The 9th Annual Kerrytown® BookFest will again be held in the Farmers’ Market in the historic Kerrytown district of Ann Arbor, Michigan this fall on Sept. 11th.
Each year our festival has grown, adding more exhibitors, more events, and of course, more visitors. In addition to our wonderful speakers, demonstrators, exhibitors and visitors, this year we are celebrating writers and readers of Michigan, with the support of the Michigan Humanities Council.
The Kerrytown BookFest is an event celebrating those who create books and those who read them. The primary goal is to highlight our area’s rich heritage in the book and printing arts while showcasing our local and regional individuals, businesses, and organizations. Since 2003 we have been growing, sharing, and discovering more and more about the rich book culture in our region.
2010 was a great success with over 100 exhibitors including the libraries form our region, dozens of presenters and demonstrators, and over 4500 visitors. The weather was perfect, and the media coverage superb.You can see photos taken last year here. 2011 will be our 9th annual festival, and our 7th as an independent 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Whether a business or an individual, if you’d like to support us and help us continue to grow, please visit our Sponsoring page or our Volunteers page to join us.
We feature authors, storytellers, publishers bookbinders, book artists, book illustrators, poets, letterpress printers, wood engravers, calligraphers, papermakers, librarians, teachers, publishers, new, used, and antiquarian booksellers and many others associated with books and their diverse forms, structure, and content. Our children’s area, with storytelling and creative activities, is always popular as well.
We always strive to create a colorful mix of book related activities and showcase them all in one location. Visitors can watch bookbinders demonstrate how to bind books and do simple repairs, see papermakers make wonderful kinds of paper, and see book artists create marbled colors on paper, or make an entirely new piece of art from a book. There are even opportunites to print with your own hands commemorative bookmarks or poems from local poets with antique letterpress printing machines.
Please join us each fall for a wonderful day of speakers, education, and activities and join our rich and varied community of people who love the book and book arts.
If you’d like to be an exhibitor, please check our Registration page. If you’d like to volunteer to help us, please check our Volunteer page.
Many thanks to our sponsors from last year as well. If you would like to join us in supporting this unique event, please see our Sponsoring page. Feel free to contact us at bookfest [at] kerrytownbookfest [dot] org or 734.669.0451.
For further information, our bylaws are available.
Our 2011 Kerrytown BookFest Board
Gene Alloway
President
Motte & Bailey Booksellers
John Hilton
Vice President and member, Operations committee
Editor, Ann Arbor Observer
Kate Keyoe
Treasurer
Artisan and Community Member
Robin Agnew
Secretary & Program Committee Chair
Aunt Agatha’s Mystery Book Shop
Meg Brown
Volunteer Committee Chair
Community Member
Bill Castanier
Publicity Committee Chair
Community Member
Lynn Yates
Exhibitor Committee Chair
Community Member
Lisa McDonald
Operations Committee Chair
Teahaus
Barbara Brown
Program Committee
Artist and Community Member
Jon Buller
Program Committee
Bessenberg Bindery
Lisa Arnsdorf
Chair, Operations Committee
Community Member