By Page H. Gifford
Correspondent
For those who are avid book lovers, on Jan. 8, at 10 a.m., Friends of the Library welcomes Kalela Williams, author and director of the Virginia Center for the Book in Charlottesville to talk about her new book, the center, and the upcoming Festival of the Book.
Williams’ passion for the written word has led her on a lifelong journey, pursuing writing and self-expression in her work.
“I grew up near Atlanta, Georgia, where some of my favorite occasions were scholastic book fairs at school, going to the East Point Library, and going across town to Oxford II, a huge used bookstore in Buckhead, or the Shrine of the Black Madonna in the West End for Black-authored books,” she said. She then attended Mary Washington College (that’s what it was called back in the day) where I got a degree in English. A few years later, she graduated from Goddard College with an M.F.A. in Creative Writing.
Growing up reading and loving the worlds she was immersed in through books led her to writing.
“I knew I loved to write almost from the time I could hold up a pencil. When I was in the second grade or so, learning some basic vocabulary words that we’d have to use, one per sentence, I would make it so that my sentences told a story. A few years later, my mom bought me a marbled composition book, and I found I could spend all day scribbling.”
Like authors of her generation, she combines history with fiction to create compelling stories. Her current novel Tangleroot, was inspired by Virginia’s history. In a previous job for a non-profit, she says she drove around Central Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley, meeting with volunteers. The towns she spent time in inspired a setting for a fictional place she calls Magnolia, Virginia. She explains her vision in a unique way that is powerful and deeply felt.
“The imposing plantation homes I saw rising behind the trees made me envision the Black residents who lived and were forced to labor there, and I wanted to tell their stories. The old cemeteries tucked behind iron gates made me think about the past, too, those buried with marble markers, and those whose graves lay unmarked and forgotten,” she said. She wanted to have a contemporary girl, become the centerpiece of her story, and Noni Reid, became her main character. She adds that she wanted to seat her in conflict with her mother because ultimately, she saw this as a mother-daughter story. But it is also a story about black history and a young girl’s discovery of the past and what it means for her in the present.
While writing is what most writers do on the side while keeping a day job, Williams has been lucky to stay within her realm of expertise and build on it. After graduate school, she worked in the University of Virginia’s Admission Department. She began teaching creative writing, as the Assistant Director of Furious Flower Poetry Center at James Madison University, and then in public program directorships at the Free Library of Philadelphia and later Mighty Writers, a Philly-based youth organization.
Her current job as director for the Virginia Center for the Book incorporates a variety of events and activities, including the visual arts. The Virginia Center for the Book has a Book Arts Program that offers workshops, artist talks, Block Nights, where artists can get together and work on projects, K-12 activities, and other public programs, such as 2025’s Alpha Buzz Series, which explores the use of cool, portable hand presses. They have memberships available for hobbyists and professional artists alike to use the Book Arts Center studio, located in the Jefferson School City Center.
“Bookmaking and printmaking have always been interests for artists, and we’re keeping the fun alive.” The Virginia Center for the Book offers year-round programs. This past fall, they hosted a book launch for author Aran Shetterly, a book talk with bestseller author Amor Towles, and one of the Books and Brews event series, in the Shenandoah Valley, featuring local author Evan Friss.
Spring and summer promise to bring more programs in other parts of the state.”
Festival of the book is a book lover’s paradise, and the center will be hosting the festival from Thursday, March 20-Sunday, March 23. They will announce its official schedule in January.
“We are gearing up for an amazing series of events. We’ll have everything: thrillers and true crime, science and climate change, history, fiction and poetry of every stripe. The two headliners who we are so excited about are Emma Donoghue and Louis Bayard, who will be in conversation together about their new books.”
Williams adds that with the Virginia Center for the Book being a part of Virginia Humanities, they have so much to look forward to. The Virginia Humanities is celebrating their 50th anniversary with events that incorporate the work of all of our departments, and with programs in all regions of the state.
