Writers Galore at First Library Festival, But Readers Fell a Bit Short of Hopes

Saturday was typical for the La Mesa branch library, among the busiest in the county system. Packed.

But on the breezeways around nearby City Hall, a cast of characters rivaling the contents of the shelves was gathered at tables with fewer takers:

• Laura Kohl: A sixth-grade teacher in Escondido and a survivor of the 1978 Jonestown murder-suicide in Guyana, who wrote Jonestown Survivor: An Insider’s Look.
• Harrison and Josh Herz: Brothers 10 and 12, respectively, and their fantasy novel Nimpentoad, about bullying in Grunwald Forest.
• Ryan Afromsky: a Los Angeles resident who wrote I Have a Restaurant, using his real experience at Meltdown in Culver City (a grilled-cheese outlet) to entertain and educate children.
• Greg Fournier: a witness to the 1967 Detroit race riots, when he was a teenager. His novel on that time is called Zug Island.

They were among 50 authors who took part in the First Readers and Writers Festival—part of the city’s centennial celebration but also a way to salute retiring La Mesa librarian Liz Hildreth.

“I would guess that at least 200 people came through the event throughout the day,” said Friends of the Library President John Schmitz. “The library staff said they got an ‘incredibly large’ number of applications for new library cards.

Schmitz said he was mostly proud “but with just a pinch of disappointment.”

In 30 comment sheets returned to organizers, all 30 said they enjoyed the event, he said.

“That makes me proud that all the work done by the Friends of the Library, the Kiwanis Club of La Mesa, the library staff and Read Local San Diego was well-received,” he said. 

He said the busiest time of the five-hour event was in the morning, “when lots of people were visiting with the authors outside, the families with kids were in the library listening to children’s book authors, the Writing Women’s panel discussion was in full swing, and chivalry experts had the larger groups watching and listening to their presentation [with swordplay].”
 
The slight disappointment, he said, is that he had hoped to glean a few new members for the Friends of the Library. 

“Although membership application forms were available many places around the event, we didn't get one new member,” he said.  “I can only hope that since the Friends address is on the form, some will mail their application in shortly.

“I would note that there will be plenty of application forms available in the library if someone goes in to see how nice and well run it is.”

Glenna Bloemen of the Kiwanis Club of La Mesa and Publishers & Writers of San Diego noted five presentations—Robert MacPhee, a motivational speaker and author who has worked with Jack Canfield; a panel of writers from the San Diego Women Writer’s Association consisting of Laurel Corona, Zohren Ghahremani, Marjorie Hart and Caitline Rother; Dick Murphy, former mayor of San Diego; a panel of romance writers consisting of Jill Limber, Toni Noel, Georgie Lee and Terry Blain; and David Wogahn an e-book publishing expert.
 
“Although the turnout for the lectures was low, they were well-received,” Bloemen said.
 
Among other authors scheduled were historical novelist Laurel Corona (Finding Emilie), memoirist Marjorie Hart (Summer at Tiffany),  Linda Loegel (If You Don’t Like Worms, Keep Your Mouth Shut) and Roger Conlee, journalist and historical novelist who provided insight into the writer’s world.