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Wordstock is coming back to Portland this fall, sweeping into the Oregon Convention Center October 8-11th with a bevy of acclaimed authors, booksellers, publishers and more, on-hand to keep book lovers entertained all weekend long. The annual gathering is celebrating its 5th year, with one headlining author fans of the festival will rejoice hearing from: Sherman Alexie. Demand for an appearance by Alexie has been growing since Wordstock’s inception, five years ago.
Alexie, author of The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian and other acclaimed work, also embodies one of the festival’s main focuses this year: young adult literature. With the success of young adult series such as J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga, it should come as no surprise to book lovers that young adult fiction is taking the spotlight this year.
Just this summer, the Wall-Street Journal reported that Borders book stores were launching a new teen department to capitalize on the growing demand for young adult authors. According to WSJ’s report, sales for young adult fiction, fantasy and science fiction are up 13% from last year – despite a general downturn for most booksellers.
Other young adult authors at this year’s Wordstock Festival include Scott Westerfeld, author of the acclaimed Uglies series and the Midnighters trilogy, fantasy author R.A. Salvatore, and Primavera author Mary Jane Beaufrand.
Of course, Wordstock also has plenty to offer fans of all types of literature. For a complete list of authors attending Wordstock 2009 and more information about the festival, check out their website here.
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