On Sept. 12, downtown Ithaca was transformed into a haven for book lovers of all ages to explore the vibrant local literary scene. Over the next four days, crowds gathered under a blue, sunny sky to enjoy indie bookstore pop-ups, Purity ice cream and conversations about their favorite books.
Buffalo Street Books kicked off its fourth annual Ithaca is Books Festival on The Commons and brought illustrious authors, poets, teachers and storytellers to share their work with the community.
In addition to a book fair featuring local authors and indie bookstores on The Commons, the festival included a variety of events catered to all ages: children’s book readings, storytelling workshops for adults and panels with authors of all genres.
Lisa Swayze, general manager of Buffalo Street Books, came up with the idea for the festival and made it her mission to engage as much of the community as she could. Some of the key returning collaborators this year — aside from Buffalo Street Books — were Autumn Leaves Books and PM Press Publishing, Odyssey Bookstore, Story House Ithaca, Tompkins County Public Library and the Children’s Reading Connection.
“So many different community organizations and involved folks have helped make it happen,” Swayze said. “Every year, we get bigger and every year is a first.”
Ithaca is Books started out as a small book fair at Buffalo Street Books in 2021 with only a few speakers and has grown immensely over the past three years. Eleanor Henderson, professor in the Department of Writing at Ithaca College, was the featured speaker of the first Ithaca is Books Festival with her then-just published memoir, “Everything I Have Is Yours: A Marriage.”
This year, Henderson led a conversation with one of her favorite authors and personal heroes, Jonathan Lethem.
Lethem was the keynote speaker for this year’s festival and every seat was full at his conversation with Henderson on Friday night. Lethem read from two of his books, “Brooklyn Crime Novel” and “The Collapsing Frontier,” and discussed his inspirations and experiences that led him to where he is today. He also mentioned his commitment to publishing every few books with a smaller publisher, as he published “The Collapsing Frontier” with PM Press, an independent and radical publisher that owns Autumn Leaves Books.
“I do think that Ithaca is Books is a truism,” Henderson said. “It reflects both the reality and a kind of aspiration that we can make our identity and find ourselves and connect with each other through reading and writing.”
There is no shortage of festivals in Ithaca, even literary ones. The roots of Ithaca is Books can be traced back to Buffalo Street Books, an indie cooperatively-owned bookstore that prides itself in creating a selection that highlights underrepresented communities and authors. The festival holds similar missions, as well as being a place for small booksellers to be featured.
On Sept. 13, Buffalo Street Books hosted a panel of indie booksellers from around the area. Danny Caine, author of “How to Protect Bookstores and Why,” talked with Rachel Crawford, owner of Akimbo Books; Hillary Smith owner of Black Walnut Books and Swayze about the current state of bookselling in the U.S. During the panel, Swayze and Caine brought up how one of the biggest challenges indie bookstores are facing is being unable to compete with the cheaper prices of large corporations like Amazon. They also discussed their positive experiences with becoming involved in their communities and their local bookstores, as well as the more difficult side of being a bookseller during tumultuous and polarized times.
On Sept. 14, author Alexandra Kleeman, in conversation with Chris Holmes, professor in the Department of English at Ithaca College, discussed her most recent book about climate change. “Something New Under The Sun” is a work of climate fiction that paints a futuristic picture of California plagued by the catastrophic effects of climate change.
“It’s not so much about moving people with disbelief to believing [in climate change] — because there are very deeply entrenched reasons for that — but about moving people who do believe to act and to show other ways that things could be, and to show that there is a future we can thrive in,” Kleeman said.
Additionally, a panel of authors including Susi Dumond, Timothy Janovsky and alum Steven Salvatore ’08 discussed queer romance with editor John Jacobson. They delved into topics like the unique challenges that come with writing queer romance versus straight romance, and how their personal experiences as queer authors have impacted their writing.
Salvatore delved further into a common theme of the festival, which was how large scale publishers place limits on writers within underrepresented populations.
“We are making great progress because more books are getting published now that represent different queer relationships and experiences than we have in the past,” Salvatore said. “[Publishers] just don’t put marketing dollars toward books, but especially books by marginalized writers — whether it’s LGBTQ writers, whether it’s Black writers, indigenous writers, writers of color — it’s just a problem that spreads. Only a select few get the marketing might.”
Nia Nunn, professor in the Department of Education at Ithaca College, hosted an event called Floetic Friday along with Gladira Velazquez, assistant director of human resources at the Ithaca City School District. This open-mic event gave both Nunn and Velazquez a platform to share their work as well as an opportunity for audience members to discuss the role of writing in their lives.
“This festival and opportunities like this allow us to have fun with literacy, have fun with words and books, and in some cases, fall in love with books or reconnect with books,” Nunn said.
Not only was the festival a way to reconnect with books, but a way to reconnect as a community. Lucia Carucci, a student at Ithaca College and an avid reader, luckily stumbled upon the festival and ended up walking around.
“[Literary festivals are] so important because they bring everybody together,” Carucci said.
Thomas Pettitt ’20 now lives in Syracuse and returned to Ithaca to attend the festival. He said these kinds of festivals are pivotal to communities because they bring people together in a unique way.
“This town cultivates such a vibrant culture of creation,” Pettitt said. “[Ithaca is Books Festival is] really celebrating the people. They’re celebrating the art of everyone who is creating.”
One of the local authors featured at the festival was Amanda Jaros Champion, who wrote “100 Things to Do in Ithaca Before You Die,” an inside scoop on how to get out into the community and nature. She is one of the many local authors selling their book with Buffalo Street Books.
“I love books, that’s the bottom line,” Jaros Champion said. “I love independent bookstores. They are in touch with the community. They’re in touch with what people are wanting and are interested in.”
This year’s Ithaca is Books festival created an environment for readers and book lovers of all kinds and allowed its attendees to explore Ithaca’s vast literary scene while emphasizing the importance of supporting indie bookstores, small publishers and local authors. While the festival has grown considerably over the past four years, Swayze said she has new ideas for future renditions of the event.
“Someday we’re going to have a really big name author that everyone wants to see and it’s going to be in the State Theater,” Swayze said. “That’s our goal.”
