Sonoma Valley Authors Festival to be virtual this year

Organizers of the Sonoma Valley Authors Festival (SVAF) - recently rescheduled for August after COVID-19 prohibited its originally planned event in May - announced on Monday that the 2020 festival will be exclusively virtual, with a return to live programming planned for August 2021.

Festival co-founders Ginny and David Freeman announced in a letter to supporters that on the advice of medical professionals, they have elected to present their 2020 programming in video format.

”We have asked our broad array of authors and speakers originally scheduled to speak in May of 2020 to participate in video presentations to be broadcast live by SVAF beginning in July of this year and continuing for several weeks,” the Freemans wrote in the letter. “We have retained a professional production company to deliver the Virtual Sonoma Valley Authors Festival 2020.”

The exact format and start date of the virtual programming will be announced shortly, organizers said. All pass holders and sponsors of SVAF 2020 will be able to view the video recordings live, or at a later date in a “YouTube-type recording archive.”

The founders elected for a conservative approach to rescheduling the event for summer of next year when advised by Dr. George Rutherford, of UCSF, and Dr. Sanders Williams, of Gladstone Institutes, that “the arc of safety regarding large indoor gatherings will extend beyond August 2020,” and that a potential return of the virus in winter makes even May 2021 “doubtful.”

“A high percentage of our attendees and our favorite authors are in the ‘at risk’ group,” the Freemans said. “We want to respect the need for all attendees to be safe and feel safe when planning to attend the festival.”

In addition to providing a weekend of varied programming for adult participants, SVAF has presented “Students Day” at Valley schools each year since its inception, bringing a wide range of notable writers to student audiences for a long day of author talks at local schools. Festival organizers are hoping the event’s late summer dates in 2021 can still accommodate that tradition. “To incorporate Students Day with the festival, school must again be in session, which affects our date selection. By August 2021, we believe we will be able to safely hold the festival, Students Day, and Authors on the Plaza as live events,” organizers said.

All 2020 festival passes will either be rolled forward to 2021 or, if attendees are unable or unwilling to attend in 2021, they may either call 282-9028 for a refund, gift their pass to someone else or convert the $1,000 purchase price to a donation to the festival, according to svauthorsfest.org. The deadline to decide is June 30, after which organizers will convert all 2020 purchases to a donation, send a letter of acknowledgement, and list patron’s names as festival donors.

“We have all been catapulted into a new world. We are doing our best to navigate our way forward safely,” the Freemans said. “We intend to persevere and ultimately thrive.”

Contact Kate at kate.williams@sonomanews.com.