Bay Area Book Festival founder to step down

Cherilyn Parsons, the founding director of the Bay Area Book Festival, plans to step down from her position after overseeing nearly a decade of growth in the scope and influence of this cultural landmark.

Parsons’ decision, announced on Thursday, April 6, comes shortly before the Berkeley festival’s ninth installment, which is scheduled for the weekend of May 6-7. The Chronicle is a sponsor of the festival, which includes author appearances, panel discussions, a “Where’s Waldo?” scavenger hunt and more.

“Running the festival has been a highlight of my life,” Parsons told The Chronicle in a phone interview. “But it takes a toll.

“Any founder knows that you put your whole life into something like this — all your effort, your time, your money, your health. And there comes a time when you have to make space for other passions.”

She will vacate the position on June 2.

Parsons conceived the festival in 2013 after moving to the Bay Area from Los Angeles. The first event took place in 2015 and has repeated annually since then, moving online in 2020 on short notice after the COVID-19 outbreak.

The festival boasts that since that inaugural year, it has presented no fewer than 1,600 speakers, including nearly 150 authors from outside the United States.

“Cherilyn is a visionary, and her dream of putting this festival together was ambitious right from the beginning,” said festival board chairwoman Brooke Warner. “She’s very well connected, and just an amazing citizen of the literary world. These will be big shoes to fill.”

Norah Piehl, who has served for the past two years as the festival’s director of literary programs, will step into the executive director position on an interim basis.

Warner said the board would begin searching for a permanent successor, but added that there was an expectation that Piehl would continue in the position. “I think both the staff and the board would be happy if that were the case,” she said.

Parsons anticipates remaining closely involved with the festival in an advisory capacity, especially during the planning for next year’s 10th anniversary celebration. But she added that she’s looking forward to the time and freedom to finish a novel she has in progress, as well as claiming a period for rest and rejuvenation.

“This is a case where when you do one thing — even if you love the thing that you’re doing — it means you can’t also do something else. If I had multiple lives going on simultaneously, I would absolutely be staying with the book festival,” she said.

And as a general rule, Parsons said, periodic turnover is a good idea for any organization.

“There are times for a founder or CEO to step aside and let someone else take over. Norah is younger, and she has her finger on the pulse of new writers and genre fiction in a way that I really don’t.

“I’m very proud to have started this festival, and now I’m handing it off to the next generation to take it from here.”

Reach Joshua Kosman: jkosman@sfchronicle.com ; Twitter: @JoshuaKosman