USC is hosting the L.A. Times Festival of Books for its 30th annual celebration, bringing together world-renowned authors, up-and-coming authors and book lovers to dive into the world of storytelling.
“There are going to be a ton of authors, speakers, panels, experts, across different stages, tailored to different audiences,” said Gabriella Conte, a representative for the Festival of Books.
This is the first year the festival will take place with USC’s new security protocols, including gates and ID checkpoints around the campus perimeter.
Participants at the L.A. Times Festival of Books can expect to attend talks with bestselling authors such as Rebecca Yarros, known for her ‘romantasy’ series, “Onyx Storm,” and Jon M. Chu, best known for directing “Crazy Rich Asians” and “Wicked,” will be releasing his new book, “Viewfinder.”
“There is a L.A. Times main stage, there’s a dedicated cooking stage, a dedicated poetry stage, a children’s stage, the De Los stage, which is in partnership with the L.A. Times and Español,” Conte said. “I feel like that’s rarer and rarer these days, so I encourage the community to take advantage of the fact that it’s a free event.”
Manuel Betancourt, author of “Hello Stranger,” will appear at two panels this weekend, one on the De Los Stage and another at the YA Stage in Seeley G. Mudd 123. Betancourt said he is “honored” to attend events like the Festival of Books because it gets more readers engaged in his work.
“I’m actually very excited about getting [to] talk to fellow Latino authors about our memoirs and our experiences,” Betancourt said. “For ‘Hello Stranger’ to sort of find those two different audiences, and the wider festival books readership to get to know me — and hopefully enjoy and buy the book.”
Among the 600 authors, artists, celebrities, musicians and other contributors, student-led musical performances will be set up at the USC Stage at Hahn Central Plaza, directly across from Tommy Trojan.
The Trojan Marching Band is set to kick off the festival on Saturday at 10:00 a.m. The following 11 performers range from USC Thornton’s Afro-Latin American Jazz Ensemble to solo artists.
Michele Lu, a senior majoring in popular music performance with an emphasis in songwriting, will have her set from 12:10 p.m. to 12:40 p.m. on Sunday. Lu will be performing her latest single, “Shotgun”, a soon-to-be-released song, and “Gold Rush,” along with other original songs and covers.
“I just had to kind of curate my set lists in different ways — for example, [I’m] not including some of the super high energy or crowd-focused songs in this set that I’m doing on Sunday,” Lu said. “I don’t want to distract people if they’re getting into a book or something like 20 feet away from me.”
There are an estimated 150,000 people expected to attend the festival, giving these student artists a sizable platform to showcase their music.
“I want them to take away that if they ever wanted to listen to my music outside of the festival, that it’s very versatile– I write for all types of audiences,” Lu said. “I know you’re supposed to find your niche audience when you’re writing music, but I’ve always had the belief that if you’re very genuine and authentic in your writing, then it should be pretty relatable for all types of people.”
Sophia Condon, a sophomore also studying popular music performance, will be performing with her band on Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Last year, Codon played the festival as a backup vocalist– but this weekend will be her first performance under her own name.
“I’m also just really excited because I have some more original music that I get to bring to the stage. It’s just an opportunity [to] do what I love… It’s decked out, anybody who’s walking around campus can see it,” Codon said. “Performing live is my favorite thing to do and I try to always make my sets fun for the audience and make my performance engaging and try to interact with them as much as I can, even when I’m singing.”
Entry to the free event looks different this year because of the checkpoints that have been in place since mid-August.
“Attendees for the Festival of Books will access campus the same way as they would on other days. Pedestrians and guests arriving in vehicles will be asked to show a valid government-issued ID,” David Carlisle, assistant chief of DPS, said in an email.