by Next month, the San Diego Book Festival will return to the University of San Diego (USD) campus, marking the beginning of a new era.
The festival, which is now sponsored by KPBS, will highlight the works of over 70 renowned authors and independent bookstores and include panel discussions with award-winning authors.
Authors Ziggy Marley (Pajammin), Larry Charles (Comedy Samurai), and Stacey Abrams (Coded Justice) will be the main attractions.
Throughout the day, guests may also anticipate musical performances by local musicians and poets on the main stage.
Cristina Rodriguez, the KPBS Community Engagement Coordinator, stated, “We definitely heard from the community that so many people wanted this.” Maintaining the spirit of the book festival here in San Diego makes us really happy.
According to USD Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Noelle Norton, the festival’s future is unknown because the San Diego Union-Tribune stopped sponsoring it in 2024.
Instead, she said, KPBS reached out to collaborate with the festival, and last year they organized the One Book, One San Diego program at USD.
Favorites like the Middle Grade Graphic Novel area and talks with USD’s academic authors will be back on campus on Saturday for the Book Festival.
Families can also take advantage of a community children’s area where young readers can interact with well-known KPBS characters including The Cat in the Hat, Clifford the Big Red Dog, and Curious George.
Renowned children’s author Maria Dolores Aguila, whose book is Barrio Rising: The Protest that Built Chicano Park, will also be present at the venue.
Aguila, who was born and reared in San Diego, devoted a significant portion of her early years to devouring every book available at the National City Public Library.
She has always loved to read, but it was when she read Sandra Cisneros’s The House on Mango Street that she became interested in becoming a novelist.
She claimed that it was a life-changing experience for her to see herself portrayed in a story for the first time.
According to Aguila, she writes so children who are similar to herself can recognize themselves in a book and believe that their experiences matter.
As an author, she aspires to inspire others in a similar manner by narrating and illustrating the history of Chicano Park in Barrio Logan in her children’s book.
Barrio Logan inhabitants were irritated in 1970 because work on Interstate 5 had split the neighborhood in two and uprooted longtime residents.
The neighborhood banded together to defend the area when bulldozers arrived in April to make room for a proposed California Highway Patrol parking lot. This action eventually turned the area into Chicano Park, a cultural landmark today.
After learning about this history later in adulthood, Aguila expressed her wish that she had been aware of it as a child since it would have made her feel very proud of her community.
She will be at the festival next month to tell that story to some of the more than 70,000 people who are anticipated to attend.
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Because it brings books closer to the community, the festival is like a gift to the San Diego area, according to Aguila. It’s something that unites a community and is something that all of us own, not something we are compelled to learn about.
I firmly believe that tales have the power to transform the world.
According to Norton, USD is thrilled to be hosting the event with KPBS once more and is anticipating a high attendance this year.
She went on to say that she believes gatherings like this one will keep the community united and inspire individuals to use the university’s facilities and free reading programs.
According to Norton, we firmly think that the most crucial things we can impart to the community are literacy, reading, and education. It is the most important thing to us.
The event runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and attendees can register for free online in advance or in person on the day of the event.
