A Festivus for the Rest of Us

If you've been to Burnside's main site lately, you may have noticed a new banner ad for the Calvin College Festival of Faith and Writing.

First off, I've been a big fan of Calvin College since I was 19, when a friend of mine who was an RA on campus suggested I would fit well there. Calvin has been in the news for other awesome things, like this. And while I never actually attended Calvin, I wear the hooded sweatshirt I bought there so people think I did.

Two years ago, I attended the Festival of Faith and Writing along with Don, who was speaking there. It was a fantastic experience, featuring an array of seminars on everything a writer could want to know. Marilynne Robinson and Salman Rushdie were two of the dozens of notable speakers in 2006, and Michael Chabon and Yann Martel top this year's list.

It's also a great place to connect. I got to meet great writers like Sarah Raymond Cunningham, and chat with editors from various publishing houses...everyone from Eerdmans to Zondervan. I met Kim Culbertson from Relief Journal there, too.

If you can possibly make it out to Grand Rapids for the event, I strongly suggest it (our Midwestern readers have it easy). Like the Olympics, the Festival only comes around every two years. Fortunately, Calvin added the Festival of Faith and Music to the off year, bringing in Sufjan, Emmylou Harris and Neko Case last year.

Sadly, I won't be making it this time around...I have to get married that week. But, you know, I think that will be fun, too.