Crime, romance, nonfiction and new location coming to the Southwest Florida Reading Festival

Fort Myers, FL, Jan. 10, 2018 – More than a dozen acclaimed and best-selling authors are coming to Fort Myers to meet fans and talk about their books at the 19th annual Southwest Florida Reading Festival on Saturday, March 3, at the Fort Myers Regional Library, 2450 First St., downtown Fort Myers.
The Reading Festival attracts popular authors for adults and children from across the country. The festival this year will relocate to the Fort Myers Regional Library due to construction surrounding the Harborside Event Center. The move also will tie the event more closely to library services and the library’s mission of promoting reading and life-long learning.
The festival is a daylong event filled with author presentations, lively activities for children, the latest library technology, book signings and a free book for every child.
The Reading Festival is the largest one-day reading festival in Florida and has been designated a “Top 20 Event in the Southeast” for the month of March by the Southeast Tourism Society.
“The festival invites popular authors to participate by sharing their real life experiences, thought processes and the evolution of their characters,” said Lee County Library System Director Mindi Simon. “It is fascinating to hear how they craft their page-turner plots and tie all the details together.”
The festival kicks-off Friday evening, March 2, with the Evening with the Authors event at the Fort Myers Regional Library, at which authors meet and mingle with attendees. Among the award-winning authors scheduled to attend the events include adult authors Scott Turow and J.T. Ellison and children’s author Michael Hall. The complete list of authors can be found at www.ReadFest.org.
The Reading Festival is free and community-supported through donations, sponsorships and grants. To help ensure the continuation of this free community event visit www.readfest.org to make a secure online donation.  Author information, directions to the event and more, is available at www.readfest.org or by calling 239-479-4636.
ABOUT THE SOUTHWEST FLORIDA READING FESTIVAL
Lee County Library System produces the Southwest Florida Reading Festival to inform the community about the resources and services available at their local Lee County libraries and to remind them that these resources and services are free with a library card. The Reading Festival is free and features a variety of activities for all ages and presentations by best-selling authors. Some of the authors who have attended in the past include Sue Monk Kidd, Susan Mallery, R.L. Stine, Janet Evanovich, Nelson DeMille, Erik Larson, Jeff Lindsay and hundreds more.
The Reading Festival’s objectives are to promote reading and literacy, increase awareness of the library’s programs and resources and foster partnerships between the Lee County Library System and the community. The Reading Festival aims to build a literate community by encouraging children to develop an interest in reading independently, which fosters an increase in vocabulary and improved writing skills. For more information go to www.ReadFest.org.