It’s that time of year again when the Writers Alliance of Gainesville (WAG) presents its annual Sunshine State Book Festival, and its seventh iteration promises to be the best yet.

The annual event will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 24, at the Santa Fe College Fine Arts Hall (3000 NW 83^rd St., E-127, Gainesville) and will celebrate the U.S. 250^th birthday with a look at Florida’s literary history from pirates to the present day.

It aims to bring writers and readers together with events that include the presentation of a one-woman play, a writer’s workshop intensive, a competition for teen writers, and a keynote address by Dr. David Morton of the University of Central Florida.

Morton is picking up the mantle of his mentor, Dr. James Clark, author of “Florida Literary Luminaries: Writing in Paradise,” scheduled as the keynote speaker before he died in October. Morton offered to step in to honor Clark’s legacy.

“I found a lot of interesting overlap between my own writing on what has made Florida such an attractive location for visual storytellers and what has made Florida such a source of inspiration for so many writers for over 450 years,” Morton said. “The writers who I found to be the most interesting are Florida’s home-grown literary luminaries, who do not just use Florida as an exotic backdrop in their stories, but incorporate Florida’s landscape and environment as a character in its own right.”

One of the writers Morton will highlight is Zora Neale Hurston, also the focus of a one-woman, one-act play by Pamela Marshall-Koons to be presented at the festival.

“What I admire most about Zora Neale Hurston is that no matter what happened, no matter what was taken from her, she kept going,” said Marshall-Koons. “That kind of perseverance is why I named the one-woman show ‘Passion Dey Couldn’t Steal.’ And she did this in the 1920s in America. That kind of courage still speaks.”

Another highlight is the Sunshine State Teen Lit Awards competition, for middle and high school students. The students were asked to write about pirates in keeping with the festival’s overall theme.

“WAG holds a writing contest to motivate students to pursue the writing arts, inspiring writing confidence and encouraging a future generation of writers,” said author and illustrator Jenny Dearinger, who organized the competition.

Dearinger said a total of $1,000 in scholarships, sponsored by Steve Spurrier’s HBC Foundation, and gift cards donated by Lynx Bookstore will be awarded to the winning young writers.

The festival also takes younger children into account with a three-hour Children’s Storytime offering where six children’s book authors will read or tell their tales.

“Storytelling is how we build a generation of readers that want to immerse themselves in literacy. Readers become writers, innovators, and imagineers,” Dearinger said.

In fact, the desire to support and encourage writers of all ages is what motivates the Sunshine State Book Festival team. Author Richard Gartee has been involved from the start, bringing his writing and technical skills to the fore.

“The book festival fulfills part of WAG’s mission of writers helping other writers by helping authors become known to the community,” said Gartee. “It also encourages reading at a time when digital devices are stealing people’s time. And finally, it has helped establish recognition of Gainesville as a literary culture center in our state.”

Longtime festival chair and author Pat Caren is motivated in part by her desire to share the joys of writing and reading with her community.

“I was well into my adult years before I personally met an author,” she said. “I don’t remember who I first met, but it was a thrill to shake hands with someone who had published a book. I believe that if children (and adults) can meet real-life authors, it will expand their world, ignite their curiosity, and inspire them to read more and possibly write.”

Festival activities will include a writers’ workshop from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 23, at the Best Western Gateway Grand Hotel (4200 NW 97^th Blvd., Gainesville), for which paid pre-registration is required. Also, there is a 6 p.m. preview of the Zora Neale Hurston play and an opening night reception from 7 to 9 p.m.

Activities at the Santa Fe College Fine Arts Hall venue begin at 10 a.m. on Jan. 24 and go until 4 p.m. The authors’ showcase runs all day. The Teen Lit Award ceremony is at 10 a.m.; Children’s Story Time is from noon to 3 p.m.; Morton delivers his keynote address at 1 p.m., and a second performance of the Zora Neale Hurston play is at 2:30 p.m.

Except for the writers’ workshop, all activities are free.

The festival is funded in part by Visit Gainesville and the City of Gainesville Parks and Recreation Department. Other community partners include the Greater Gainesville Chamber of Commerce, Renaissance Printing, Gainesville Health & Fitness, Papa Johns, Children’s Trust of Alachua County, Seren Publishing and Publix.