Los Angeles Times Festival of Books

Golf Cart Drivers Needed for Festival of Books


It’s that time of year again to start accepting volunteers to drive author escort golf carts at the Festival of Books. Many of you have already expressed an interest, so if you’re free for either Saturday, April 26 or Sunday, April 27 please email Jeff Dalo your preferred day to drive and we will slot you in.

For those that haven’t driven before, this is one of the coolest jobs at the Festival of Books. If you love books and authors, this is an opportunity to meeting some of the best authors in the country and even internationally. It’s also an opportunity to work on the inside of the largest book festival in the country and be a direct part of its success. It’s important that we only use LA Times employees for these spots for both liability reasons and also to make sure that we are representing ourselves in the best way possible to our outstanding line up of authors.

Here’s a short list of who we have so far: Julie Andrews, Aimee Mann, Maria Shriver, Padma Lakshmi, Gore Vidal, Walter Mosley, Luis J. Rodriguez, Ray Bradbury, Kenny Mayne and Arianna Huffington.

The details:

. We ask for a one-day commitment, either 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Saturday, April 26, or 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Sunday, April 27

· If you have not driven before we ask that you attend one of two training sessions at UCLA on either Sunday, April 20 from 2-4pm or Wednesday, April 23 from 6-8pm. The training consists of 1-hour of general training followed by a 1-hour tour of the Festival grounds.

· We provide a 6-passenger covered golf cart, a walkie-talkie radio, a staff polo shirt, lunch, parking, maps and instructions. We provide parking for the training session as well.

· The job entails driving authors around the festival, e.g. from the author greenroom to their panels and stages, from the panels and stages to the signing areas, from the signing areas back to the greenroom, and sometimes to and from the parking lots for the more elderly authors.

· We require that you be a good driver and are friendly and personable. This is all about catering to the authors to make sure they, as well, have the time of their lives.

How to sign up:

Email Jeff Dalo, jeff.dalo@latimes.com, or call Jeff at x76542. Jeff will need your extension, cell number, the day you want to drive and your shirt size. A logistics packet will be sent to you in mid-April.