To the editor:

With so much discussion going on about cuts from Washington in funding for cultural matters, it's important that the community here in Bristol know that what has become a major annual cultural event, Bristol BookFest, is proceeding full steam ahead on selecting book and program for 2026.

To that end, here are some of the comments the BookFest Committee recently received from Jason Aukerman, PhD and Director of the Ray Bradbury Center, one of the experts/speakers at the BookFest weekend this past May. Dr. Aukerman has authorized us using his remarks.

“Dear Bristol BookFest Committee, Permit me, if you will, a moment of sincere gratitude—not only for the opportunity to speak at your capstone event but for the rare delight of being immersed in an atmosphere so bracingly intellectual and warmly human. It is no small feat to assemble such a program: one that carries the weight of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 with the proper reverence, while simultaneously fanning its still-glowing embers into fresh cultural conversation. You did this not with the overbearing piety often afforded “classic” texts, but with the spirited urgency that Bradbury himself would have admired.

“From the moment Kim picked me up from the airport on Friday afternoon to the moment Steve dropped me off on Sunday evening, I was enveloped in something I find to be increasingly rare: a continuous, rolling symposium of thoughtful, generous, and inquisitive people. One could scarcely cross a room—or indeed a cobbled street—without stumbling into a conversation that challenged, delighted, or deepened my mind. Whether discussing the legacy of banned books, our unfortunate political climate, or the architecture of hope, I found myself among people who were not only insightful but sincerely caring—stewards of literature and culture in the truest sense….

“I need to underscore just how impressed I was with the attendance and community engagement. At the Ray Bradbury Center, we labor all year toward our own literary festival — Festival 451indy, held each September during National Literacy Month. In 2023, we were fortunate to host New York Times bestselling author Steven Barnes and National Book Award winner Dr. Charles Johnson at the historic Madam Walker Theatre in Indianapolis. We spared little in promotion: underwriting commercials on our local NPR station, running aggressive campaigns across social media, and papering the city in flyers. Despite this, we were greeted by a respectable, though modest, crowd of seventy.
”I recount this not to bemoan the challenges of regional literary programming, but rather to emphasize just how remarkable your turnout and engagement truly were. It’s no exaggeration to say that what you achieved in Bristol — a city both steeped in history and crackling with contemporary energy — has provided me and my team with new models to aspire toward.”

Bristol has every reason to be proud. And by “Bristol,” I mean not just those behind BookFest or those who attended sessions this past year, I mean all of Bristol.

Allen Clark
Bristol