Printers Row Lit Fest is an annual

book fair A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physical arr ...

and literary festival held in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, Illinois in September. The fair's literary "tableau . . . fills a downtown district where

linotype machine The Linotype machine ( ) is a "line casting" machine used in printing; manufactured and sold by the former Mergenthaler Linotype Company and related It was a hot metal typesetting system that cast lines of metal type for individual uses. Lin ...

s and printing presses once whirred." The neighborhood was an early book making hub. Founded in 1985 by the Near South Planning Board and originally called the Printers Row Book Fair, it was initially intended to attract visitors to the Printers Row neighborhood on Chicago's near South Side, which had previously been a major publishing hub. The

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

acquired the festival from the Near South Planning Board in 2002. It is now known as the Printers Row Lit Fest. Festivals are located on Dearborn between Congress and Polk and along Polk between Plymouth Court and Clark. In the early 21st century, attendance was around 80,000 to 90,000 attendees. According to

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...

, it was by then the

Midwest The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four Census Bureau Region, census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of ...

's largest book fair. In the 2010s, attendance reached 150,000. Included in the festival are hundreds of book vendors, multiple talks with authors, readings, and other programs.

C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American cable and satellite television network that was created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a nonprofit public service. It televises many proceedings of the United States ...

Television has broadcast from the festival. For its initial thirty-four years, the fair was held in late spring or early summer in June. In 2020, the fair was held in September, and it has been regularly held in September ever since.

References

External links

Printers Row Book Fair Official Website
{{Books Literary festivals in the United States Book fairs in the United States Festivals in Chicago Festivals established in 1985 1985 establishments in Illinois

See also

References

External links