Festival of Words

The Delaware Festival of Words is a free, annual event for secondary students,

educators, and librarians designed to encourage a love of reading and writing by introducing

young adults to a diverse selection of authors and ideas. Librarians and teachers are encouraged to

bring students as a group, and to read a selection of the featured books in advance. Individual students

and public librarians are also welcome to attend. Sessions focus on interaction with authors,

discussion of suggested readings, activities to develop writing and poetry skills, and

the opportunity for students to express themselves in art and writing.

THIS YEAR’S FESTIVAL FEATURES:

THURSDAY, FEB. 16, 2017

JOHN DICKINSON HIGH SCHOOL

4-8:30 p.m.

Keynote presentations by THE PEACE POETS, a collective of artists who celebrate, examine, and advocate for life through music and poetry; and BRENDAN KIELY, New York Times bestselling co-author of All American Boys (a Coretta Scott King Honor book and winner of the Walter Dean Myers Award), and author of The Last True Love Story, and The Gospel of Winter.

ADAM SILVERA, New York Times bestselling author of More Happy Than Not and History is All You Left Me, in conversation with MAGGIE THRASH, author of graphic memoir Honor Girl and mystery We Know it Was You.

LARA DELOZA, author of eight novels for young adults, including True Confessions of a Hollywood Starlet, The Sweet Life of Stella Madison, and Winning.

A debut authors’ panel featuring authors Isabelsabel Bandeira andeira (Bookishly Ever After), JULIE ESHBAUGH (Ivory and Bone), and Meghan Meghan Rogers (Crossing the Line).

The festival will take place after school, from 4-8:30 p.m., with free bus transportation provided from

Sussex County, and a free meal for all participants. Registration will open in January. Teachers can register in PDMS #25444. 

Contact Jen Delgado at festivalofwordsde@gmail.com with questions. For details, visit:

http://www.festivalofwordsde.com/

Sponsored by the Delaware Teacher Center, Delaware Library Association, Gale/Cengage Learning, Wilmington University, Delaware Council on School Libraries, Red Clay Consolidated School District, and private donations.