NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — As small bookstores struggle to survive during the pandemic, the Southern Festival of Books has gone virtual to help the industry stay afloat.
For around three decades, book worms and authors have flocked to the mid-state for the Southern Festival of Books. This will be its first time as a virtual event. Tim Henderson said, "We’ve got the capacity now to reach anyone that has access to the internet, has access to the festival."
Henderson puts on the event through the non-profit, Humanities Tennessee. "We certainly do everything we can to support the bookstore community.”
In the past, the October weekend event brought approximately 30,000 people to Legislative Plaza in Nashville. As the co-owner of Parnassus Books, Karen Hayes said usually this is a big sales weekend."It’s a beautiful weekend, and it’s sad we aren’t out on the plaza," Hayes said, "We are seeing some sales coming in yes, it’s not the same as being on the plaza, but it might help people to remember that sales go back to Humanities Tennessee, so they should follow up and order the books."
Parnassus Books in Green Hills has been open for curbside pick-up. "There are a lot of bookstores struggling out there because it’s really tough."
Due to COVID-19, many customers have turned to ordering books online according to Hayes. "Luckily we are able to process a lot of orders, and it’s kind of a Catch-22, we’ve got the store closed because we are getting so many online orders from across the country, and it’s made it hard to open up and add customers into that mix."
Hayes said not canceling the festival has helped, and she's making the most of it. "It’s just been really fun."
The Southern Festival of Books extended its free virtual events through October 11th. They're streaming on their Facebook page and YouTube channel. It’s free and open to the public.
