![\"Old](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/4-Kamishibai-storyteller-and-Mark-Twain.jpg\")
In addition to Twain, festival-goers enjoyed cleverly fun experiences with an array of works and their authors, including, Louisa May Alcott, author of \u201cLittle Woman\u201d; Edgar Allan Poe, master of the macabre short story; beloved poet Emily Dickinson; renowned African-American poet, novelist and playwright Paul Laurence Dunbar; \u201cAlice\u2019s Adventures in Wonderland\u201d author Lewis Carroll; and the children\u2019s poet famously illustrated by Maxfield Parrish, Eugene Field.<\/p>\n
The festival grew from a Write Out Loud concert program of Twain works, according to the organization\u2019s artistic director, Veronica Murphy.<\/p>\n \u201cWe realized Twain had a big draw,\u201d Murphy said. \u201cWe thought: Twain was from the 1800s, and we had the Old Town state park, and they were happy to help us make [the festival] happen. Chuck Ross, of Old Town\u2019s Fiesta de Reyes, has been one of our financial sponsors from the start. We also get money from the county, the city, several small foundations, and we have partners who provide in-kind things for us. And the library helps us market it. One of the great things about its being free is it\u2019s accessible to anybody. We want anyone \u2014 anyone \u2014 who is interested to be able to come, so it is completely free.\u201d<\/p>\n Festival events for readers of all ages \u2014 and those still working on the alphabet \u2014 were included local San Diego actors performing 19th-century stories and poems by Mark Twain, Emily Dickinson and others; The TwainFest Cakewalk, Needle in a Haystack game for children; Tom Sawyer\u2019s Fence Painting and much more.<\/p>\n In particular, the Authors Salon provided a very special opportunity to meet a star-studded list of authors, portrayed by local actors. Visitors to the park\u2019s Cosmopolitan Hotel were greeted by Emily Dickinson, played by Rhianna Basore; Charles Dickens, by Paul Jacques; Mark Twain, by Tim West; Helen Hunt Jackson, by Elizabeth Matthews; Henry David Thoreau, by Steve Smith; Louisa May Alcott, by Melissa Baldwin; and Walt Whitman, by David Cohen.<\/p>\n Additionally, live period music was heard throughout the day, played by the Armory Band on vintage instruments. A Civil War Field Encampment was also featured, which replicated the roles of soldiers and nurses, and provided classes for all ages in fife and drum. Some attendees even dressed up in period attire for 19th Century Literary Costume Contest.<\/p>\n For more information about the annual TwainFest festival or Write Out Loud, visit WriteOutLoudSD.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2014Kit-Bacon Gressitt formerly wrote for the North County Times. She now writes for her site ExcuseMeImWriting.com and she is the publisher of WritersResist.com. She also hosts Fallbrook\u2019s monthly Writers Read author series and open mic, and teaches Women\u2019s, Gender and Sexuality Studies in the Cal State system. Reach her at kbgressitt@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Por Kit-Bacon Gressitt<\/p>","protected":false},"author":844,"featured_media":234825,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"Old Town festival celebrates great American literature","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11547,11551,11550,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-253579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-features","category-news","category-top-stories","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/844"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/234825"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Old](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/2-Monique-Gaffney-tells-a-story.jpg\")
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