Saturday, April 17, 2010

Festival of Faith & Writing: Day 3

Except for Mary Karr's address tonight, the Festival is over.

I'm hungy, my brain is overloaded, & I don't have my notes, but:

* About 2,000 attendees from 5 continents, the same as 2008, which is a bit of a miracle because of the economy (according to one of the key administrator).

* 60-40 split between female/male. Most lit conferences/workshops are at least 80/20 female, with the age demographics skewing older (40+), but not overwhelmingly so.

* More booths representing more lit journals (Relief, the Other Journal, Image, Culture is Not Optional, Ruminate, Rock & Sling), publishers, clothes (a first) & posters (a first), other writing conferences, and Eighth Day Books, the store that would make Witchita worth living in.

* I snagged my Eugene Peterson interview. He's 77, gracious, articulate, physically frail, pauses to compose his answer before speaking (reminded me of Marilynne Robinson in that way), with a ready, easy smile.

* The student workers were amazingly well-informed & friendly.

More later tonight...

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