About eight years ago, Ryan Place was browsing the aisles at John K. King Used & Rare Books, amazed at the thousands of books housed in the four-story downtown building.
The bibliophile then realized that he wanted to do something similar, but in the form of a festival, celebrating Detroit’s network of authors, booksellers, collectors and enthusiasts. In the summer of 2017, Place did just that. He hosted the first Detroit Festival of Books, also known as Detroit Bookfest, inside Shed 5 at Eastern Market. Featuring hundreds of vendors selling books, comics, vinyl records and art, the event proved to be successful, attracting 10,000 people.
“I really wanted to create a party that celebrates books and that’s what Bookfest is,” Place told BridgeDetroit. “It’s one big party, and we’re here to inspire discovery and creativity. That’s what I love most about the event. You can come to Bookfest and discover things that you never knew existed.”
Beginning Friday, book lovers can congregate once again for Detroit Bookfest’s eighth annual soiree. Now expanded into a “book-cation weekend,” Place and festival organizers are hosting “Bookfest at the Main” 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday at the main branch of the Detroit Public Library. The event will feature author talks from several Detroit natives and Michigan-based writers. Portions of the program will be featured on PBS’s national program “PBS Books,” which is produced in Detroit.
On Saturday, folks can take part in a self-guided bookstore tour and visit some of their favorite shops. Detroit Bookfest has published a list of 85 bookstores throughout southeast Michigan and Ontario, Canada people can patronize, including local favorites John K. King, Pages Bookshop and Next Chapter Books.
The main event takes place 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday in Sheds 4, 5 and 6 at Eastern Market, featuring more than 250 vendors such as Wayne State University Press, InsideOut Literary Arts, Preservation Detroit and Book Beat. There will also be free children’s activities in DTE Plaza, the space between Shed 5 and Russell Street.
After the festival, attendees can check out the afterparty at Detroit City Distillery and try some drinks from the book-themed cocktail menu.
Place said the festival’s expansion is due to the strong support he’s received over the years from vendors, attendees, Eastern Market and the overall metro Detroit community.
“The idea went from my brain to a cocktail napkin,” he said. “I contacted a few people, things got popping and they just exploded right out of the gate.”
Sharing their stories
Two authors that will present at “Bookfest at the Main” include Detroit native and documentary filmmaker Curtis Chin, who released his memoir, “Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant” in 2023, and Detroit resident and cartographer Alex B. Hill, who released his latest book, “Great Lakes in 50 Maps” in June.
Detroit native Curtis Chin is an author and documentary filmmaker, who wrote his memoir, “Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant” in 2023. Credit: Courtesy photo
The rest of the lineup includes: Mark Crilley, The Astro Twins, Melissa F. Kaelin, Vanessa Ivy Rose and Barbara Henning. One outlier in “Bookfest at the Main’s” Michigan-heavy lineup is Los Angeles-based author and prison activist “Freeway” Rick Ross, who will be in attendance to discuss his 2014 memoir, “Freeway Rick Ross: The Untold Autobiography.”
Chin said Place reached out to him to be a part of the event after his book was selected as this year’s The Great Michigan Read through Michigan Humanities.
“Everything I Learned” is a critique on the social and political forces in Detroit that influenced Chin’s life growing up as a gay, first-generation Chinese-American in the Motor City. That also includes his experiences inside his family’s former restaurant Chung’s, located in Detroit’s Chinatown neighborhood. The restaurant was known for making and selling 4,000 egg rolls each week and attracting Chinese, Black and Jewish residents, even former Detroit Mayor Coleman A. Young.
Meanwhile, Place contacted Hill through Instagram, thinking the Great Lakes book, as well as his first book, “Detroit in 50 Maps,” would go over well with a local audience, Hill said.
“Great Lakes in 50 Maps” explores the five bodies of water in four categories — history and culture, ecology, infrastructure and physical. Hill’s maps show the lakes’ influence and confluences, from the Underground Railroad to monarch butterfly migration, as well as interesting information like how many NFL teams play on a Great Lake and where mysterious shipwrecks and Bigfoot sightings cluster.
“Detroit in 50 Maps” takes a unique approach to examining the city, from maps of the new coffee shops in town, areas with the highest concentrations of pizzerias, to all of the Coney Island restaurants located in the city.
Alex B. Hill is a Detroit cartographer, researcher and author of two books, “Great Lakes in 50 Maps” and “Detroit in 50 Maps.” Credit: Courtesy photo
Chin, who now lives in Los Angeles, said he’s happy to be home. While at Detroit Bookfest, he’s looking forward to meeting former Chung’s customers. The restaurant was open for 65 years before closing in 2000, serving generations of regulars. Chin said he received an email earlier this week from a man who used to live in Detroit, but now resides in Chicago. He remembered Chung’s famous egg rolls and how kids at his elementary school used to sell them for profit.
“That’s what I’m looking forward to, our customers coming up and saying hi and sharing a nice memory about our business,” Chin said.
Hill said he’s looking forward to hearing the stories readers have that accompany his maps.
“The different maps and print data points resonate with folks differently, but they always have stories to go with those,” he said. “That’s always fun to know, that that might help contextualize something for someone or brings back memories.”
A ‘lasting, lifelong impact’
In addition to gathering bookworms together, another important aspect of Detroit Bookfest is collecting books for Detroit youth. This year’s goal for the festival is to collect 2,000 donated children’s books in conjunction with Detroit nonprofit Birdie’s Bookmobile, Place said.
“There’s going to be a variety of yellow bins strategically placed around the market, and if people have any new or gently used children’s books, please bring them and put them in the bins,” he said. “At the end of the event, Birdie (founder Alyce Hartman) will collect those books, put them into her bookmobile, and then the next week, she’s going to take those around to kids in need all over the city.”
People browse a collection of books at the 2024 Detroit Festival of Books. This year’s event will feature more than 250 vendors selling books, comic books, vinyl records and art. Credit: Photo credit: Debbie Maciolek
While books are constantly competing with social media and streaming, Place believes people still enjoy the written word because it can change their lives.
“I don’t know if something happens to our brain waves when we read, but it’s definitely a different experience when you sit down with a physical book. It can have a lasting, lifelong impact on you,” he said. “And we talk to a lot of authors and we often encourage people to write books if they can’t find something that’s for them. You can have a tremendous impact on somebody’s life by writing a book. They could read it at a moment in their life when it really has a huge influence on the arc of their life and what’s going on with them. I love books, and I encourage people to read and to continue reading.”
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