Second annual Possumtown Book Fest celebrates literature
The event is meant to give the community a fun place to celebrate books, meet authors, and relive the joys of book fairs.
COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – A book fair for the young and old, book signings, panels, and more were available at this year’s Possumtown Book Fest.
Locals showed out in force to peruse and enjoy all they had to offer.
Rachel Derise, a manager at Friendly City Books, said appreciating art is what makes life worth living.
“Life isn’t just about working, and coming home, and sleeping, and going back to work, you know,” Derise said. “Literature and art, all forms of art, music, visual art, books- that’s what makes life worth it. So we want to spread that joy. We want people to see that we’re excited about it and that it’s important for maybe intangible reasons, and come celebrate it with us.”
The second annual Possumtown Bookfest is meant to be a celebration of all things books.
Making books fun early is essential, said Leigh-Ann Sallis.
“If you are a reader, tests show that you do better in every subject across the board,” Sallis said. “So early literacy is huge right? To promote, promote, promote that. But then, Mississippi has such a rich history of authors. And so I think promoting that is huge.”
Along with author panels, writers were front and center with their book signings.
Like one local author, Anne Louise Phillips who writes poetry under the pen-name Weez Phillips.
“I’m very blessed to have this opportunity so close by,” Phillips said. “So that I can network with people, talk to other writers, and just have a good time being book-ish.”
Phillips said even though sharing her work with the world is scary, it’s also rewarding.
“At the end of the day it’s actually very comforting,” Phillips said. “Because people will read what you’ve written. Things that are basically my diary entries. And they will say, ‘Wow, me too.’ And it’s just beautiful to know you’re not alone.”
The book fest is also meant to evoke nostalgic memories of elementary school book fairs.
Sallis said being an adult at the book fair is the best.
“Um, amazing,” Sallis said. “Because the book fair, I think is where all of my financial problems come from. Because it was the one place that I was like, do I need this? No. Do I want this? Yes.”
One kid making memories at this years book fest said books are a great way to cut down on screen time.
“Most people are on their devices too much, and books is animated,” She said. “So it looks like it’s on a device, but it’s really not.”
The host of the Possumtown Book Fest, Friendly City Books, also runs the nonprofit Friendly City Books Community Connection.
An organization with the mission of bringing all kinds of people together through book related initiatives.
