This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon: September 17, 2008 - When you're promoting an event called the Big Read festival , it helps to have a big name to brag about, and organizers of this year's festival think they have one: Alan Alda
But if a big name doesn't have the right reputation, it can cause big grumbling.
This year's festival will be held on Oct. 11 at the Clayton High School campus and in Shaw Park, but the kickoff event is on Sept. 22 at Graham Chapel at Washington University from 7 to 8 p.m., followed by a book signing until 9 p.m.
A $25 ticket will buy admission for two plus a paperback copy of Alda's book "Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself." Proceeds will benefit the programs sponsored by Cultural Festivals, including the St. Louis Art Fair and the St. Louis Jazz Festival as well as the Big Read festival.
Festival chair Lisa Greening says she considers Alda "the ideal person to represent a kickoff for the Big Read festival, which is my new love.
"He appeals to so many different people. Everyone knows him. He's a household name, a great performer and a great writer. He's just ideal."
Greening, who is a co-owner of Left Bank Books, helped land Alda for the festival because of her relationship with publishers. Alda's book is newly issued in paperback and he is on tour promoting it.
She knows that it may seem slightly off-base to have someone known primarily as an actor be the headliner at an event that emphasizes books. But she also knows that the publishing industry - like so many others - is going through a transition that requires new ways of thinking.
That new approach isn't always welcomed by book festivals' target audiences. For example, when the St. Louis Jewish Book Festival announced that its headliner this fall would be Jerry Springer, eyebrows - and objections - were raised.
In recent letters to the St. Louis Jewish Light, one writer complained that Springer "is in the business of presenting bizarre interpersonal situations, provoking physical encounters between his guests, embarrassing and exploiting his guests, and all the while appealing to the basest voyeuristic instincts of his audience. All this is in stark contradiction to basic Jewish values. C'mon, people! Surely we can aspire to something higher than this."
Another letter labeled Springer "a promoter of peep shows into the lives of people floundering in disappointment, failure and impotent rage" and concluded:
"I would gladly attend to hear Mr. Springer give some rational explanation and defense of his record and at least, some apology for the lingering smell he leaves behind."
While she couldn't speak to Springer's appearance, Greening noted that "the book industry is a tough industry, and the way publishers survive is to sell books. The chance to sell books is greater if people know the author's name. It's a survival strategy."
Just because authors are famous in another field, though, is no guarantee they will make the best-seller list. As evidence, Greening pointed to a less-than-successful book by Whoopi Goldberg.
As far as her choice for the kickoff for the Big Read festival, Greening was nothing but positive.
"I have to defend Alan Alda. I know he's first an actor, not first a writer. But he is a very good writer, and he does write his own books. I don't know if Jerry Springer wrote his own book. I should know, but I don't have a clue.
"Publishers do have to pay celebrities much more of an advance. Joyce Carol Oates does not get a huge advance for her books. Philip Roth doesn't get the kind of advance that many celebrities do. It's a very unusual business we've gotten ourselves into."
The Big Read festival on Oct. 11 will feature 42 authors for children and adults plus a wide variety of activities. Full details are available at www.bigread.net .