Celebrating books - Jersey City style
Public library organizes major book festival with JC authors, readings

By Ricardo Kaulessar
Reporter staff writer 09/06/2008

CLASSIC SCI-FI WITH TIMELESS MESSAGE ? Ray Bradbury?s classic sci-fi novel, Fahrenheit 451, will be the featured book at A Tale of Our City festival.

Bibliophiles, bookworms, book peddlers, and those who love writing and hearing the written word will have an opportunity to indulge themselves with a day of literary delights when Jersey City holds its first annual book festival on Saturday, Sept. 13.

"A Tale of Our City" will be held in Van Vorst Park on Montgomery Street, right across the street from the Main Branch of the Jersey City Free Public Library. The library is organizing the event and hopes to make it annual.

The festival will be part of a daylong nationwide celebration known as "the Big Read," an initiative of the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA) that puts a spotlight on encouraging reading and literacy. The festival is funded by a grant from the NEA.

As part of the initiative, free copies of Ray Bradbury's classic sci-fi novel Fahrenheit 451 will be handed out to festival attendees who have a valid library card, or who apply for a card during the festival. Members of the Jersey City Theater Company will conduct a public reading of the book.

Sonia Araujo, the assistant library director for the Jersey City Public Library, said last week that so far 12 authors have committed to an appearance at the festival. They will sign and sell their books, as well as read excerpts.

Among them are city native and noted historian Thomas Fleming, and Helene Stapinski, an author of several books including the memoir of life in Jersey City, Five Finger Discount.

"I'm really excited about the festival. I think it's a fantastic idea and I'm really honored they asked me," Stapinski said. "Anytime people get together to celebrate reading, I think it's wonderful."

Lighting a fire to read

"Don't you see the beauty, Montag? I never read them. Not one book, not one page, not one paragraph ... To have thousands of books and never crack one, to turn your back on the lot and say: No."

Imagine a world like the one Fire Chief Beatty describes to fireman Guy Montag in Fahrenheit 451.

The seminal book, published in 1953, attacked censorship and a society that was coming under the influence of the new technology known as television. Protagonist Guy Montag's job was not only to put out fires, but to burn books. However, he discovers their value and power.

Araujo hopes that "A Tale of Our City" promotes the positive message of literacy and shows people that books provoke discussion, such as Fahrenheit 451, the official book for the Big Read initiative.

"To me, this is what libraries are all about," Araujo said. "Enticing reluctant readers by bringing them provocative subject matters to discuss, great programming, and excellent resources and materials."

The NEA grant that funds the festival also encourages discussion of Fahrenheit 451 in other venues. That includes collaborations with the downtown Jersey City bookstore, Imagine Atrium, and the Jersey City Museum. There will be discussions of the book, screenings of the 1966 film adaptation, and readings in branches of the Jersey City Public Library and in the city's public high schools.

The Library currently owns more than 2,000 copies of Fahrenheit 451, over 200 copies of the large print version, 200 Spanish and Russian versions, and over 200 copies of the book on tapes, which it plans to offer to the St. Joseph's School for the Blind on Summit Avenue.

Under the big tents

The festival will have the look and atmosphere of a circus, with events happening under several tents in the park to allow them to occur rain or shine.

Under the tents, local bookstores and booksellers will ply their merchandise; local groups will spotlight Hispanic literature; community leaders will read excerpts from children's books; the public will swap books and magazines, and there will be literary and music events for special needs children. The Jersey City Division of Cultural Affairs will have a stage for face painting and children's craft-making.

Those who want to participate in the festival are encouraged to visit the Jersey City Public Library's Web site (www.jclibrary.org) for additional information and to complete participants' forms as soon as possible.

Completed forms can also be faxed to (201) 547-5936. Also for more information on the event, visit: www.imagineatrium.com.

Comments on this story can be sent to rkaulessar@hudsonreporter.com