Books-lovers attend Printers Row Lit Fest 2022 in Chicago's South Loop

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Blocks of books in Chicago's Printers Row neighborhood - the 37th annual Lit Fest kicked off Saturday.

"For a book lover like myself. I think it's special that we have our own festival," said Chantel Lopez.

All sorts of independent authors and publishers attracted hundreds of people for the largest literary festival in the Midwest.

"It's a blessing, you know, there's so many different creative spaces that we can tap into and so I'm very blessed to be a part of it," said author Evan Roberts.

Roberts is a teacher at Homewood-Flossmoor High School who started writing children's books several years ago to inspire his son.

He's using Lit Fest to inspire kids and adults to express their emotions through writing and art.

"I think is one of the best things that we can do for them is to show them how to tap into their own god given gifts," said Roberts.

The fest always brings out so much creativity but the authors say it's the interaction with their readers that makes this so special and that's something they missed during pandemic.

"It's fantastic to be back and see everybody. You know just the interactivity of everybody just hanging out," said Christina Ward of Feral House Publishing.

There's a little bit of something for people of all ages and backgrounds. That includes different writing workshops, discussions with award winning authors and even some performances for children's programming.

"We have a vibrant art community literary community music community," said Gregorio Gomez. "So as a world class city, we definitely can see it in the diversity of the various authors that are here."