Edible Book Festival at Sheridan Libraries
Let them eat books.
Today we have a real — ahem — treat for you! Many thanks to Heidi Herr from The Johns Hopkins University for speaking with us about the long-running Edible Book Festival hosted by the university’s Sheridan Libraries. Enjoy!
IArtLibraries: Please introduce yourself -- who are you, what kind of library work do you do, and what's your connection/role with the Edible Book Festival?
My name is Heidi Herr, and I am the Librarian for English, Philosophy, & The Writing Seminars, and the Special Collections Student Engagement Librarian at The Johns Hopkins University. Back in 2014, I, along with a former colleague who nearly surpassed me when it comes to obsessions with books and desserts, thought it would be fun to host an edible book festival! Fun it was, and I have been managing, organizing, and hosting it ever since, along with my incredible undergraduate student employees.
Reflecting on ten years of organizing the Edible Book Festival, what would you say are the most significant changes or lessons learned that you've implemented?
Having run the event for a whole decade, I have to say that the community of Hopkins absolutely loves to eat books! What started as a relatively small-scale event geared toward undergraduates, has since become a full-fledged Hopkins tradition, with nearly five hundred people in attendance each year. Our bakers and tasters also include faculty and staff, giving our entire community an opportunity to take a break and enjoy some sugary eccentricity!
While the concept of “eating books” is indeed whimsical and perhaps a bit strange unless one is a goat, one of the big changes I have strived for is dietary inclusivity. The first few edible book festivals were a bit of a learning curve simply because there is so much planning involved to make it both enjoyable and well-organized, that certain considerations simply fell under the radar. For instance, most of the early entries were not edible if one followed veganism or had, say, a dairy allergy. I then created a “Best Vegan” category to encourage more inclusive dietary entries, and it worked! We now have an entire workflow in place to label and encourage entries that aren’t just vegan but are gluten free or nut free as well. Our entry form includes a section where bakers can include dietary information about their entries, giving us the opportunity to put edible books suitable for people with ethical or dietary sensitivities together to lessen the risk of cross contamination.
The number of edible books at the festival has risen from fifteen to fifty over the years! Since we only award twelve prizes, we do our absolute best to celebrate each baker! The first fifteen minutes of the festival are essentially gallery time, in which attendees walk around and enjoy the beauty, skill, and even humor of the edible books. During this viewing time, we have a professional photographer on hand to take portraits of each edible book, as well as photos of the desserts being completely decimated by hungry bibliophiles! Our bakers can then download the photos and share them on social media. We also make special souvenirs for all of the bakers. My student employees create handmade artistic placards for each entry, and they take instant photos of each entry as it arrives. Not only are the instant photos a nice memento, but they also serve as a record of what the edible book looked like before it was consumed by hordes of sugar-crazed Hopkinsians.
Our promotion has also significantly changed. We now rely on social media, especially the reels feature on Instagram to build interest in the event. My student employees and I came up with goofy concepts to show off prizes, remind our community about the event, and encourage them to participate. Some of my favorites for this year are a Buzzfeed quiz we created called “Are You a Taster or a Baker?” and a mock Ted Talk on just what is an edible book.
What is something surprising that you've discovered or experienced related to your work on the Edible Book Festival?
Probably not too surprising, but the edible book festival is a cool way to learn about book and baking trends! For instance, during our first few years, titles in the Harry Potter series were a big deal, with numerous edible books featuring scenes and characters. While we still get the odd Harry Potter entry, bakers today are more into the Hunger Games if they are inspired by popular YA books. There are also certain “evergreen” titles, especially classic children’s books like The Secret Garden, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, The Lorax, and The Very, Very Hungry Caterpillar that are frequently entered each year. While uncommon titles like “The Ashley Book of Knots” have inspired fun edible books, it does seem that bakers seek more well-known titles that will be recognized by a general audience.
As for baking trends, there has certainly been a rise in cream puffs, including cream puff representations of Marie Antoniette and even Dante’s purgatory! I personally found it super fascinating that this year’s edible book competition featured three different cakes all meant to resemble human heads. And they weren’t creepy in the least! There also is some serious beef in the competitive world of edible books between fondant molders and frosting artisans!
What would you say to a library staff member at any library who is interested in kick-starting an Edible Book Festival in their community?
I clearly love all things edible books and certainly encourage librarians to give it a shot! It is truly a wonderful way to build community and break barriers between library staff and the people they support. Don’t be bummed out at all if it isn’t initially as successful as you’d hope it would be. It may take two or three years to come up with your library’s edible book identity (ours is centered on two simple concepts to help explain the idea: “eat books” and “read it and eat it”) and for it to have word-of-mouth appeal. However, it is a huge time commitment, and you need support from your dean or director to proceed, especially if there are any concerns regarding insurance and food safety. If any of you are having a hard time finding support for your event, get in touch with me! I would love to brainstorm with you and help spread the joy of eating books from sea to shining sea!
Explore photos of the 2025 festival entries.
Check out all things edible books at the Sheridan Libraries’ website.