![\"womensfestivalofauthors1\"](\"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/womensfestivalofauthors1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Pop-up bookstore at the Literary Women Festival of Authors. Photo by Sarah Bennett<\/em><\/p>\n They might hide behind thick, hardback covers and words so sinewy you can\u2019t help but keep reading, but authors are, underneath it all, just like many of us: inquisitive chatterboxes, compulsive storytellers and, despite their best efforts, occasional procrastinators.<\/p>\n At least that\u2019s what I learned at the 32nd Literary Women Festival of Authors, a day-long conference for book lovers that\u2019s nothing short of a Long Beach bibliophile tradition.<\/p>\n Held this year on Saturday March 1, more than 800 voracious female readers (okay, and a few men, too) from Long Beach and beyond arrived at the Convention Center bright and early, giddy with excitement. The first author, New York Times<\/i> journalist Denise Kiernan<\/a>, didn\u2019t start speaking until 9:15AM, but ladies began showing up at 7AM anyway, ready with nametags that had been mailed to them weeks prior and a mind ready to sponge up the day.<\/p>\n More than 1200 people applied for a seat this year\u2019s festival, many of them returning their stamped-letter requests (the only way to do it) within hours of receiving Literary Womens\u2019 registration announcement in their mailboxes. <\/p>\n For a certain set of people\u2014including but not limited to Long Beach Unified schoolteachers, Long Beach librarians, Cal State Long Beach writing majors and local book club members\u2014the Festival of Authors is one of the most sought-after events in the city.<\/p>\n It started in 1982 when two mothers were appalled enough at the lack of lady authors on the Wilson High School required reading list to do something about it. In an effort to raise awareness of talented female writers from around the country, the Literary Womens Festival of Authors began with a few guest speakers and around 200 attendees in a conference room at the Downtown Long Beach Hyatt.<\/p>\n It has since grown to take over four meeting rooms, two men\u2019s restrooms (converted into women\u2019s bathrooms for the day) and the entire Grand Ballroom on the Convention Center\u2019s second floor. Today, Literary Women also funds scholarships for new female writers, gives money to local school libraries and even has a growing collection of donated lady-authored books at the Long Beach Public Library.<\/p>\n \u201cWatch when they open the doors,\u201d one of Literary Women\u2019s 25 volunteers told me that morning as I stood aghast at the heaving line forming outside the ballroom entrance. \u201cThey rush in like a swarm of hornets.\u201d<\/p>\n The ballroom is set up like a massive gala with circular tables spread throughout and two podiums placed atop stages that bookend the space. For the first hour and a half and again for another hour and a half after lunch, invited female authors from all edges of the world and writing spectrum take to these podiums and give 45-minute talks, to which the audience clings on every word.<\/p>\n {loadposition latestlife}<\/p>\n Sometimes, the talks are serious, like Karen Connelly\u2019s<\/a>, which touched on her times spent discovering, then writing about, then being blacklisted by the corrupt Burmese military regime. Other times, they are narratives in their own right\u2014a run down of how an author got a particular story (like Denise Kiernan\u2019s), a summary of a Greek epic that inspired their own fiction work (like Madeline Miller\u2019s<\/a>), or a driving plot with character arcs and mixed metaphors centered around their career trajectory (like Susan Orlean\u2019s<\/a>).<\/p>\n No matter what the subject or who the author is, however, the talks are always inspiring, giving glimpses into the minds of some of the best contemporary female writers, glimpses that would be forever unavailable from just reading their noted works.<\/p>\n Of course there is time allotted between talks for mingling with fellow word lovers, and book-buying at the on-site pop-up store, but right before lunch, attendees must choose from one of three \u201cbreakout sessions,\u201d which are held in the meeting rooms off the main ballroom. These are a chance to spotlight female writers specializing in more niche works\u2014from thriller to romance to poetry\u2014to a smaller, devoted audience. <\/p>\n
![\"womensfestivalofauthors2\"](\"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/womensfestivalofauthors2.jpg\")
Though her book includes stories written about Hawai\u2019i after she returned to live in her father\u2019s native land, Kahakauwila spoke of how important it was for her to have grown up in Long Beach, the city that first helped her think about race, about what it meant to be a Polynesian living in the continental U.S.<\/p>\n