Printer's Row Lit Fest 2019

I attended the Printer's Row Lit Fest today despite misgivings about recent  changes in its organization which I detailed in a post 2 days ago.  However, I did see a theme in the fest this year. All of the authors exhibiting their books were from Chicago or nearby suburbs. I would say that they were mainly nationally unknown authors. There were many writer's groups with booths where authors could present their books in two and a half hour shifts. Some of these groups I did not know existed nor did I know that there were so many writer's groups in the Chicagoland area.

Sisters in Crime Chicagoland was one group that I did not know we had here. As you readers are probably aware, this is a group of female mystery writers.  Also, there are two local groups under the

Romance Writers of America. The Chicago Writers Association, She Writes Press, Windy City Historians, Independent Writers of Chicago,

Naperville Writers Group, Illinois Women's Press Association, Chicago Black Authors Network, Bizarro Writers (comics), Society of Midland Authors, University of Chicago Press, University of Illinois Press, Northwestern University Press, Chicago Review Press, the Poetry Foundation of Chicago, and Lawyers for the Creative Arts all had booths with authors selling books. Even the Lawyers for the Creative Arts had books with legal information for writers. A few major booksellers from Chicago reclaimed their booths again such as Haymarket Books.

This book fair was an impressive display of local talent. There is some pride in that. However, there is also sadness that this book fair has lost its national stature. It had been the third top book fair in the U. S. Now it is a local book fair. 

I was there for four hours and had fun talking with the authors. What did I buy?  Check out these books which you can get on Amazon.

The Printer's Row Lit Fest is Coming this Weekend

The 2019 Printer's Row Lit Fest will be held this weekend. It has been one of the premier book shows in the U. S. for decades. Since the Chicago Tribune newspaper bought the show 5+ years ago, it has dwindled in size and the map of the show that I saw online this morning  is 1/8 its normal size. The Tribune has made many changes concerning what is allowed in the book fair and booksellers and publishers have been bowing out of the show in response to those changes. It is a shame.

This book fair was something Chicago could be proud of. Now it is so pathetic I may not even attend. For the first time the Mystery Writers of America will not be there so I see no reason to go. Most of the booksellers who have come in the past 20 years that I have been attending are not listed as exhibitors this year. I am shocked.

I noted in a blog post last year that the Tribune did not allow writers who personally published books to sell them. They also did not allow publishers of books of non-traditional political views to be sold. Likewise, the groups selling or giving away the Koran were absent. I found all these changes shocking.  The Printer's Row Book Fair, as it was originally called, was a free speech event. None of the attendees cared what an exhibitor was selling.  Everyone was polite to each other.

Half of the exhibitors shown on the lit fest website are advertisers that have nothing to do with books. I feel very disheartened. While there are some interesting author events, you cannot buy a ticket for them without being a newspaper subscriber. Most of these events are held far away from the lit fest.

The Tribune has ruined this book fair and since the newspaper may go out of business there might be hope of restoring this book fair to its glorious origins.

Printer's Row Lit Fest 2018

The video above is a recap of last year's Printer's Row Lit Fest. This weekend it was a little smaller as were the crowds.  I had no problem getting in and out of the booths which are usually so jam packed with people you can't get inside them until others leave.  The Dove candy folks at the front of the fest were not there giving away candy.  I missed that!

Many of the independent book sellers were absent due to sidewalk space being taken up in the past year by outdoor restaurant seating. There is no longer any room for them where they have been usually located so they were eliminated by the event sponsor, the Chicago Tribune, a conservative newspaper. Space could have been made elsewhere but that just did not happen. No comic book publishers were present nor were the usual vintage map, postcard and magazine dealers.

Some of the usual publishers and book sellers who come every year were absent.  I missed seeing their friendly faces. Other regular vendors who would normally have an entire booth for themselves had to share space in a booth with other vendors; sometimes getting only a quarter of the space they are accustomed to getting.

I usually spend alot of time at the Mystery Writers of America Midwest Chapter booth but they did not have one this year.  2 mystery authors rotated space in a booth that was shared with 3 other publishers. Gone were their day long author readings and interviews that I have always enjoyed.  I did not hear any authors giving readings or speeches in other spaces where they traditionally have done so. Since they normally used very loud microphones you could not have missed their presence in the past.

When the Chicago Tribune took over the sponsorship of this book fair 5-10 years ago, they began selling tickets to author events in different locations in the Chicago downtown area. To get these tickets you had to be a Tribune subscriber with an additional subscription to their Printer's Row Sunday newspaper addition.  While they created many new and exciting events, these author affairs were traditionally free, located within the book fair area, and seating was available on a first come, first serve basis. Together with the elimination of independent publishers, authors who published their own novels, publishers of radical political books and publishers of religious books not in the Judeo-Christian tradition, I have a bad feeling about the Tribune silencing voices they do not like.  While most attendees never gave these folks much attention, everyone spoke politely to them, passed some time with them in small talk and left them with a handshake. It was a happy and cordial atmosphere. I don't like the changes.

Nothing was free this year.  Normally an author hawking a book would pass out a bookmark that was an advertisement for one of their books.  This year they were $1. The Poetry Foundation has always given away older volumes of their magazine but not this year.  Publisher catalogs were not free either.

C-SPAN usually covers the Lit Fest but they were absent too.  The Lit Fest was rather disappointing this year. It has always been one of the nation's premier book shows but it is showing signs of faltering.