When the mind is hungry, few things satisfy as well as a good book. Fortunately, there are feasts around the country throughout the year to fulfill every taste. From small block parties to massive convention exhibits, in every size and genre, there is a book event waiting for you. With the long winter finally departing, the number of book fests, fairs, exhibits, conventions and all variety of literary celebrations is growing. This is good for writers, readers and the publishing industry.

In the age of Amazon and other online booksellers, you might feel inclined to lounge in your … whatever you lounge in … and simply connect through the internet to someplace in cyberspace for a book you’ve preselected in your mind. It’s fast. It’s convenient. It’s also impersonal, colorless, bland. When is the last time, ordering online, you discovered a book or spoke with its author, experienced the “bookness” of books with all your senses (yes, a book can even inspire a taste on the tongue), felt exhilarated as if you were a guest at a banquet? Book fests can offer all these rewards and more.

Book fests may simply be large book sales, but most combine presentations, workshops, readings, book signings, exhibits and social gatherings, along with sales. Some of the biggest and best American book fests still to come on this year’s calendar include:

Printers Row Lit Fest, Chicago, IL June 7-8.
National Book Festival, Washington, DC, Aug. 30.
Decatur Book Festival, Decatur, GA, Sept. 6-8.
Brooklyn Book Festival, Brooklyn, NY, Sept. 15-21.
Boston Book Festival, Oct. 25.
Texas Book Festival, Oct. 25-26.
Bouchercon 2014, Long Beach, CA, Nov. 13-16.

In other places around the world, top book fests include:
Sydney Writers’ Festival, Australia, May 19-25.
Hay Festival, Hay-on-Wye, Wales, May 22-June 1.
FLIP, Paratay, Brazil, July 30-Aug. 3.
Festival Letterature, Mantova, Italy, Sept. 3-7.

If you’re looking for a way to spice up your literary life in 2014, feast on a book fest!