The 2023 Banned Books Week writing contest has a winner! Congratulations to Kimberly Hillestad O’Bannon for Odds and Ends. Honorable mention goes to Taylor Bell for The Monster Heist.
Thank you to everyone who submitted. Read the winning stories here:
Read Odds And Ends Read The Monster Heist
Because we know you like to read, and because we imagine you might like to hear one of your favorite authors, we wanted to reach out to you. As you probably can guess, wellknown authors often have very high speaking fees, think $10,000 to $100,000+. As the Fest’s budget is very small, ordinarily the Fest does not offer speaking fees. This makes it difficult to recruit many high-profile authors. With the help of some remarkable volunteers, the Fest has had some amazing good fortune over the years, yet realistically we know that some authors we’d like to feature (and think you would like too) will never come for travel and lodging only.
That’s where you come in. Book clubs are filled with passionate readers. And some of you might be willing to help us with this goal. Chairs Susan Santa Cruz and Gael Sammartino are already “off and running” with several pledges from book club members. We hope you’ll consider donating. Donations are tax deductible. Checks should be made to CALS Foundation, and sent to 100 Rock Street, Little Rock, AR 72201. Please designate “Book Club Campaign” in your check’s memo section.
For anyone who donates, later down the line we’ll be sending a short list of authors we think might be able to be secured with funds raised. If you donate, you will get to vote on these, and possibly hear the author at the Fest. We hope you’ll consider this.
Any donation is appreciated. Thanks for your consideration and we hope to see you at the 2020 Fest (April 23-26)!
Honor or memorial gifts are an everlasting way to pay tribute to someone who has touched your life. Give a donation in someone’s name to mark a special occasion, honor a friend or colleague or remember a beloved family member. When a tribute gift is given the honoree will receive a letter acknowledging your generosity and a bookplate will be placed in a book. For more information, contact 501-918-3025 or calsfoundation@cals.org.
Spreading your gift out through monthly contributions is a great solution for your budget and ours. Your monthly donation provides ongoing and predictable support we can count on to fund educational and cultural programming for the patrons, communities, and neighborhoods being served by CALS.
Leave your legacy with a planned gift that can help ensure quality materials, programming, and services for our libraries. For more information, contact 501-918-3025 or calsfoundation@cals.org.
Or, sign up for Kroger Rewards and a portion of your purchases at Kroger will be donated to the CALS Foundation. Simply go to krogercommunityrewards.com, click “Create an Account” to sign in, and select CALS Foundation as your organization to support.
The CALS Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization. Donations made to the CALS Foundation are tax-deductible for United States federal income tax purposes. Read our Privacy Policy.
The Six Bridges Book Festival is a project of the Central Arkansas Library System (CALS). If you have a CALS library card and would like to preview the work of this year’s Festival authors, you may check out a book, eBook, or audiobook using the CALS catalog.
The first time you log in to our catalog you will need to create an account. Creating an account gives you access to all these features.