WHAT WAS THE GENESIS OF THE LITERARY FESTIVAL?
In late 2005, Berks County native author and radio personality Charles J. Adams III came up with the idea for a broad-based literary festival in the “Greater Reading” area after attending a similar event in Brattleboro, Vermont. He contacted a handful of friends and colleagues who shared his passion for the written.and read word. Namely, they were Carol J. Haile, Anna Hehn, Rosemary Hauseman, and Ellen Gallagher. Each was involved in education, art, and/or literary endeavors. Each of those individuals in turn fanned out into their sphere of influence and recruited or inspired others to join in the organizational effort. That effort built up steam over several months, and participants eagerly scheduled events and programs. Monthly meetings were held in the GoggleWorks Center for the Arts in center-city Reading. Although the festival is not in any way a project of the Berks Arts Council, the council allowed the committee to meet in its offices at the GoggleWorks until the number of festi
