By Lorelai Wilson
The Fayetteville Public Library is celebrating the 10-year anniversary of ‘TrueLit,’ a community festival featuring workshops, keynote speakers, and opportunities for community writers and literary enthusiasts.
Evolved from a regional festival called Ozarks Writers Live, TrueLit’s strongest ties are within northwest Arkansas. The Fayetteville Public Library (FPL) partners with the Fayetteville Public Education Foundation, the University of Arkansas Program in Creative Writing and Translation, the Walton Arts Center, and many more community organizations to put on TrueLit each year.
All ages and skill levels are welcome at TrueLit, whether they be families, students, local authors, or general book lovers. Additionally, aspiring writers in the area have the chance to pitch their ideas to publishing agents, along with the ability to attend classes and workshops to strengthen their work.
“We’ve had several people get picked up by agents or get their work published, but even if they don’t make that connection they often get really valuable feedback on how to build their craft,” manager of adult and reference Heather Robideaux said.
In addition to the professional opportunities within TrueLit, the festival is a great resource for public education. FPL partners with the Fayetteville Public Education Foundation and encourages the yearly keynote speakers to present to students of all ages, a tradition that has grown in popularity with the festival as a whole. Director of library services Willow Fitzgibbon said TrueLit has reached between 3,000 and 4,000 students, ranging from elementary to high school.
These numbers are not including the connections made with students of the University of Arkansas. TrueLit has seen lots of undergraduates, especially from the UA Program in Creative Writing and Translation. Last year’s agent pitch sessions saw “great representation from this program,” Fitzgibbon said.
This UA Program is an extremely beneficial partner for TrueLit, bringing in authors from their Distinguished Reader series. The UA program partners with TrueLit staying in contact year round to plan the event, said Fitzgibbon. This year, they are featuring novelist Ladee Hubbard.
“Once we have our dates set and our keynote authors set, we can kind of build the festival out from there,” Robideaux said.
Between catering to beloved aspects, with the pitch meetings and publishing opportunities fostering new ideas, FPL stays busy year-round cultivating TrueLit. Starting with workshop brainstorms, author ideas, and keeping up traditions, a lot goes into planning a festival of this level of involvement.
This year’s keynote speakers include Daniel José Older, Neal Shusterman, and R.L. Stine. These speakers showcase TrueLit’s professional diversity, as they’ve brought in a lead story architect for Star Wars, a New York Times best selling novelist, and an iconic horror author.
This diversity is reflected in this year’s workshops as well. Between the coveted pitch sessions, art classes, and even literary yoga, TrueLit has all the bases covered. Just in time for Halloween, the festival is also offering horror writing workshops.
On a local level, TrueLit is notably hosting the Poet Laureate of Arkansas, Suzanne Underwood Rhodes. “There are regional writers really doing some amazing work and we didn’t want to lose sight of showcasing their opportunities too,” Robideaux said.
The festival is in a constant process of improvement, as the library tracks the success of each year’s activities. Each workshop’s participation numbers are counted, allowing for adjustments to be made for top efficiency. Thanks to these numbers, it is known that TrueLit averages around 5,000 participants a year, said Fitzgibbon.
Along with success tracking, FPL is working to keep workshops small enough so that participants get the optimal experience.
“In writing workshops you don’t necessarily want a crush of people coming in,” said Robideaux. “You won’t get the hands-on ability to work or share.”
There is so much variety to be found at TrueLit, and this year’s opportunities certainly show that. TrueLit reaches people from big events in the library’s event center, to more one-on-one opportunities such as the pitch sessions, Robideaux said.
TrueLit Festival begins Oct. 14 through Oct. 26, with activities spanning across every day of the week. While all events are free, registration is required on occasion through the Fayetteville Public Library website.