DETROIT – Thousands of people gathered at Eastern Market on Sunday to celebrate their inner bookworm.
The 6th annual Detroit Festival of Books featured hundreds of authors and vendors from across the country.
“It’s really a party that celebrates books,” said Ryan Place.
He started the festival in 2017 and it’s been growing ever since.
“We’re here to encourage literacy, it’s a community wellness initiative,” Place said.
The goal is to spread the joy of reading to everyone, even some of the youngest readers.
Data from Data Driven Detroit shows that in 2022, 12% of third graders in Detroit meet or exceed their grade level standards for English and Language Arts, the number rises to 29% for third graders in Wayne County.
Organizations like Birdie’s Bookmobile are on a mission to change that.
“We give away new and gently used books to children in Detroit. We were hatched or launched on June 2022 and since then, given away over 6,000 books to more than to 1,200 kids,” said founder and executive director Alyce Hartman.
Every book they collected during the festival will go to fill 22 little free libraries to address what they like to call book deserts.
“There is a need for more access to children to have access to books in their homes. We’re helping build print rich environments at home,” Hartman said. “100 (printed material) is considered a baseline for having a print rich environment.”
It doesn’t matter the age, or the reading level, Detroit Festival of Books just wants people to feel empowered to crack open a new adventure.
“There are adult literacy programs that we work with and we really encourage you to get started and it’s never too late to start reading,” said Place. “Books can and will change your life.”