FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:Karen Scholz, Library Development Specialist, 239.461.2914, email kscholz@leegov.com

FIFTH ANNUAL LEE COUNTY READING FESTIVAL

Bringing the Library’s Year-Round Programs and Resources Outdoors for the Day!

FORT MYERS, Fla., January 29, 2004 - For Immediate Release 

            FORT MYERS, Fla., January 28, 2004 - The fifth annual Lee County Reading Festival is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, March 13, 2004.  This unique celebration of reading is the only event of its kind in Southwest Florida.  An estimated 20,000 people attended this free, one-day event last year. The Festival takes place in Centennial Park, along the Caloosahatchee River in downtown Fort Myers, Florida.  International best-selling authors speak inside the adjacent Harborside Event Center and sign books for fans, alongside popular local authors and writers from around the state.

            The Lee County Reading Festival, presented by Lee County Library System in partnership with the Foundation for the Lee County Library System, News-Press, and WINK- TV, is a day long celebration of the power of reading for adults and children.  Among the 40+ authors in attendance on March 13 are:

• Douglas Brinkley - author of the recently released “Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War” and "Wheels for the World: Henry Ford, His Company, and a Century of Progress" 
• Rick Bragg - author of “I’m a Soldier Too: The Jessica Lynch Story” released in November 2003
• Kevin Powell - poet, journalist, essayist, public speaker, hip-hop historian, political activist, and TV, radio, Internet commentator, and author of “Who’s Gonna Take the Weight? Manhood, Race and Power in America”
• Phillip Margolin – former criminal defense attorney whose New York Times bestseller titles include “Gone, but Not Forgotten” and “Ties That Bind” 
• Tim Dorsey – author of wildly funny novels, “Florida Roadkill,” “The Stingray Shuffle,” and “Cadillac Beach,” due out in February
• Jack Prelutsky – writer of inventive poems whose award-winning books include “Tyrannosaurus Was a Beast,” “The Dragons Are Singing Tonight,” and “The Random House Book of Poetry for Children” 

Other highlights of the Reading Festival include author panels, adult programming seminars on popular interest topics, teen poetry slam, storytelling, a storybook character parade, crafts, puppet shows, street theater performances from area schools and theater troupes, and music for all ages. Community organizations and a variety of vendors will be on site.  Every child attending the Reading Festival will receive a free book and every teen will receive a free magazine!

For more information, visit the Lee County Library System web site:

www.www3.leegov.com/library and click on the Lee County Reading Festival link, or call festival coordinator Karen Scholz at (239) 461-2914.

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