The Latino Book Festival stumbled last year, but the event refuses to die. Evidence of its tenacity was on display when 70 Latino writers and thousands of visitors descended on California State University, Los Angeles for this year's edition.
Reyna Grande, a Latina writer and head of the organizing committee for the festival, said that poor planning and the rugged economy combined to threaten its existence and cause the cancellation last year.
That marked a low-point for the festival, which started 12 years ago under the direction of actor Edward James Olmos. The event drew many authors and big crowds in the early year, but it began to shrink in recent years. By 2007, organizers had to stage the event in the parking lot of a bank in North Hollywood.
"It was terrible," Grande said, recalled the 2007 festival. "I was invited as a writer to participate and when I got there, I turned around and I said I am not going to present here. They were all cramped together. One writer was presenting in one corner and cars were going by behind him, and the poor guy was trying to read and cars and cars going by.
That year only five writers attended because nobody wanted to go. As a writer, it was embarrassing to say: 'I was at the Latino Book Festival.'"
Grande said she decided to fight instead of quit on the festival.
"That is what motivated me to say I want to be a part of the organizing committee, and I want to change the festival, because they don't have to be like that," she said. "They should be very nice festivals, where people have fun, learn something, and say I want to come again next year."
The rebirth of the festival this year started at the beginning, according to Grande, who took a first step of presenting the program to Robert Cantu, a professor at California State University, Los Angeles. He, in turn, presented it to his colleagues in the Department of Chicano Studies and other departments, seeking sponsorships. That helped establish relationships between the festival and the school.
"Five years ago, what they did was go to rent a place and the university charged them a lot of money, to such an extent that the organizers ended up in debt," Grande said.
This year the university did not charge to host the festival, cutting a major cost of the event.
Grande said that all of the authors appeared at no charge also, including some such as Victor Villaseñor, who commands fees as high as $10,000 for similar.
The cost-cutting didn't solve every problem, though. Organizers have noted the light turnout of visitors at the event, help on the weekend of October 10-11. Lisbeth Espinoza, one of the organizers of festival, said that the event drew 6,000 visitors on Saturday, and 3,000 on Sunday. Each day featured 50 talks by authors, with 10 in Spanish on each day.
Eduardo Cholula, author of self-help books such as "My Reason To Live", "Parables of Success", "Starting Below Zero", "A Beautiful Gift", and "Will of Iron", among others, said he believes a lack of publicity combined with the recession held the crowds down. He took a moment during the festival to give his estimation.
"There are few people, but the few people are great and we're here for them," he said. "We've been here from 8:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m., and what I noticed is that people are still looking for books to help them get ahead, to be better people — and young people are looking to learn about the Latino culture. That's fabulous."
Cholula said that self-help books are very important in these times because every person needs their self-esteem to be at a proper level.
"It is important, in these times of crisis, to see problems as real growth opportunities, not as problems or threats, but as opportunities to get ahead," he said.
Gilma Polanco attended the event with her friend and her daughter, drawn by the one of the author's on the schedule.
"I found out that Victor Villaseñor was going to be here," Polanco said. "I've read his books, and I was interested in coming to meet him."
Polanco said she regretted the low attendance at the fair, and guessed that it likely stemmed from a lack of advertising or publicity.
"They might not have given much information or advertised it much," she said. "I barely found out from my friend, who received an e-mail, and she forwarded it to me. It's a shame that the community doesn't find out about these types of events. Maybe they should promote it more."
Grande also noted several strong points that offset some of the disappointment of the relatively light turnout.
"People came to listen to the authors, to meet them and to buy books," she said. "This is the first time we've seen this, because they're not here to see what they can get for free, but to support literature. There are students, teachers, librarians, everything, and it's the first time we have it like that."
Grande's said that her dream is that the festival will one day draw crowds comparable to the Los Angeles Times Book Festival, which drew an estimated 30,000 to the UCLA campus on the Westside.
"This is what I want," she said. "What inspires me is that, at the Los Angeles Times Book Festivals, hardly any Latino authors go. I have tried to go, and they don't pay attention to me. All the writers I know tell me that they fill out the application every year and they never accept them. That is why I want to have this festival, so that all Latino writers have a place to promote our work and feel like we belong here, and we don't have to go begging from anybody to please pay attention to us."
Grande is moving ahead, with plans for next year's Latino Book Festival already in the works.
"Next year's goal is to have more sponsors," she said.
Mireya Olivera is editor of Impulso.
Photos by Impulso
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