Woodstock

ing his son on a vacation; and Omega Institute cofounder Elizabeth Lesser, who penned the memoir “Marrow A Love Story,” about how she donated bone marrow to her sister who had cancer and how it brought them closer together.

Frankel said there is an especially strong local contingent in this year’s lineup of authors

“More than half the writers are local, and that’s because Woodstock is the home of some amazing writers,” she said, adding this has many benefits. “We’re not worried about where everyone’s sleeping and where there eating,” she said. “It’s much easier this year than ever.”

Frankel also said while women have gained a bigger representation in the festival, it remains “very white”, and she sees that as a problem.

“We’ll be working on that next year,” she said. “That’s something I wish we had done differently.”

Despite the continue proliferation of screen-based entertainment, Frankel said she sees a bright future for the written word.

“Books are selling like crazy,” she said. “People are reading like crazy.

“When I meet for dinner, I ask people what are they reading, and I’ve yet to be at that dinner table where they say I’m not reading anything.”

And, Frankel predicted, people will read even more in the future.

“The world moves much too quick, and the one way to slow your world down and find another point of view is to pick up a book.”