Book Festivals Gather Readers Across Communities
Book festivals in Bloomington, Eau Claire, Westport and Burnham-on-Sea are bringing authors and readers together through talks, workshops and community programming. Bloomington’s third festival features Wright Thompson and Michael Koryta, while organizers say the event’s growth helped launch BloomREADS, a local literacy initiative; a larger festival is planned for 2027 at Switchyard Park. Eau Claire’s five-day Chippewa Valley festival offers events for a range of ages, most of them free, and Westport’s Rolling Sun festival explored topics including artificial intelligence, fast fashion, the internet’s future and Mayo football. Burnham-on-Sea’s fifth festival featured author talks, writing workshops and a competition celebrating writers of different ages, and organizers plan to return next year while seeking more support for local writers.