Georgetown’s Lauinger Library hosted its annual Edible Book Festival on April 13 in the newly renovated Pierce Reading Room, bringing together students, faculty, and library staff to celebrate literature through culinary art.
The festival was organized by Lauinger librarians Steve Fernie, Kim MacVaugh, Melissa Jones, and Kathleen Scalara and consisted of 13 literary-themed baked goods. Submissions spanned from a beach-themed cake inspired by the “The Summer I Turned Pretty” series to a selection of wrathful “The Grapes of Wrath” macarons.
Photo by Melissa Jones Wrathful Grapes SubmissionPhoto by Melissa Jones
Photo by Melissa Jones Wrathful purple macaronsPhoto by Melissa Jones
Judges evaluated the entries based on four criteria: adherence to the book theme (ensuring everything was edible and clearly inspired by a book, story, or title), visual appeal (attention to detail, pleasing aesthetics, and overall harmony between parts and the whole), skill and construction (technical mastery, complexity, and ambitious assembly), and originality and creativity (judges rewarded clever interpretations of the written works).
Photo by Melissa Jones “The Summer I Turned Pretty” cake (Entry #1)Photo by Melissa Jones
“It’s not always the most polished-looking thing that wins,” Fernie said. “The judges are looking at how creative the piece is, how well it captures the essence of the book.”
Prizes were donated by local businesses, including Kramer Books, the Lantern Bookshop, Barnes & Noble at the University Bookstore, Éclairions Bakery, Captain Cookie and the Milkman, Ice Cream Jubilee, and The Corp. Many of these partners sent employees, managers, or owners to serve as judges, alongside Lauinger librarians and members of Georgetown’s Eating Society.
Photo by Melissa Jones “The Island of the Blue Dolphins” cake (Entry #4)Photo by Melissa Jones
Madison Cheng (CAS ’26) received first place for her The Island of the Blue Dolphins cake (Entry #4), winning a $100 gift card and tote from Kramer Books. Emma Hartnett (SON ’27) came in second place winner for her entry titled “My Happy Place,” inspired by Emily Henry’s Books (Entry #11) and was awarded with a $50 Éclairons gift card. Third place went to Lauinger’s Metadata Librarian for Special & Digital Collections, Meg D’Elia, for SCUM: A Manifesto (Entry #9), earning a $50 gift certificate to Lantern Bookshop. Janie Boom (CAS ’28) received an honorable mention for Winnie the Pooh (Entry #13) and a $30 gift card to Ice Cream Jubilee.
Photo by Melissa Jones Emma Hartnett (SON ’27) holding GU Hoodie prizePhoto by Melissa Jones
Photo by Melissa Jones Entries being tastedPhoto by Melissa Jones
After the judges reviewed the entries, the attendees were given the chance to sample the entries and vote on their favorites. Once votes were cast, two People’s Choice Awards were given out: Hartnett’s “My Happy Place” Emily Henry’s Books (Entry #11), won the award for visual appeal and received a GU Hoodie, while Boom’s Winnie the Pooh (Entry #13) won for best taste and received a $25 gift card to The Corp.
Photo by Melissa Jones “My Happy Place” Emily Henry’s Books (Entry #11)Photo by Melissa Jones
Photo by Melissa Jones “Scum Manifesto” cake (Entry #9)Photo by Melissa Jones
Photo by Melissa Jones Madison Cheng (CAS ’26) holding her “Island of the Blue Dolphins” cakePhoto by Melissa Jones
First-place winner Cheng chose a book that she had read in middle school because it connected to the theme she had envisioned for her cake.
“I think I more so chose [the book] after knowing that I wanted to do something ocean[ic],” Cheng said. “I had seen people do really creative stuff with jello and cake, and that’s something that I hadn’t tried before, so I was thinking about which books reminded me of a setting most like that.”
Cheng has participated for the last three years, viewing it as an opportunity to step outside of her comfort zone when baking.
