Connecticut Book Festivals, Inc (CBF) presented its first Newtown event this month. Three dozen member artists welcomed readers of all ages to The Great Room of Newtown Congregational Church on October 17. Neil Randle of Newtown, the author of three books and a member of the CBF board, was pleased with the event’s local debut.

The author-run organization founded in May 2024 is dedicated to promoting writers and aspiring writers who live in Connecticut. In that respect, Randle was very pleased with the author fair.

“One of the platforms of CBF is to introduce authors to each other, pick up skills and tips on how to do things and how to not do things,” he told The Newtown Bee a few days after the fair. “That’s where the event added the most value.”

Randle admitted foot traffic was a little quiet for CBF’s first promotion within his hometown. He attributes that to the town being very busy on most weekends. Nevertheless, he felt the recent event was “great for the town, giving people another option of something to participate in or not,” he said.

Additionally, many of those who attended did buy books. Randle said that’s important.

“That doesn’t always happen,” he said. “Just because somebody stops by doesn’t mean they purchase anything.”

Randle also felt the location of the building and its proximity to the center of town worked in the event’s favor.

“I did have a few people ask if we could have done this on Main Street, including in the downstairs room at Edmond Town Hall,” he said. “I pointed out to them the church is less than a minute from Main Street, so it’s not out of the way. I also don’t think the room at the town hall is as big is the one we had at the church.”

Randle also noted a No Kings Rally took place on Main Street during the CT Book Festival event. An estimated 500 people participated in the rally, which started at Newtown Police Department and moved to the Main Street flagpole. The local rally was one of thousands that took place across the country simultaneously, and it overlapped with the final 90 minutes of the five-hour event at the church.

“I think it was a very good location,” he said. “People didn’t have to worry about parking, or getting into and out of the building.”

The room itself was spacious enough to comfortably accommodate the tables for all authors, and walking space for all guests.

According to Randle, Newtown authors were among those participating on October 17. He declined to specify the authors, citing CBF policy of not highlighting author members by name.

Randle did note CBF picked up additional member authors ahead of and during its Connecticut Book Fair-Newtown presentation.

"The publicity ahead of the event realized eight new Connecticut Book Festival author members from Newtown, five of whom attended the festival," he said.

The goals of CBF are to sell books, make friends, and have fun at book fairs, book signings, and workshops organized across the state; provide resources to help members improve their writing skills, and better understand and navigate the complex processes that get a book over the finish line; provide opportunities for authors to sell (and learn how to sell) their finished works in venues of various sizes; and search out and contract resources such as high quality cost-effective podcasts, production facilities, etc, to increase sales and further the careers of members.

In speaking with The Newtown Bee earlier this year Randle and CBF Co-Founder Luca DiMatteo also said CBF caters to authors and aspiring authors of all genres from 8-80 years of age and beyond. Full members are those who have been published, while associate membership denotes those authors who are still working toward their first published title. A Professional Partners page on CBF’s website provides legal assistance and other guidance for its members.

“Our belief is every author should have access to all the resources out there,” DiMatteo said in August.

Members do not pay for membership nor to participate in CBF events. In return, they are asked to share social media posts concerning events they sign up for. CBF creates flyers, which its members share to social media and websites “wherever they can, starting six weeks out from an event they sign up to participate in. That’s all they have to do,” DiMatteo also told The Bee over the summer.

The online sharing circles right back to the win-win-win formula DiMatteo outlined earlier.

“It gets the event out for the venue, it gets the event out for the authors, and it gets Connecticut Book Festivals’ name out,” he said.

Randle felt all of that fell right into place in Newtown recently.

“The word is getting out, and that’s important,” he said.

Many CBF events also include a collection to assist a local nonprofit. The recent Newtown event asked attendees to consider a donation to Hospitality Hall, a pantry hosted by Newtown Congregational Church. Randle said attendees and participating authors all responded to the invitation.

“I certainly enjoyed the event,” Randle added. “With the help of the church, including the tables and chairs they loaned us and all the help setting everything up, it was a terrific location.”

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Managing Editor Shannon Hicks can be reached at shannon@thebee.com.