Dig Into Some Tasty Literature at UC s Edible Book Festival

University Libraries invites all bibliophiles to eat their own words by celebrating the International Edible Book Festival at the University of Cincinnati. Judging gets underway at 12:45 p.m., Tuesday, April 3, in the fifth floor lobby of Langsam Library, before the books are admired, then devoured, at 1 p.m. The celebration is free and open to the public.

Last year, 11 countries participated in the International Edible Book Festival, with U.S. participation including the states of Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. This year, the annual UC event will feature 20 entries that follow two guidelines – the submissions must be edible and they must also be related to literature.

University Librarian and Dean Victoria Montavon will emcee the event as the entries are awarded the distinction of most creative, most delicious, most bookish and scariest.

According to the International Edible Book Festival Web site, the edible book was initiated by librarian and artist Judith A. Hoffberg during a 1999 Thanksgiving celebration with book artists. It became an international sensation in 2000 when artist Béatrice Coron launched the Books2Eat Web site. Traditionally, the event is celebrated on April 1 to mark the birthday of Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1755-1826), a French lawyer and politician who became famous for his book, Physiologie du gout (The Physiology of Taste).