“I’ve always enjoyed baking, and I’ve made cakes for people’s birthdays, but nothing ever super creative,” she said. “So I enjoy that this lets you work with very unique forms or push your boundaries in what you try to create.”
Cheng also mentioned that the competition was a nice break from typical university life and gave her a chance to bake, a hobby she doesn’t get the chance to do as often due to her busy Georgetown schedule.
“I feel like I don’t really have a lot of time to do that on the day-to-day at Georgetown, so it was nice to actually dedicate [myself] to baking for this,” she said.
Librarian Kim MacVaugh, who helped secure the sponsor prizes and promote the event, shared why she believed the winning cake took the top spot.
“I knew right away when I saw what book it was, because I read Island of the Blue Dolphins in elementary school, and it’s so evocative to me,” MacVaugh said. “The technical scale required in the gelatin cake– I’ve never tried something like that before. The scale and the creativity is really excellent.”
Photo by Melissa Jones Janie Boom (CAS ’28) holding her “Winnie the Pooh” cakePhoto by Melissa Jones
Boom, a returning participant to the competition who also won People’s Choice for flavor last year, described the festival as her “ favorite event at Georgetown,” adding that she spends significant time preparing for it each year.
Photo by Melissa Jones Boom’s “Winnie the Pooh” (Entry #13)Photo by Melissa Jones
Assembling the entry required not just creativity in design, but in logistics. According to Boom, because her residence hall doesn’t have enough kitchen space, she baked her cake in an Arrupe common room. Whilst she said that working in a shared space can be challenging at times, Boom believes that the effort was worthwhile given the excitement surrounding the event.
“It’s always a blast,” Boom said. “It’s always crazy to see what people come up with.”
Photo by Melissa Jones “Bridgerton The Viscount Who Loved Me” cake (Entry #7)Photo by Melissa Jones
While the event was held on a Monday to give participants the weekend to assemble their submissions, according to Fernie, the festival is part of a yearly tradition for libraries worldwide on April 1st.
The festival has continued to grow since it was restarted after the COVID-19 pandemic, building on memorable entries from previous years, such as a Fahrenheit 451 cake complete with edible matchbooks and a sculpted flame, a Rainbow Fish cake, and even an edible biochemistry textbook. Photos from previous years are available on the event page, providing contestants with inspiration.
“There are certain books that seem to attract entries almost every year,” Fernie said. “So you can do a very literal version of that or a more sophisticated take on it.”
Fernie noted that desserts based on books like The Very Hungry Caterpillar are submitted every year, but that most memorable and successful entries often present an unexpected take on well-known and universally loved books. This year, one such original entry was a cake inspired by Valerie Solanas’s SCUM Manifesto. The contestant wrote on a note beside her submission that while Solanas used “SCUM” as an acronym for the Society for Cutting Up Men, her goal was to evoke literary scum through the cake itself.
Jones, who coordinated the judges and photographed the event, said that the range of skill levels on display is part of what made the event so successful. Some contestants brought years of technical ability while others came with creative ideas and found a way to express them. “The event allows space for both of those,” she said.
Hosting the festival in the Pierce Reading Room, a popular open area with large windows, also helped draw noticeably more people than last year, when it was held on Lau’s first floor. “People kind of pass through and find it accidentally,” said Jones. “I think there’s just more space to mix and have that kind of community feel to it.”
Fernie explained what he appreciates most about this event, that it gives the Georgetown community a reason to celebrate books when they can feel like an obligation, something we read for class.
“It’s amazing to see the community come together in this way. A lot of the time, the focus on the library and books can be things people are reading for class, textbooks; they’re not necessarily things that get celebrated,” Fernie said. “This is a way to celebrate books and what books mean to people in a really fun way.”
For the organizers, the edible book festival shows the many other roles our library can serve outside of being a place to study or store books. “Libraries are about research and resources, but it also has a space where people come together and share ideas and create new ideas,” said Jones. “While this is a little more whimsical, I think it’s an opportunity to attract maybe a slightly different set of people into the library and say the library is a place for community, it’s a place for creativity.”
