Openers

Are readers willing to download e-poetry to their Nooks and Kindles? Or is there a certain “essence” to the poetry reader’s experience that inevitably gets lost in the translation from ink on paper to bytes and pixels? These were the questions I found myself pondering while attending a recent panel discussion among e-book experts — publishers, designers, and authors — during the Virginia Festival of the Book ( http://www.vabook.org ). Held annually in Charlottesville, this event always attracts a large cross-section of book lovers from across the Commonwealth, and this particular session — held in the Omni Hotel on Saturday, March 24th — was standing room only.