Two day festival to take place September 14-15By Timothy Schaffert
Omaha, Nebraska – The Omaha Lit Fest starts Friday, September 14 in downtown Omaha.
The festival will kick off at 10 am on Friday with the announcement of the titles for the Omaha Reads! Citywide Book Club, accompanied by a dance performance by the University of Nebraska at Omaha's The Moving Company, directed by Josie Metal-Corbin.
The festival begins on the 14th Street side of the W. Dale Clark branch Omaha Public Library(14th and Farnam). The W. Dale Clark library will also host the lit fest.
Other events include poetry readings, parties (at the library, and at Nomad), the announcement of the Omaha Reads book, debut of the first six editions of the (downtown) Omaha lit fest art print series, and the Dollar Store Show.
Panels will present discussions on topics including:
*Literary Failure & Literary Feuds;
*Reinventing Fairy Tales;
*The Portrait of the Author in Film;
*Writing to Inspire;
*Living Blue in a Red State;
*The Lost Art of Book Reviewing;
*Writing Over Sixty;
*The Historical Novel;
And many other tantalizing subjects.
The Film Streams Book-To-Film Adaptation Series (14th and Webster) offers a head start on the festival. It starts Friday, August 31 with screenings of the classics The Third Man, Rosemary's Baby, An Angel at My Table, Masculin Feminin, The Shining and several others.
Another activity related to the festival is currently taking place at Joslyn Art Museum, at 2200 Dodge Street in Omaha. On display at the museum is the exhibit, Stan Strembicki: The Lost Library. Over the course of a year, Strembicki photographed the books of the library of Alfred Lawless High School in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina--the school had filled with flood water and one of its library walls had burst, scattering books across an adjacent field. The photos on display at the Joslyn document how these books began to dissolve into the landscape.
The Lit Fest thanks the Alan and Marcia Baer Foundation, the Nebraska Arts Council, KIOS, KVNO, and The Reader for their generous support.
Timothy Schaffert is the Executive Director of Omaha Lit Fest