Northwest Bookfest Director Says She's Stepping Down From Post

After guiding the Northwest Bookfest through its first three years, establishing it as a fixture on Seattle's fall arts calendar, director Kitty Harmon has decided to bow out.

Harmon will leave her post as soon as the festival's board of directors is able to choose a new director - possibly in January.

"I would love to turn the organization over to someone who is a crackerjack organizer and fundraiser, and who is able to take the event to the next level," said Harmon. "The organization is on a very solid footing, poised for even bigger and better things, and it seemed like a good time to let a new person guide it."

Harmon, 37, said she had no immediate plans, other than acting as a consultant on "some near-term book-development projects."

Before founding the Northwest Bookfest in 1995, she worked in the publishing industry for a number of years, including two years with Bantam Books in New York and six years as marketing and sales director of Sasquatch Books, after moving to Seattle in 1987.

In 1994, aided by grants from the Washington Commission on the Humanities and the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association, Harmon made a study of the feasibility of creating a book festival in Seattle. The next year, with a number of sponsors on board, the festival became reality.

"I just really wanted Seattle to have a book festival, and now it does have one - one that it can be proud of," said Harmon. "But at the same time, I never thought I would make a career out of events-management. Now, I feel that I can move back to the publishing side of the book business."

For three years, the nonprofit festival has been held the final weekend in October in a Port of Seattle warehouse on Pier 48, and it has attracted a total of about 70,000 book lovers.

This year's Bookfest featured about 200 exhibitors and more than 175 authors in a full range of readings, panel discussions and autograph sessions.

Though no admission fee is charged, festivalgoers are asked to consider a donation toward literacy - a strategy that has so far raised $109,158 for various literacy projects throughout the Pacific Northwest.

The Bookfest board has already begun a search for a new director, Harmon said, and it hopes to name one in early January.

She said she would remain with the organization for at least two more months to work with the new director during the transition.

Harmon also intends to continue working closely with Northwest Bookfest both as a consultant and as a volunteer at future festivals.

"What gratifies me most about this is how many people came together and shared this vision to make it happen," she said. "It couldn't have happened without all those hundreds of volunteers."