CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- The 35th Annual Printer's Row Lit Fest, billed as the largest free outdoor literary showcase in the Midwest, kicked off this morning in the South Loop.
There are more than 100 booksellers and panel discussions, workshops and author readings at the event.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who spoke at the opening event at the Harold Washington Library, said her love of reading started when she was young, although she grew up without a lot of money.
"But going to the library and being able to check out books and read books that really transported me from my current circumstances and gave me the ability not only to learn and imagine but to dream," she said.
Lightfoot said dreaming is "one of the most important gifts of reading and learning about people and events and circumstances that are way beyond our narrow existence is the magic of books and that's why I think this festival is so incredibly important."
She also made some literary news, saying she wants to bring back the Chicago Public Library Authors' Series, ticking off the names of authors she heard speak in the past, including Alex Kotlowitz, Toni Morrison, Stuart Dybeck and Ken Burns.
"We need to make sure we revitalize those authors' series," she said to applause from the audience.
Lightfoot was with her wife, Amy Eshleman, and mentioned their 11-year-old daughter who, she said, learns everything from a device such as a phone or an ipad and said she wants to inspire the next generation of readers and writers.
"We have to be inspiring our newest thinkers, our poets, our novelists and our historians," she said.
The Printer's Row Lit Fest runs through tomorrow.
