Watch: Renaissance Woman Leslie Zemeckis Plans First Santa Barbara Literary Fest as a "Celebration of Storytellers"
First look at an upcoming downtown event honoring books, writers and the struggles of the latter to produce the former.
On May 2 and 3, the first Santa Barbara Literary Festival is set to roll out through the streets of downtown — from the Lobero and Alhecama theaters, to the Karpeles Manuscript and Main Public libraries, the Hilton Beachfront and Kimpton Canary hotels, and many points in between.
A sprawling, strolling event packed with literary stars, the weekend fest is the brainchild of Leslie Zemeckis, three-time author, four-time documentarian, part-time podcaster and book columnist, and full-time force of nature.
“It is a celebration of storytellers of all genres, from screenwriters to inspirational speakers, to bestselling authors that are coming in from all over town, along with our local authors,” Zemeckis told Newsmakers TV this week.
“My model was really, one - Roger Durling’s a dear friend, and I love what he’s done with the Film Festival. And I thought, why can’t we do something like that with books?” she said. “And the L.A. Times, of course, their book fair is a big inspiration.
“So it was kind of combining those two ideas,” Zemeckis added. “Santa Barbara’s a no-brainer. It’s a destination point. My authors (whom she’s interviewed on her podcast, The Plotpoint), when I contacted them, were like, ‘yes, we’d love to come.’
“So it’s happening.”
‘Fabulously ambitious’. In her preview of the festival, SB Independent Arts, Culture and Community Leslie Dinaberg aptly described it as a “fabulously ambitious undertaking,” undertaken by Zemeckis and partner-in-planning Lorissa Reinhart as a “true labor of love.”
Zemeckis has traveled widely to visit book festivals, and returned from the San Miguel Writers’ Conference and Literary Festival in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, convinced that a similar celebration was a natural for her home town.
“By going to all these festivals, I saw what you needed,” she said in our conversation.
“You need the keynotes (and) you need to involve the community. That’s why the idea of doing it in downtown Santa Barbara, in various places, is really exciting, because you get the Lobero, you get the Library Plaza, and people won’t be inside in a conference room all day,” she added. “People will be walking the streets. It’s going to be very walkable. And you can also stop and get a coffee or go to a local restaurant and really just show the beauty of this place.”
Dinaberg’s piece supplies a substantive survey of the dozens of writers and panels to be on offer, the festival website offers complete information on scheduling and tickets, and our conversation with Leslie provides a behind-the-scenes at the event’s origin story - and the literary passion of its chief organizer.
“I get up with my coffee - I read. I read in the bathtub. I read before I go to bed. I take a book. After this, I have a doctor’s appointment. I’ll take a book,” Zemeckis said. “I read all the time in little pieces while I’m going to school full-time.”
Check out our full conversation with Leslie Zemeckis about the Santa Barbara Literary Festival via YouTube below or by clicking through this link. Our podcast is available on Apple, Spotify, or on SoundCloud here. TVSB, Channel 17, airs the show every weeknight at 5 p.m. and at 9 a.m. on weekends. KCSB, 91.9 FM, broadcasts the program at 5:30 p.m. on weekends.
P.S. Newsmakers’ genial host will be a volunteer moderator for a festival panel that features an all-star lineup of OG journalists discussing the life and times of Rolling Stone, in honor of a A Brand New Beat: The Wild Rise of Rolling Stone Magazine, a new book about the first 10 years of the publication by panelist Peter Richardson.
