Sara Gruen of “Water for Elephants” fame headlines the 8th Annual Blue Ridge Bookfest. Photo by Tasha Thompson.
Bold Life’s coverage area is blooming with enough literary festivals this spring to fill a beautifully plotted garden. Lanier Library’s month-long poetry fest is still happening, the brand-new Looking Glass Writers’ Conference gets kicking in May (look for an interview with headliner Ron Rash in next month’s print issue), and the Eighth Annual Blue Ridge Bookfest in Flat Rock features Sara Gruen, best known as the author of the beloved novel-turned-movie Water for Elephants. A recent transplant to Asheville, Gruen is a well-established animal lover whose other books include Ape House and the horse-themed novels Flying Changes and Riding Lesson.
More than 30 authors will fill up the two days, including fiction writer Jubal Tiner of Brevard College — founder of the Pisgah Review, a former editor of the Cimarron Review, and a contributor to Oxford American, among other major periodicals.
Blue Ridge Bookfest, April 22 and 23 at Blue Ridge Community College’s Flat Rock campus. Admission is $25 for Sara Gruen’s Friday-night reception (5:30pm); workshops and related events are free. http://www.blueridge.edu/blueridgebookfest.