It’s not something one easily forgets, falling in love. It’s visceral and thrilling and staggering. And it leaves a mark.
“It was the first time I read Nabokov,” says Katherine Whitworth. “A sentence hit me in a way that was physical. It wasn’t just looking at the words and thinking they were pretty. No, it was something else.”
Vladimir Nabokov was the first writer Whitworth fell hard for. At about the age of 13, the written word had stolen her heart.
It started early enough with “The Boxcar Children,” “Charlotte’s Web” and “Little House on the Prairie,” her father reading to her before bed. Maybe some of it was in her blood, her father, William Whitworth having been a writer and editor for the New York Herald Tribune, The New Yorker and The Atlantic.
Regardless, she was hooked.
For a while, however, Whitworth steered away from a writing career after growing up with people saying she took after her dad and that she was destined to follow in his footsteps.
“I think that I spent many years running away from the idea of writing,” she recalls. “Maybe it was just a general youthful rebellion of not wanting to be told what to do. You don’t want to be pigeonholed into something, you want to find your own way.”
But it’s hard to forget a first love. Whitworth kept coming into writing jobs and freelance opportunities, and eventually stopped fighting it. Now the senior program coordinator for the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute, her resume includes editing and writing for The Oxford American, Arkansas Life and a slew of books she fact-checked.
Editing is like a word puzzle for her. She loves to figure out what a writer is trying to say and why they’re not quite saying it, loves helping make their work its best.
It was during her stint at Oxford American when she first got involved with the Arkansas Literary Festival, helping put on a wacky quiz show event. After then spending a few years on the talent committee, which coordinates what authors and presenters to bring in, Whitworth is now the chair of the 2015 Arkansas Literary Festival.
A gathering of diversity, the festival is one where the committee does its research and is focused on providing something for everybody, intentional about choosing presenters who vary in celebrity, gender, perspective, ethnicity and of course, genre.
Whitworth puts in her time studying the big literary festivals of the world, coupling that inspiration with what they’ve learned from the Arkansas festival over the years. The goal is to then become an event that others look to for inspiration in the future. Now it its 12th year, it’s looking like the festival is well on its way to greatness.
“We continue to have an incredible lineup every year. The festival just grows, attendance goes up, our reach gets broader, the people we’re able to bring in become more varied and exciting. It’s a great production,” says Whitworth.
Not only is the production impressive, but the atmosphere as well. Whitworth and team have created an environment where authors truly engage their audiences. Instead of rolling in, punching a card and kissing some babies, these authors take time to answer questions, sign books, linger to chat. They attend the Author! Author! event to float around and meet people. They even take part in the Writers in the Schools program and visit local schools while they’re in town.
It’s unique to say the least. Guests can in one moment be completely dazed by an author they admire, and in the next moment be chatting away with them like old friends. And despite how many times Whitworth has experienced that sensation or seen it in others, it still gives her goosebumps.
“If words are important to you, if reading is something that has been close to you for however long, to see someone interacting that way with a hero, it’s thrilling.”
At the end of the day, Whitworth wants people to walk away from the festival awestruck after meeting authors they admire and excited about discovering new ones, while proud to live in a place that brings a kind of culture in which they can participate.
There may be no fairy godmother, and no one may be able to explain where it comes from, but there is a pure magic that comes in a lovely strand of words. It’s a tale as old as time, and Whitworth will keep telling it.
Q&A: The Next Chapter
Soirée: What have been your favorite presentations over the years?
Katherine Whitworth: Richard Ford — It was standing room only, but the energy was so great, and he was still so generous with his time for our guests; Donald Harington — I was very lucky to see him. He was one of my favorite writers, Arkansan or otherwise; Diana Kennedy — Yes, the unofficial queen of Mexican food had an amazing presentation. That one sold out, too.
Which presenters are you most looking forward to this year?
Kevin John Brockmeier — Not only is he local, but he is a tremendous writer and I always enjoy seeing him and I always enjoy reading his work; Dr. Marilyn Wedge — Her writings on ADHD have been read millions of times. It’s kind of a hot button issue and I think it’ll be really interesting; John Watters — That pretty much goes without saying.
Who are your favorite authors?
Mary Frances Kennedy Fisher, Vladimir Nobokov, Edith Wharton, Mark Twain, Nicholson Baker, Donald Harington, Ellen Gilchrist
Arkansas Literary Festival
When: Thursday, April 23-Sunday, April 26
Where: locations around downtown Little Rock and North Little Rock
Info: ArkansasLiteraryFestival.org
Author! Author! Party
When: 8 p.m., Friday, April 24 Where: 5th floor of the CALS Main Library
Tickets: $25 in advance; $40 at the door
Info: ArkansasLiteraryFestival.org