Wine Country’s Toast to Literary Genius
The Sonoma Valley Authors Festival (SVAF) in Sonoma, a unique gathering of literary giants and literature lovers, took place on a beautifully sunny weekend from April 26 to 28. Co-founded by R. David Freeman and Ginny Gustafson Freeman, this spring celebration stood out for its diverse range of authors, speakers, and thought leaders, who shared their insights and experiences over three days of celebration in the heart of California wine country.
It’s hard to imagine that the SVAF is only in its seventh year and brings in such top-caliber talent. Calling in authors from across the country to share their experiences and inspiring stories and to discuss their recent tomes, the festival proves a boon to authors promoting their books and to literary lovers looking for a book (or several) to transport them through its pages.
This year’s festival was a treasure trove of literary heavyweights, featuring presentations by renowned authors like Amy Tan, author of several acclaimed novels, including The Joy Luck Club and her latest release, The Backyard Bird Chronicles. Pulitzer Prize winner Doris Kearns Goodwin also graced the stage, presenting her newest book, An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s.
“The intimacy of the Sonoma Valley Authors Festival creates amazing synergies, where the audience is as interesting as the speakers!” said Ginny Freeman. The festival audience is well-educated, well-traveled, and dedicated to lifelong learning and life enrichment. The atmosphere engages speakers and audiences alike, forming connections among audience members that are as equally magical as those between the audience and speakers.”
The festival’s impact on the community was palpable from the start. The weekend began with a Festival Kick-Off and opening remarks led by Festival Founders Ginny and David Freeman. Their vision was to bring a world-class literary event to the Sonoma wine country and share the programming with the community through three community-focused events: Friday’s Students Day, the Virtual Festival, and Saturday’s Authors on the Plaza, a free, family-friendly special event for the Sonoma community. Since its inception in 2018, the festival’s Students Day has given students more than 15,000 free books written by presenting authors.
The Kick-Off was preceded by a Luncheon on the Lawn and the opening of the Festival Bookstore, which featured titles by Festival authors. Bestselling Irish author Colm Tóibín led the first Keynote Session, discussing his new novel Long Island, a sequel to his bestseller Brooklyn. San Franciscan Amy Tan led the second Keynote Session, with Senior Correspondent and Chief Arts Correspondent for PBS News-Hour, Jeffrey Brown, acting as host. Tan spoke about her journey to writing her latest novel, The Backyard Bird Chronicles, which transports the reader into the magical bird world and her path to becoming one with the aviary world through observation, writing, and illustration.
Keynote Session Three was hosted by New Yorker writer David Grann, author of the epic nonfiction opus Killers of the Flower Moon. His latest tour de force bestseller tells the harrowing saga of a shipwrecked British warship crew, initially hailed as heroes but later accused of mutiny in The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder. Director Martin Scorsese and actor Leonardo DiCaprio are already busy adapting the novel for film.
This year’s speakers also included Hampton Sides, Jonathan Eig, Elliot Ackerman, Admiral James Stavridis, Kori Schake, Akhil Reed Amar, Dr. Deepak Srivastava, Wade Davis, Anita Gail Jones, Luis A. Miranda Jr., Talmage Boston, Craig Frazier, and more.
Return interviewer Jeffrey Brown of PBS aptly described the experience: “One of the nice things for the people who attend the festival is they get to talk to the authors. Not only hear them speak, but ask the authors their own questions—they can share what they like about the book and, in turn, get to know the authors.”
In addition to fourteen keynote sessions, three community events, and eleven breakout sessions, other weekend highlights included:
- Daily Author Book Signings at the Festival Bookstore
- Friday Sponsors Dinner at the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn and Spa Pavilion sponsored by The Financial Times
- Friday Evening Fireside Poetry Reading with Colm Tóibín and PBS’s Jeffrey Brown
- Saturday Stargazing with Astrophysicist and Nobel Prize-winning Alex Filippenko, PhD
Visit https://svauthorsfest.org// to learn more. All images courtesy of Sonoma Valley Author’s Fest.