Festival of Faith and Writing
Calvin College
April 15-17; all day
$80 student pass, $180 general pass
calvin.edu/academic/engl/festival, (616) 526-6770

A quirky ex-dairy farmer, a writer on Oprah's Book Club list and a Bible-translating pastor walk into a bar...

No, this is not the beginning of a bad joke. In April, authors Michael Perry, Wally Lamb and Eugene Peterson will converge not in a bar but on the campus of Calvin College for the school's biennial Festival of Faith and Writing.

These men, along with five dozen other writers, editors and artists, will be speaking during the three-day conference that seeks to facilitate respectful and honest conversations among spiritual people.

The first Festival of Faith and Writing began in 1990 and had 12 speakers. Originally dubbed "Contemporary Christian Writers in Community," the conference was fairly exclusive.

"[We]realized that there are a lot of writers who may not consider themselves Christians but are still writing about issues of faith in really interesting and engaging ways," explains Shelly LeMahieu Dunn, a member of the Festival Planning Committee. "We felt it was wise to broaden a bit and make sure those voices were heard too."

As former Calvin professor and Festival director Dale Brown once said, "We're looking for people who are serious about religion but are also serious about the act of literature."

The Festival, which is funded by Calvin, has hosted speakers from a range of spiritual backgrounds and experiences. Past guests have included Madeline L'Engle, Joyce Carol Oates, Annie Dillard, Katherine Paterson, Yann Martel, Salman Rushdie, Frederick Buechner and Elie Wiesel. The schedule for the 2010 Festival of Faith and Writing includes keynote speakers Scott Cairns, Parker Palmer, Mary Karr, the three aforementioned men, as well as Kate DiCamillo, author of The Tale of Despereaux, which was recently released as a major motion picture.
Shannon Jammal-Hollemans, also a member of the planning committee, attributes the ability of the Festival to bring in "big name" authors to "the relationships we've built over the years with different literary agencies."

As the Festival continues to draw upwards of 1,800 attendees, it also gains reputation in literary circles, and a wide variety of readers and aspiring writers, professors, teachers, librarians and book clubs.

Along with the size, the geographic pull has also increased.

"We have about a dozen guests coming in from China," Jammal-Hollemans says. "41 states, including Michigan, will be represented. We've been pleasantly surprised that even with the economic downturn, our numbers have stayed the same."

New to the Festival this year are three events at Ladies Literary Club in downtown Grand Rapids. Michael Perry and Kevin Young will be participating in readings and book-signings; documentary filmmakers Laura Waters Hinson will host a discussion of her film after it's screened. These are free and open to the public.

"It's exciting that we're sharing the wealth [of the Festival] with the Grand Rapids community," says Jammal-Hollemans.