The Missouri Literary Festival is proud to announce its program schedule for Friday, Oct. 2.

10 a.m. The festival kicks off with the official Opening Ceremony, featuring state and local dignitaries, music and more. After the Opening Ceremony, enjoy live performances at the gate, visit the booths on the Grand Concourse and purchase books by our festival authors and poets.

11 a.m.-1 p.m. renowned business writers Norm Brodsky, Bo Burlingham and Jack Stack present Business by the Book, a luncheon program in which our business gurus discuss strategies to save your business, your family and your financial future in these trying economic times. Tickets for this program are $35 and may be purchased at www.missouriliteraryfestival.org.. Tickets to Business by the Book will also get ticketholders into the festival throughout the weekend.

1:30-3 p.m. The Art of Green, a panel discussion moderated by Melissa Cox and sponsored by the U.S. Green Building Council, delves into sustainable design and construction. Panelists are Rick Harrison, author of Prefurbia – Reinventing the Suburbs: From Disdainable to Sustainable, Bruce Adibyazdi, Robert B. Murray III, Tom Taylor and George Van Hoesen.

2-4 p.m. Get Your Read On kicks off festival events for kids, tweens and teens with authors Louise Jackson and J.B. Cheaney. Get ready to read, write and be creative. Enjoy word activities, create a bookmark, hear a story and enjoy refreshments provided by Sportsservice.

3-4 p.m. Writing Like You Mean Business, sponsored by the Association of Women in Communication

4-5 p.m. Award-winning spoken work poet Joaquin Zihuatanejo conducts a Slam Poetry Workshop at the Drury Diversity Center

6-9 p.m. The public opening of The Poetics of Construction, a sustainable-design charette conceived by architect Jeff Barber in conjunction with The Art of Green, takes place during First Friday Art Walk at The Creamery

6-10 p.m. Enjoy Missouri Literary Festival on the Square during First Friday Art Walk. Hear finalists in the Missouri Literary Festival Award for Short Fiction Contest reading their works, Poetry Out Loud performers and local slam poetry.

10 p.m.-Midnight An Evening of Slam Poetry at the Drury Diversity Center, featuring champion slam poet Joaquin Zihuatanejo and a Slam Invitational competition.

Friday’s events will whet your appetite; prepare to feast on literature, entertainment and hands-on activities for kids Saturday and Sunday! A detailed schedule of the weekend’s programs and events will be released Sept. 8.

The Missouri Literary Festival, a Celebration of Arts, Literature and Literacy, is a nonprofit event focused on raising funds to benefit arts programming and literacy organizations. General admission is $5 for ages 11 and up; children 10 and under get in free. Each ticket is good for the duration of the festival.

Festival fund-raising beneficiaries are Springfield Regional Arts Council, Ozarks Literacy Council, Family Literacy Centers of Springfield, the R-12 Title I Schools and the Writers Hall of Fame scholarship program.