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Bumbershoot is turning up the volume on its literary offerings this year.
What has long seemed like a festival sidelight will see an infusion of top rank authors that outshine past offerings at the Labor Day weekend gala. Among the lit headliners will be Chuck Palahniuk, Erik Larson, Mary Gaitskill, Sean Wilsey, Greil Marcus, Michelle Tea, Ben Fong-Torres, Alison Bechdel, Charles D'Ambrosio, Gary Shteyngart.
A special Friday evening benefit at McCaw Hall for 826 Seattle, the literary arts center for students, also will feature some significant literary star power, including Dave Eggers, Sarah Vowell, Daniel Handler (better known as kids author Lemony Snicket). Tickets ($30) for the 826 benefit, titled "People Talking & Singing," go on sale Saturday through Ticketmaster.
The upgrading of Bumbershoot's literary offerings this year was no accident. Certain areas of the festival receive intense evaluation every year and this was the year of focus on literary programming.
"We always want to improve," says Bob Redmond, Bumbershoot's programming manager, "and publishers are coming around more to the notion that Bumbershoot is a great opportunity to present writers and reach out to new audiences."
Adds Michelle Scoleri, the fest's artistic director: "It certainly helps when writers are advertised with people like Kanye West (the hip-hop star at this year's festival). For many people, writers are their rock stars, so now people can see we're putting them with our rock stars."
Another literary innovation this year are several pairings of writers on stage, including Palahniuk and graphic artist Charles Burns, Gaitskill and George Saunders, Larson and Sara Gruen, author of one of this summer's surprise hits, "Water for Elephants." The pairings are intended to spark lively debate and steer clear of authors merely reading from their books in the traditional manner seen so frequently throughout the year at bookstores and other venues.
The 826 benefit is a somewhat altered reprise of a similar benefit last year that was part of Bumbershoot programming. Last year's benefit, just as 826 Seattle was about to inaugurate programming at its Greenwood storefront, created great buzz, both with those in the audience and those on stage.
Eggers, the McSweeney's co-founder behind the 826 centers around the country, still remembers the Bumbershoot event fondly. As he relates, "Something happened in Seattle last year that knocked me -- and everyone involved in the show -- so flat that even now, nearly a year later, we're still talking about it."
Participants in the 826 benefit will tour five other cities this year in hopes of capturing that Seattle magic in other communities. The musical headliner at this year's benefit will be Stephin Merritt of Magnetic Fields, filling in the considerable shoeprints left last year by Death Cab for Cutie.
The complete Bumbershoot lineup will be announced on July 11. Tickets go on sale on July 15.
This year's festival runs on Saturday, Sunday and Labor Day.
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