival, which returns Oct. 29 to downtown Baton Rouge.
“With everything we do, we try to promote a culture of literacy and reading, but also Louisiana’s rich literary heritage,” says Louisiana State Librarian Rebecca Hamilton, a key organizer of the Book Festival.
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While many would likely associate Louisiana’s literary heritage with dusty old books from the hardscrabble times of Southern yore, Hamilton and all her Book Festival cohorts want to show how that heritage continues to flourish in the modern world.
Starting that morning, a legion of around 200 authors and poets will flock the grounds of the state library to partake in what Hamilton rather casually boasts to be “the largest single event put on by any state agency, outside of the Angola rodeo.”
The day kicks off with the conferral of the Louisiana Writer’s Award at the state capitol, the recipient of which will be announced in the weeks
“We try to have something for every genre, for every age group,” Hamilton says, adding that she’s often seen families arrive together and then split off to explore their respective interests. “There really is something for everybody.”
Among the writers in attendance will be Pulitzer-winning writer and poet Jericho Brown, award-winning children’s author and Grammy-winning musician Johnette Downing, Robert Olen Butler—another Pulitzer winner—and many more, the length and variety of which too vast to be enumerated here.
But for the many celebrated writers who will attend and all the literary clout each carries, Hamilton says she and her team go to great lengths to ensure that all the writers are accessible and that everyone gets what they come for.
“Some of these big book festivals, you’ll go, and you’re one of 1,000 people in a room—you’ll never get to talk to that author,” Hamilton says. “Whereas here, we keep the room small, we have a lot of authors, and you almost always get to meet your author and get your book signed by them.”
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Fall radar
The Louisiana Book Festival is Oct. 29, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., at the Louisiana State Library, Louisiana State Museum, State Capitol and Capitol Park Event Center in downtown Baton Rouge. louisianabookfestival.org
This article was originally published in the October 2022 issue of 225 magazine.