COVER STORY .

Welcome to Collingswood


	print	email	reply	rss feed

Published: Oct 4, 2006

With literary festivals happening left and right this weekend, where's a bookworm to go? Philly's 215 Festival is all hip and rock 'n' roll, but look at Collingswood. It's rolling out three tents of writers, almost 30 book readings and signings, a poetry slam (2-4 p.m.) and a lemonade stand at its one-day outdoor fest.

There's no shortage of big names, either. In one tent, talk show radio host Michael Smerconish should prompt a healthy l'il discussion with his anti-PC book,

Muzzled: From T-Ball to Terrorism, True Stories That Should Be Fiction

(11 a.m.), while Inky columnist Sam Carchidi should at least make sports fans happy. He'll speak alongside the broadcaster he tenderly profiles in Bill Campbell: The Voice of Philadelphia Sports (noon).

Down the avenue in another tent, L.A. Banks brings not one but four vampire stories (2:30 p.m.), Secret Confessions of the Applewood PTA's Ellen Meister explores the equally creepy underbelly of suburbia (11:30 a.m.) and Collingswood gal Melissa Jacobs reveals her new novel, Love, Life and Linguine, which she calls her love song to Jersey (noon).

Got kids? The third tent's devoted entirely to children's authors, including Linda S. Day (Grandma's Magic Scissors) and Jordan Sonnenblick (Girls, Drums and Dangerous Pie ), with additional readings inside the Collingswood Library.

After meeting and greeting the scribes and illustrators, there's still book and craft sales, kids' activities, grub and — to wash it all down — a little dixie cup of lemonade.

Fourth Annual Collingswood Book Festival, Sat., Oct. 7, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., free, Haddon Avenue, Collingswood, N.J. Visit www.collingswoodbookfestival.com for a complete schedule of events.