From left to right: Stacey Anderson, Desire Dexter and Kathleen Klompien
Photo by Ethan Adler
Written by Ethan Adler
On the weekend of April 18 and 19, a peculiar phenomenon took over the University of Southern California. More than 350 exhibitor tents lay dolloped across the quad like whipped cream. By noon, it became difficult to even hear the person standing next to you. Bilingual music and poetry emanated from nearby sound stages, authors and artists pitched products to passersby, and volunteers moderated communal crosswords on larger-than-life dry erase boards all across the quad. 150,000 people had flooded the brick walkways of the campus, arriving from all over California to enjoy the LA Times Festival of Books. Among the tents and the madness, appeared a flash of red: the CI English department.
Our booth was staffed by a volunteer team of faculty and students alike. As one of the only colleges attending, our main goal going into the festival was simple: to publicize our English Department and The Island Fox.
To that end, we advertised The Island Fox’s reading event, handed out pamphlets, and reminded people that no, we are not actually located on the Channel Islands. People were surprised to learn that the newest California State University has such an interdisciplinary English program—classes are crosslisted with more than 12 other departments—and were happy to celebrate student work by picking up previous editions of The Island Fox. We almost ran out by noon on the first day, and had to give out pens instead. Previous alumni stopped by to say hello, recruiters dropped in to get faculty perspectives on the college, and lots of grandparents learned about CI for the first time.
From left to right: Lilly Hartley-Pantoja, Delia Fischer, Ethan Adler, Mary Adler, Rachel Gonzalez, Stacey Anderson, and Stacey Beauregard
Photo by Ethan Adler
To engage with the creative nature of the festival, we gave away writing prompts courtesy of Stacey Beauregard, CI English lecturer; encouraged kids to make zines and arrayed a tempting variety of CI merch to encourage conversation.
We estimated that, across the two days, we spoke with well over 500 people. And though the festival had a lot to listen to and even more to read, it is not difficult to imagine that we left an impression.
