Festival to go virtual in 2020 due to COVID concerns
Writer applications open July 1, 2020 for JaxbyJax Literary Arts Festival VII. Writers who either live in Jacksonville, were born in Jacksonville, or write about Jacksonville can apply at https://www.jaxbyjax.com/application, through July 31. Writer selections will be announced by August 31, 2020.
Event organizers, Darlyn Finch Kuhn and Brad Kuhn also announced that, due to COVID-19 and the likelihood of continuing social distancing requirements, this year’s event will be held virtually in the form of a two-hour documentary, with an online debut/watch party scheduled for noon, Oct. 17, and again at 7 p.m. Oct. 18. A Student Showcase sponsored by FSCJ, UNF, and Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, will once again be a featured part of the festival, and included in the documentary.
This year’s event will focus on the issues of the day: pandemic, social justice, isolation, poverty, climate change, political corruption, and the hope for a better, brighter tomorrow.
This year’s event almost didn’t happen. As weeks went by with continuing public health concerns and restrictions on large public gatherings it became increasingly clear that getting together in-person would be out of the question. This adversity has been met, however, with technological advancements, including the ability to produce and stream high-quality digital video at an affordable price.
“We are thrilled to have found this exciting way forward, thanks to the continuing support of Ron Chamblin and additional resources provided by our newest sponsor, Baptist Health,” said Darlyn. “This documentary gives us an excellent opportunity to capture the truth of this moment in history, and preserve it in the words of some of Jacksonville’s greatest creative souls.”
The documentary will be produced by Scribbles and Brad Kuhn & Associates, LLC. Signed copies of work by festival authors will be available in a special collection near the checkout counters at Chamblin’s Uptown and Chamblin Bookmine.
“It has been my pleasure to serve the readers, and writers, of Northeast Florida since 1976,” said Chamblin, owner of Chamblin Bookmine and Chamblin’s Uptown. “Jacksonville has an incredible writing community, and Jax by Jax is a big part of that.”
The Community Liaison for JaxbyJax is Darlyn Finch Kuhn, a Jacksonville native who returned to the city in 2017 along with her husband, Brad, founder and CEO of Brad Kuhn & Associates, LLC, a sponsor of the literary event. Darlyn is the author of Sewing Holes, a novel set in Jacksonville during the Vietnam War, and writes the Scribbles literary e-newsletter, which also sponsors JaxbyJax. Brad Kuhn’s latest book is Dirty Work, a true adventure story of the pilot who stole back TWA flight 847 from Hezbollah.