The Magic of Storytelling Holds Sway at Mausoleum Kickoff of Weekend’s ‘Litfest in the Dena’

It was writers talking to writers about writing on Friday evening at the opening reception for the “LitFest in the Dena” event scheduled for Saturday, May 6 and Sunday, May 7. 

Nearly 100 writers and friends of writers gathered at the Mountain View Mausoleum to kick off the weekend event, drink and celebrate, and share stories some oft-told and some told ne’er-before. 

Welcoming speaker CSUN psychologist, management consultant and prolific author Thomas E. Backer told the gathered writers surrounded by crypts in the Old Radiance Hall, a secret story of his own.

With a seeming wink in his eye, Backer revealed that, “There’s an empty grave here at this cemetery that has steel walls, which is used in movies and television series to allow actors to get in and out, for shooting purposes.”

Backer told the now-hushed audience that  American Horror Story, Promising Young Woman, Pretty Little Liars, and of course Six Feet Under, have used the gravesite. But he didn’t reveal the location. That would be giving away  the ending.

“So, he said, “storytelling works.”

Backer also noted what he felt were three of the most influential books ever written—Silent Spring by Rachel Carson, written in 1962; 

the 1906 book, The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair, and the The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, written in 1900 by L. Frank Baum, which became the 1939 American classic film, The Wizard of Oz.  

“Those,” said Backer, “are three quick examples of books that have had major impacts on many local communities and on the world, impacts that continue through tonight.”

But Backer also pointed out that that impact is under threat from at least two sources. 

“First,” he began, “a recent Gallup Poll confirms that reading appears to be in decline as a favorite way for Americans to spend their free time.”

The poll reported that in 2021, people read an average of 12.6 books per year, including eBooks and audio books, a considerably smaller number than in any prior survey going back to 1990. 

The biggest decline, surprisingly enough, Backer pointed out, were among college graduates, women and older Americans. 

‘There was not a decline in the number of people reading, but in the number of books they read,” he said. 

“Second,” Backer continued, “and even more disturbing, is that just in the last year, there has been a huge growth in both legislative and community action banning books in the United States.”  

Backer explained that while book bans “in a kind of unusual way are an indication of the power of books, that people are so eager to ban them, the prospect of a real Fahrenheit 451 is frightening.”

So, he continued, “keeping books relevant to our personal journeys in life, to our communities and to the world is one way to fight both of these developments, to get people reading more, to get people at least having second thoughts about banning books. That kind of pushing for change is part of what LitFest is all about.”

“LitFest in the ‘Dena” runs from 12:30 to 6 p.m., Saturday, May 6, and Sunday, May 7. Complete information is available at www.litfestpasadena.org.

 Also see:  Two-Day Day LitFest Celebrates, Drills Down on the Life-Changing Power of Books and the Written Word