PHOTO ADOBE STOCK

Free To The People. This is the unequivocal mission statement that’s carved into the pale Berea sandstone above the triumvirate of doorways that make up the entrance to the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh’s main branch in Oakland.

On May 31, the library will become what is expected to be the new forever home for the Greater Pittsburgh Festival of Books — which carries on the library mission of also being free to festivalgoers.

The annual celebration of books, now in its fourth year, was masterminded by Shadyside native Marshall Cohen. When Cohen, an avid book collector with more than 3,500 volumes in his personal library including 1,300 signed first editions, moved back to his hometown to enjoy his retirement in 2018, he immediately noted the absence of a large book festival here. He decided to do something about it.

The first installment of the festival launched in spring 2022 and was spread over several venues in East Liberty. The next two festivals were hosted by the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary on Highland Avenue, also in East Liberty. Now it moves to Oakland for what should be its final destination in the 8-acre Beaux Arts complex on Forbes Avenue.

The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh signed on as a partner with the festival right out of the gate.

Cohen, who moved to Portland, Maine in late 2024, reflects in an email on the obvious team-up. During planning for the first festival, he became friends with Andrew Medlar, CLP’s president and director.

“We share, of course, a love of reading, but more importantly, I think, an understanding of and commitment to books, reading, education and the criticality of reaching all segments of our community with those opportunities,” he wrote.

Mary Monaghan, director of Public Services at CLP who now holds the title of primary organizer for the book festival, said that after the 2023 book festival was over, Cohen decided to pull away from being the organizer.

“Last year CLP [acting as the organizing partner with Cohen] learned how to have a book festival,” Monaghan continued. “Now we’re going to learn how it works in this building.”

“I emphasized from Day One the vital importance of the festival always being free,” wrote Cohen. “That is its essence. Who better than a Carnegie librarian to reaffirm that value and pledge to continue it? And who institutionally better symbolizes the importance of those values than the entire, historic, Carnegie Library system of Pittsburgh. I am honored they have accepted the festival and integrated it into their programming. CLP is a perfect home for it.”

Monaghan agreed. “It was something we thought was such a perfect fit for what we do. Andrew Medlar said, and this was absolutely the right call, this so aligns with our mission and what we’re trying to do.”

The 2025 festival will feature more than 60 authors including Rachel Khong (“Real Americans”), Torrey Peters (“Detransition, Baby”), Sharon G. Flake (“The Family I’m In”), Omar Tyree (“Flyy Girl”), and Zoje Stage (“Dear Hanna”). More than 20 poets will take over the always popular poetry tent, and there will be a very special reading by folk music icon Judy Collins from her newly published “Sometimes It’s Heaven: Poems of Love, Loss, and Redemption,” presented in partnership with the International Poetry Forum.

The day will also include a bevy of writing workshops, book signings, storytime readings for the littlest book lovers in the Children’s Department and much more.

As the Greater Pittsburgh Festival of books moves into its new home and begins a new phase in its development, how will it evolve and grow?

“It will always be free. That is one of our absolute core values,” says Monaghan. “Inclusivity, an inclusive and diverse festival both in terms of who is presenting and who is attending. I think we all want to make sure it is a festival that is a Pittsburgh festival, that it isn’t a cookie-cutter event that could happen in any city, that it looks like Pittsburgh and that it feels like Pittsburgh. And by that I mean that it is the things I love about Pittsburgh, that it is open and welcoming. And that it is just about the joy of reading and storytelling and sharing these experiences.”

The Greater Pittsburgh Festival of Books is Saturday, May 31, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.