Introducing the Dunes Lit Fest!
By: Emma Kelley | Director of School and Community Partnerships and Benjamin Boche, Ph.D. | Assistant Professor of Education at Valparaiso University
The Inaugural 2023 Dunes Lit Fest is scheduled for Saturday, May 6th, 2023 from 10-4pm at the West Lawn on Valparaiso University’s campus. You can learn more about the event at our website: https://www.valpo.edu/education/litfest/.
The Dunes Lit Fest is a Northwest Indiana regional literacy festival dedicated to cultivating and nurturing literacy and community by celebrating reading, writing, authors, readers, and the power of books, ideas, and imagination. This event was created by Valparaiso University’s Education Department and the Porter County Public Library System.
Valparaiso University’s Education Department is a community of learning dedicated to excellence and focused on innovation and leadership in the field of education. The Porter County Public Library System, through its programs, services, and events, encourages every patron to discover the joy of learning and the love of reading. The Dunes Lit Fest advances these goals by dedicating a space to promote and celebrate literacy through well-known and local author/illustrators and to bring awareness to community resources.
What’s in store for you at this FREE community event? First and foremost, this is a celebration of literacy and the power of books, ideas, and imagination! You will get the opportunity to hear from nationally-recognized, award-winning children’s book authors Carole and Jeffrey Weatherford, non-fiction author Barb Rosenstock, picture book authors and illustrators Molly Idle and Juana Martinez-Neal, Hoosier graphic novelist Rob Harrell, and Hoosier authors Rebecca Mullin and Kenneth Kraegel. When was the last time you met an author of a book you’ve read or had a book autographed or celebrated the amazing ways books can make a difference in your life? Part of the goal of this event is to help foster a community of readers and writers by celebrating books and authors and illustrators and also making them accessible to you. Don’t be shy - they are so excited to meet you!
The other main goal of this event is to help raise awareness of community resources for children and families. Our community sponsors for the event are all community partners who serve children and families. For example, The Porter County Library System is excited to share all their upcoming children summer programming and family events; The Porter County Community Foundation seeks to strengthen our community through lasting generosity and leadership.
First Things First Porter County, in particular, is directly tied to our last goal of this event, and that is to support child development through reading, writing, talking, singing, and play. We can think of no better community partner to accomplish this goal and with this event. The Dunes Lit Fest will provide a wealth of opportunities for you to share with your young children how learning happens all the time. Whether that’s going on the interactive storywalk that will be part of the festival, listening to the authors as they share about their books, singing along during the lunchtime concert, or simply learning about community resources, the Dunes Lit Fest is here to support your child at all stages of development!
We also plan on doing a book swap for the event where every child who comes will get the opportunity to leave with a book. Come and bring any books you want to share with others and take one for the road. It’s okay if you don’t have any books to bring - you can still take a book home and enjoy it!
As mentioned, the 2023 Dunes Lit Fest is the inaugural iteration of this event, and we plan on hosting this event every year for many many years to come. Come and be part of what we hope will eventually become the premiere literacy festival for the Northwest Indiana region!