By BILL CASTANIER
The pandemic may not have been good for much, as the New Yorker magazine recently noted, but it was for bookstores — as this weekend’s first-ever Lansing Lit Festival demonstrates by the number of relatively new stores that are hosting it.
The festival will feature more than a dozen authors, poets and comic book artists at nine independent bookstores, area libraries and performance areas. The three-day event, which kicks off Friday (Sept. 20), includes 22 individual readings, workshops and performances.
Bookstores and other venues are Hooked; Schuler Books; Deadtime Stories, Curious Book Shop; Robin Books; A Novel Concept; Everybody Reads; Wayfaring Booksellers; Socialight Society; Williamston Theatre; Lansing Community College Dart Auditorium; East Lansing and Delta Township libraries; and Reach Studio Art Center.
Events are free, thanks in part to a $10,000 grant from the Ingham County Hotel/Motel Tax Funds for Arts and Tourism.