Books in Bloom
Oct 25, 2021 12:04AM ● By Anika Mills
You would be hard pressed to be bored in Columbia, Maryland. The Downtown Columbia Partnership is doing its best to make it even harder. Books in Bloom, now in its 5th year, is a signature event for the Downtown Columbia Partnership, and once again hosted some of the country’s best and brightest authors at this free, one-day, outdoor festival.
In addition to the authors, there were plenty of things to do in between presentations. Restaurants like Busboys and Poets and Cured were serving food for purchase. A pop-up bookstore (sponsored by Busboys and Poets) sold, not only books from the authors that were featured, but a variety of books from different authors and genres were available for every age. A huge chalkboard asked, “What are you reading?” and the attendees wrote down their answers. It was like a large retro twitter feed. Participants were interacting with one another while sharing information.
The line-up was impressive (full line up available on the Books in Bloom website) this year and included journalists Jake Tapper, lead Washington Anchor for CNN and author of The Devil May Dance, and Stacey Vanek Smith, co-host of NPR’s The Indicator from Planet Money and author of Machiavelli for Women. I had the pleasure of moderating a fireside chat with Washington Post reporter and editor, Amy Argetsinger, author of There She Was: The Secret History of Miss America.
Books in Bloom continues its tradition of using literature to encourage open dialogue on themes of diversity, racism, inequality and culture. The augmented reality comic book Jupiter Invincible written by authors Ram Devineni and Yusef Komunyakaa, along with artist Ashley Woods, features a young enslaved African American that is given the power of immortality during pre-Civil War colonial times. Also featured was Milagros Phillips, author of Cracking the Healers Code: A Prescription for Healing Racism and Finding Wholeness. Milagros gave a powerful presentation that had many festival attendees lined up to have their book signed.
The headliner was Pulitzer Prize winning Reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones, creator of the New York Times 1619 Project, which will be offered as a book that is scheduled to be released on November 16th. The 1619 project launched in 2019, commemorates the 400th anniversary of the beginning of slavery in what would become the United States.
Andy Shallal, owner and founder of Busboys and Poets, moderated the discussion with Hannah-Jones at the main stage. It was the perfect culmination of the day. Every seat was filled and as the audience grew it spilled to the outside of the tent. Audience members were so locked in and quiet, you could hear a pin drop as Hannah-Jones explained why she believes understanding our history as a country and society matters.
“How can you work to fix a society that you don’t actually understand how it came to be”, she asked rhetorically, and then followed with, “How can you address the inequalities that began in 1619 if you only think about 1776 and the ideals of liberty?” It was a wonderful discussion that many communities are struggling to have and there we were in downtown Columbia having it.
The Downtown Columbia Partnership did a wonderful job of bringing diverse topics and authors to our community for this event. If you missed it this year, don’t hesitate to come next year. Books in Bloom always has something for everyone.
Photography Credit:
Blaze Squirewell, Columbia Inspired Magazine
Downtown Columbia Partnership
