St. Charles lit fest returns

The popular St. Charles Literature Festival returns next week, with plenty of opportunities for the public to rub elbows with authors, storytellers and poets from across the country.

While much of the festivities are open only to schoolchildren, four free public events are slated for Tuesday through Feb. 9.

New this year is a poetry slam featuring Chicago poet Marc Smith, who is credited with inventing the interactive competition. The slam is scheduled for 7 p.m. Feb. 8 at the public library, 1 S. Sixth Ave.

Chris Sherman, co-coordinator of the festival, said the poetry slam's quirky audience-participation element should be especially fun for college and high school students.

"It's sort of like a poetry competition that's rowdy," she said. "If people don't like (an act), they boo and hiss. It's highly interactive."

Another public event expected to draw a big crowd is an "Olio" storytelling show Tuesday at the Arcada Theatre, 105 E. Main St. Doors open at 6 p.m., with organ music to follow. Then, seven storytellers will take the stage to perform family-oriented material including comedies, ghost stories and traditional tales, Sherman said.

"It's something out of the ordinary for most families," she said, noting that additional storytellers were booked after last year's success. "The people who attended were delighted."

On Thursday, an adults-only reception featuring numerous authors is planned from 4 to 6 p.m. at Hotel Baker, 100 W. Main St. Visitors must wait for autographs until after the festival book sale at the library the morning of Feb. 9. The book sale runs from 9 to 11 a.m., with an autograph session from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m.

Sherman said most of the authors are from the Chicago area, but others come from as far away as California and Pennsylvania. Their works are on display at the library through Saturday.

The annual literature festival is put on by St. Charles Community Unit School District 303 and the St. Charles Public Library District and is funded by business sponsors and grants. Outside of the public events, more than a dozen writers will visit classrooms at 17 schools.

For more information, call (630) 584-9390 or log on to www.stcharleslibrary.org.

Meet and greet

The following authors, poets and storytellers will be featured in the St. Charles Literature Festival next week:

Authors: Andrea Beaty, Bob Burleigh, Ilene Cooper, Candace Fleming, Dennis Fradin, Esther Hershenhorn, Laurie Lawlor, David Lubar, Kevin Luthardt, W. Nikola-Lisa, Eric Rohmann, Amy Timberlake, Wendelin Van Draanen and Sally Walker.

Poets: Marc Smith, Terry Wooten and Lisa Yee.

Storytellers: Susan Black, Donna Dettman, the Double Deckers, Don Falkos, Michele Freese, Linda Gorham and Marie Ringenberg.