After two years in cyberspace, the San Diego Writers Festival will be live again with in-person workshops, discussions and performances dedicated to the timeless arts of writing and storytelling.
When the free festival makes its Coronado Public Library debut on Oct. 8, there will also be pie (courtesy of Amy Wallen’s “How to Write a Novel in 20 Pies”), nature walks and the event’s first-ever movie screening.
And there will be feelings. So many feelings.
“This is a chance for all of us to channel everything,” said writer, writing coach and therapist Marni Freedman, who co-founded the festival with Jeniffer Thompson.
“If you’re frustrated, it’s OK to be frustrated. If you’re angry, if you are sad, if you’re feeling lost, if you’re feeling hopeful, there is a for each one of those feelings. There are places and spaces where we’re going to talk about it.”
Since its debut at San Diego Central Library in 2019, the annual festival has brought together writers of all genres and writing experts of all stripes for an event designed to celebrate the literary arts and to people who have a story to tell.
In 2020 and 2021, the festival was held online, as Freedman and Thompson found creative ways to keep the event’s communal spark alive and glowing, even as its participants were all trapped behind their individual screens.
The festival was still free, and thanks to the wonders of the Internet, the wisdom and inspiration generated by the best-selling authors, the local luminaries and the industry insiders were accessible to audiences around the globe. But being available to a worldwide audience was not the same as the audience being together in one place.
“When I think back on 2019, it was the energy that was so special. There was such a buzz and so much excitement,” said Thompson, an author and digital marketing strategist.
“You don’t get that kind of feeling when you’re online. You get the educational pieces, and there are a lot of warm, wonderful things happening. But when you have that kind of energy in one room and one space, something happens.”
This year, the festival-goers will be gathering under more than one roof. In addition to the library, some of the festival’s workshops, s and other activities are being held next door at the John D. Spreckels Center and across the street at Coronado High School.
There will be a coffee cart at the library entrance; a screening of the award-winning Ukrainian film “Bad Roads” at the high school’s Black Box Theatre; and food vendors, kids’ activities and author appearances in the school’s quad.
And as always, there will be stories everywhere. The ones that have been told and the ones that haven’t. At least not yet.
There are s and/or workshops on a multitude of genres, including memoirs, novels, plays, poetry, mysteries, and children’s and young-adult literature. You can get expert advice on how to take your idea from a manuscript to a published book, how to conduct an interview and how to do your own book publicity.
Also how to keep yourself together long enough to actually write something.
“During the first festival, we had a on ‘Writing for Mental Health.’ We expected it to be a fairly small turnout, and it was huge,” Thompson ed. “We had almost 100 people come to that event, and we had room for 20.”
From s devoted to such topics as “Social Justice and Food Writing as Metaphor” (featuring San Diego’s Madhushree Ghosh) and “Reclaiming Our Stories” (which examines the impact of police violence, loss of a loved one, pain and other traumas), to therapist Julie Brams’ interactive “Writing in Nature” outdoor workshop, there are multiple offerings on the care and feeding of the creative mind, body and soul.
The challenges of tackling difficult topics will also be addressed by authors who have written books dealing with some of the darkest times in their lives. That includes San Diegans Lacy Crawford (“Notes on a Silencing: A Memoir””), Laura L. Engel (“You’ll Forget This Ever Happened: Secrets, Shame, and Adoption in the 1960s”), and Jesse Leon (“I’m Not Broken: A Memoir”), all of whom are appearing in the on “How to Write a Breakthrough Memoir.”
Whether you have a story you need to tell, a stack of paper that may or may not be a book, or just a ion for books and writing, the San Diego Writers Festival has one word for you:
Welcome.
“Really, this is for book-lovers, theatergoers and people who just want to get lost in a world and be told a story,” Freeman said. “You will be enriched, you’ll have fun and you’ll come away with your soul stirred in a good way.”
The 2022 San Diego Writers Festival is presented in partnership with the Coronado Public Library and Warwick’s bookstore. It will be held Saturday, Oct. 8 from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. in and around the Coronado Public Library, 640 Orange Ave., Coronado. The event is free and open to the public. Go to sandiegowritersfestival.com for the full schedule and other information.
