Festival of Books postponed in light of coronavirus

The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books has been postponed to October because of concerns regarding coronavirus, the Times announced Tuesday. The event, which has been hosted at USC for the last nine years, celebrates creative works through panel discussions and performances with authors, journalists, filmmakers and musicians and brings thousands to campus each April.

“Whenever we host the public at our events, we take health and safety seriously,” the Los Angeles Times wrote in a statement. “As we make plans to host the Festival of Books and Food Bowl in the fall, we will continue to monitor developments with the coronavirus in Southern California, and cross-reference with any guests who may be traveling to Southern California from affected areas to participate in our events.”

The move to postpone the festival follows several coronavirus developments in Los Angeles County, including the first case of community spread Monday. L.A. County declared a public health emergency last week after 20 cases of coronavirus were confirmed in the county at the time of publication. California has also announced a state of emergency following the first death in the state to receive federal and state funding to address the crisis.

The festival, which is going into its 25th year, will now be held Oct. 3-4. The 40th Book Prizes awards ceremony, which is typically held in conjunction with the festival, was canceled. Winners and honorable mentions, however, will still be announced April 17 as planned. The Times also postponed its annual Food Bowl, an event that features hundreds of L.A.-based food activities, including dinners, restaurant pop-ups and classes over the course of May, to fall.

USC has yet to comment on the postponement of the festival but has canceled or postponed other University-related events, including the weekly farmers market and the Latino Alumni Association Scholarship Gala. The gala, which was supposed to be held Saturday in downtown L.A., will now be held in May.

Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism professor and Media Center director Christina Bellantoni, who previously worked at the L.A. Times, has been a part of the festival in past years and has served as a moderator and panelist. Bellantoni was also supposed to be part of a panel this year and work on the L.A. Times Stage.   

“There’s a big economic impact,” Bellantoni said. “There’s hundreds of people who help staff it, who have to do the maintenance. Lots of preparation for having such a large thing on campus, but that’s the thing with any of these events that are getting canceled.” 

ReadersPLUS, a math and literacy tutoring program in Joint Education Program, annually hosts a booth at the festival where they read aloud children’s books and host a writing contest for elementary school students. Brittany Acevedo, a 2019 graduate and a volunteer in ReadersPLUS for five years, said she initially felt disappointed with the festival postponement but understood that the decision was necessary. 

“I don’t think there will be too much of an impact for it being moved to October other than [waiting] a little extra time,” Acevedo said. “In terms of the spirit of the community and the organizations that go with the [festival], I think there’s no hard feelings, it could be worse.

Festival of Books and Food Bowl are just two among several large entertainment-related events to be postponed or canceled because of the spread of coronavirus. The 2020 South by Southwest Innovation Awards, an annual film and media festival that several USC students planned to attend in Austin, Texas, was also canceled last week. The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival will be postponed until October, the L.A. Times reported Tuesday.

The lineup of authors, performers and panelists will not be released until late August, L.A. Times Vice President of Communications Hillary Manning said in an email to the Daily Trojan. The L.A. Times will determine whether authors and performers who were scheduled to appear in April will be able to accommodate the date change. 

“We expect that the lineup will have some changes but are hoping many of the authors and performers will be able to join us in Oct.,” the email read.  

USC will conduct classes online Wednesday through Friday along with the week following spring break in response to the threat of coronavirus, and the University will continue monitoring the situation to determine any further necessary action.

This article was updated March 11 at 12:30 a.m. with interviews from individuals planning to participate in Festival of Books and with more information about the impact of coronavirus on the festival lineup.