By Tessa Niznik, Staff Writer
October means leaves changing color and colder weather, but in Morristown, it also means that it’s time for the Festival of Books.
The Morristown Festival of Books is an event in downtown Morristown that spans two days, beginning with a keynote talk on Friday evening, and continuing with author talks, book buying, signings, and other activities the following Saturday. This year’s festival, which took place on October 18th and 19th was a particularly successful and memorable one, with dozens of well-known and engaging authors and a relevant keynote speech.
The festival started with a kickoff to the festival and a keynote talk at the Mayo Performing Arts Center. The event included a discussion between Fareed Zakaria, host of CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS, journalist, and best-selling author and historian Johnathan Alter. Over 1,000 people attended this event, all receiving copies of Age of Revolutions, Zakaria’s latest book, with their admittance.
The keynote address began with an introduction by the heads of the event, and then went on to presenting the winner’s of the festival’s annual Teen Writing Contest. Out of over 70 entries from around the state, nine winners were chosen in three categories: Fiction, Poetry, and Nonfiction. Among the winners were two students from Morristown High School: Ashlyn Van Ry, who placed second in the Fiction category for their story “Be Wary of the Deep,” and (myself!) Tessa Niznik, who placed third in the Poetry category for her poem “Heat, Fuel, and Oxygen.” Awards were presented to the winners, and after a humorous moment of confusion when the winners didn’t know which side to exit the stage from, the keynote speech was underway.
Alter and Zakaria began the talk with an engaging discussion of current political events before diving into questions around the content of Age of Revolutions. Confirming this moment in world events as “the most dangerous. . . since the end of the Cold War,” Zakaria discussed how different revolutions over the history of the world have impacted world events, and how they shape the present day, making connections between everything from the history of the Netherlands to the evolution of Britain’s middle class to the current “AI revolution”. Relating to the current generation of young people commonly referred to as Gen Z, Zakaria said that he has noticed how many of them care deeply about world issues and considers them to be a good generation overall, although he stated that many were still quite naive.
The talk was very interesting and educational. I look forward to reading some of my copy of Age of Revolutions to see Zakaria’s expanded thoughts on what he discussed in the keynote.
But it didn’t end there; the festival was just getting started. The next day proved to be quite eventful, with dozens of authors gathered to sign books, meet readers, and talk about their works. There were several adult authors, but the true standouts for me were the children’s and young adult authors, all gathered in the KidFest tent at the center of the festival, on the lawn next to St. Peter’s Church. This is where I headed first in order to get a broad idea of the authors in attendance. All the kid’s authors were gathered under the tent, including Rachel Renée Russel, author of the immensely popular Dork Diaries series, and her daughter, Nikki Russel, who signed books and gave free activities and bookmarks to readers. They would also have a talk at the Morristown Presbyterian Church later in the day.
After visiting the KidFest tent, I went to see the current author talk occurring at the Presbyterian Church; the author of the very popular and influential Magic Tree House series, Mary Pope Osborne. In her talk, Osborne discussed how she originally only planned to write a few Magic Tree House books, but was encouraged to write more after she noticed how the books were becoming instrumental in many kids learning how to read. This inspired her to keep writing, and to set up programs to help foster children’s literacy through book giveaways at school and other events.
After a while, I returned to the KidFest tent, as the concluding event of the day, the Teen Writing Contest winners, which I, as a winner, was participating in, was about to occur. While waiting for the event to begin, I watched another author talk; David Roman, who discussed his graphic novel, Unicorn Boy. As part of his talk, he read excerpts from the book (with appropriate funny voices), and had audience members come up to the stage area to draw with him. Finally, he answered audience questions about being a cartoonist and his process.
Following the conclusion of Roman’s talk, the Teen Contest winners began their event. Facilitated by one of the judges of the contest, Jeff Campbell, as well as the aforementioned Dave Roman, the event involved the winners reading their pieces and then answering questions from the audience about their writing process and future aspirations. The pieces were all exceptional, telling stories of childhood misbehavior, troubles between friends, and in the case of Ashlyn Van Ry’s piece, “Be Wary of the Deep”, a tale of two scientists driven to the brink of madness in pursuit of the ugliest creature in the ocean. However, many of the stories were about having to move on from childhood to adulthood, new beginnings, and feelings around change in general, reflecting the stress and anxiety that teenagers often feel at that stage in their lives. These winners were able to process their feelings through their writing, creating pieces that could resonate with anyone.
Indeed, the Morristown Festival of Books is, in essence, a celebration of stories and the effect they have on people. It is a celebration of parents who read Magic Treehouse growing up and who had passed on that love to their children finally getting to meet the author who had shaped them into a lifelong reader. It is a celebration of authors and cartoonists, young and old, trying to impact lives through their writing. And, of course, it is a celebration of magical tree houses, deep-sea explorations, and boys who turn into unicorns.