The Loft’s Ryan Reads Program Engages Young Readers

At Ryan, we don’t just build buildings, we also build stories. This core belief along with our long history of supporting education makes our involvement with the Loft’s annual Wordplay Book Festival a natural fit. Wordplay runs from May 2 – 8 and each morning the Ryan Reads program, which is directed at school-age children, kicks off the daily events with a morning session geared to children and young adults.

The Loft’s Wordplay launched in May 2019 as Minnesota's largest celebration of readers, writers, and great books. The traditional festival is a cross between a music and art festival. There are booths with vendors and activities, food trucks, and stages with authors who share in conversation about similar themes throughout their work.

“Of course, during a pandemic this is all achieved virtually, and we’re about to head into our second virtual festival,” says Steph Opitz, Founding Director of Wordplay. “We miss gathering together and celebrating great books we’ve loved or are excited to read, but the silver lining for a virtual festival is you can catch all the events in your PJs in a prone position if you want!”

This year’s lineup of books and authors reflects the world as it exists today. Attendees can expect to hear from longstanding and popular fiction writers as well as a plethora of non-fiction authors whose books address everything from race relations and gender identity to children and YA books that enlighten and engage our youth at a time when their worlds are in peril.

The festival will run May 2-8, and registration for free events on Loftwordplay.org is currently open. Click here to see the full schedule of events, and be sure to tune in May 3-5 at 9 am CT to be part of the Ryan sponsored book activities!