THE FINE ART OF TABLING AT LITERARY FESTIVALS
Most of us have attended a literary festival, whether it’s a dozen authors selling their books in a community center or a hundred at an event like the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. I’ve seen writers attract readers using giant bowls of candy, with fortune cookies that reflect their book’s theme, with costumes and props. Once I saw a poet pace the aisles wearing a sandwich board that read, “Ask me about my poetry!”
When Oregon novelist and poet Jessica Mehta sells her books at literary events, she invites visitors to immerse themselves in her writing through virtual reality. Spectators stop by her table to strap on a headset and experience her poems as three-dimensional creations glimpsed through a window as crows fly by, squawking.
A citizen of the Cherokee Nation, Mehta is particularly interested the marriage of poetry with virtual reality to help people embody the voices and stories of indigenous
