LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Louisville Book Festival was back for its sixth year, bringing readers of all ages together to celebrate the power of stories.
Mychal Threets is no stranger to the library. As the new host of the reboot of the popular series “Reading Rainbow,” it only made sense to make a stop at the festival.
Threets, who used to be a librarian himself, lit up when he was handed a Louisville library card, calling the library one of the most special places in any community.
“Everybody belongs in books. Everybody has a chance to see themselves in the books.”
“[I visited] the Western Library; the first library in the nation for Black people, staffed entirely by Black people,” Threets said. “I think that’s where we’re at today in celebrating literature; celebrating literacy is saying it is for everybody. Everybody belongs in books. Everybody has a chance to see themselves in the books.”
Threets captured what the festival was all about: a celebration of the city’s culture and a push to bring more books and opportunities to communities that need them most.
“We want to have the broadest possible access to books and knowledge and learning for everybody in the entire region,” said Barbara Sexton Smith, interim executive library director of the Louisville Free Public Library.
It’s not just about books, but the people behind them.
“Meeting the different people who are here to look at books, it’s [about] meeting the other people who have the books and all the different stories they’re telling,” said Tony St. Clair, author of “Daredevil at the Wheel.”
Threets said he hopes to carry on the festival’s mission of expanding reading access, carrying the legacy of advocates such as LeVar Burton and Dolly Parton.
“I’m just so excited for more and more kids to become readers and to know that anything is possible through literature,” Threets said.
The festival said its goal was to ensure every child who attended left with at least one free age-appropriate book.