Tens of thousands of people gathered at the 30th Los Angeles Times Festival of Books on the University of Southern California campus on Saturday, packing closed windows and waiting in huge lines to obtain the signatures of their favorite authors.
The annual festival has readings, projections and panels with authors and other speakers. This weekend, it should bring together more than 550 storytellers on seven outdoor stages and 15 interior places.
It was too early to find out how many people attended the event at noon on Saturday. But the sun was shining after a rainy morning, and an organizer said that the festival looked “super cluttered”, estimating more than 85,000 people at the end of the day.
More than 100 people gathered inside Eileen Norris Cinema Theater at noon on Saturday to hear the authors EA Hanks, Laurie Wooley, Sloane Crosley and Kareem Rosser discuss the writing and treatment of sorrow with the moderator Elizabeth Crane.
The authors thought about the nature and stages of the sorrow during the one hour panel. Many have undergone double losses – entering their writing process by thinking that they would think about a loss, only for another to occur.
“Even if these five stages exist, it is so non -linear,” said Crane, who wrote many fictional works as well as a first memory.
There were humorous moments in the midst of the stories of the writers of the tragedy. The crowd laughed while Crosley and Hanks have planted on the good reading lists of Spotify to listen to during writing on suicide.
In “Grief is for people”, Crosley mourns the jewelry she loses in a burglary, until she is also forced to count with the loss of her best friend and mentor to suicide.
Hanks is the author of “The 10”, a memory that follows his journey traveling alone on the Interstate 10 while trying to treat the life and death of her mother, as well as the death of a close friend. She is the daughter of Tom Hanks and his first wife, Susan Dillingham, who used the scene name Samantha Lewes.
Hanks also shared an overview of his process to write on sorrow.
“If someone is there and try to write, know that it improves,” said Hanks about “choking” after receiving his first book agreement. “This book took a decade, so the Catharsis of the publishing … concerned my creative recovery.”
The festival started on Friday evening with the 45th Los Angeles Times Book Prize ceremony at Bovard Auditorium at the USC. The prices recognize exceptional literary achievements and celebrate the highest quality of writing of authors at all stages of their career.
The winners were announced in 13 categories for works published last year. Find a full List of winners here.
In addition, the award -winning author Pico Iyer received the Robert Kirsch Award for success for life, and the famous poet Amanda Gorman received the innovator prize for his work promoting literacy, empowering young people and aware of important questions.
The ceremony opened by the remarks of the editor -in -chief of Times Terry Tang and was modified by the columnist of Times LZ Granderson.
“In a world that now feels so confusing and painful, this weekend gives us everyone a chance to find a feeling of unity, goal and support,” said Tang.
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