The Rochester Teen Book Festival is a labor of love, and that love shows up in every aspect of the event. The attention to detail in the planning and scheduling, promotion and follow-through is not only an awesome strategic undertaking, but a gift of enormous proportions to both the authors and the audience that comes to share their passion for books and stories. Everyone involved ends feeling touched with gratitude for the efforts that make such an event possible. Creativity and the spirit that inspires it are fragile, ephemeral things, easily overlooked or ignored in our busy world. Authors who write for teens, attempting to offer a hand of understanding and compassion to those in a profound transitional period in their lives, do important work. TBF extends the possibilities that make communion between writer and reader a richer experience for all. Daniel Kirk