St Pete Times Reading Festival

October in Florida signals great weather and lots of activities. This holds true even for bibliophiles. The Florida Writer’s Association will host their 9^th Annual Conference in Lake Mary, FL the weekend of October 22^nd, and the St. Petersburg Times will sponsor their 18^th Festival of Reading on October 23^rd from 10 – 4. The Festival takes place on the University of South Florida St. Pete Campus.

At the Festival this weekend, expect to see nationally recognized authors, Florida authors and discussions on book related topics. At 10:30 a.m., R.L. Stine will read from Weirdo Halloween and at 1:00 p.m. Michael Connelly reads from his book Reversal. Their readings occur in the University of South Florida Activities Center.

Florida authors Rick Wilber and Deborah Sharp read from their book. Rick will read from Rum Point, a baseball mystery set in the St. Pete area. Deborah Sharp writes the Mace Bauer series set in the country part of south central Florida. She will read a selection from her third book in this series, Mama Gets Hitched. The readings will occur in the Science and Technology Building.

James Swain and Carla Jimenez present a discussion on the future of books. James published several e-books a couple of weeks ago, and they will be discussing the process and fate of books. Carla owns Inkwood Books, a Tampa independent bookstore. Their talk is at 10:45 a.m., and held in the Peter R. Wallace Florida Center for Teachers.

See the Festival of Reading web site for a full list of authors and activities.