Literature and Literacy in Flagstaff

Flagstaff will be alive with literature and literacy events over the next eight days. The Northern Arizona Book Festival was founded in 1998 by the Literacy Volunteers of Coconino County as a direct and tangible link between basic literacy efforts and ambitious literary endeavors. With the hyperbole to which book-lovers often seem inspired, the downtown Flagstaff book festival has been called the “premier cultural event of the Northland” as well as the “single greatest reason to live in Flagstaff!”  I think there are lots of other reasons to live in Flagstaff as well. Nonetheless, the next week’s events certainly are some of the reasons. 

Although the official festival begins Friday, our local bookstore, Bookmans, will host a reading this evening by author Evan Handler. The actor and critically-acclaimed writer is best known as Harry Goldenblatt from HBO’s Sex and the City and  is the author of the memoir Time on Fire: My Comedy of Terrors. The event runs from 7 p.m. – 8 p.m. Wednesday. There are several other similar events surrounding the festival this week and next.

Throughout the weekend, beginning Friday, downtown Flagstaff will be filled with authors and their audiences for the main event. Visit the Northern Arizona Book Festival calendar page for a full schedule of events. Enjoy workshops as well as book discussions, and head back to Bookmans Sunday morning for a gathering of authors making themselves available for book-signings. Proceeds from the festival benefit Literacy Volunteers of Coconino County.

Thursday, May 1, Literacy Volunteers will host its annual Mountain Spelling Bee  fund-raising event. RE/MAX Peak Properties has adopted Literacy Volunteers of Coconino County as its community-giving target. Our agents contribute funds and time as tutors to the literacy effort. Team Heitland at RE/MAX Peak Properties will enter a team in the spelling bee – last year we won the “Spirit Award” after coming close to taking first prize in the final round. This year, we have a spelling ringer and hope to win. Come see us at the Radisson Woodlands on May 1 from 6 p.m. - 9 p.m., join in the fun and benefit a good cause.