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A cake with a fondant boat on top.

Image caption: Endurance

Credit: Will Kirk / Johns Hopkins University

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Eat your words: Johns Hopkins hosts annual Edible Book Festival

JHU bakers sought sweet victory at this year's Read It & Eat It competition, which featured more than 50 literary-themed desserts

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Published April 2, 2025

Read It & Eat It, the Sheridan Libraries' annual Edible Book Festival, brought the Hopkins community together on Monday to sample more than 50 literary-themed desserts made by students, faculty, and staff. Organizers report that it was the largest event in the history of the festival, both in terms of bakers and attendees.

Kristen Reek holds up her "Best in Show" ribbon at the Johns Hopkins Edible Book Festival. Behind her is a half-eaten cake.

Image caption: Kristen Reek

Image credit: Will Kirk / Johns Hopkins

The first JHU Read It & Eat It was held in 2014, although similar events have been hosted worldwide since 2000. The rules are simple: Create a dessert inspired by a book and then bring it in for your classmates, coworkers, and neighbors to taste. Winners and runners-up are selected by community vote in six categories: Best in Show, Best Literary Theme, Best Effort, Most Delicious, Funniest/Pun-iest, and Best Vegan.

This year's Best in Show prize went to JHU's Director of Federal Strategy Kristen Reek for her cake based on Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing.

Staff member and first-time Edible Book baker Beth Fritzinger, who made Sleepy Sheepy-themed cupcakes, entered the event after encouragement from her coworkers. Even though she didn't take home a prize, Fritzinger said that seeing her fellow bakers' talent and enthusiasm was a sweet enough reward.

"The other entries blew me away," she said. "I'm already thinking about options for next year's book-themed dessert."

This year's winners were:

  • Best in Show: Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage created by Kristen Reek (Runner-up: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland created by Eoin Kennedy)
  • Best Literary Theme To All the Boys I Loved Before created by Katherine Chen (Runner-up: James & the Giant Peach created by Sabrina Zhou)
  • Best Effort The Salt Line created by Antonette Quintilian (Runner-up: The Very Hungry Caterpillar created by Natalie Bernstein, Sara Kaufman, Spoorthy Reddy, and Emilie Sur)
  • Most Delicious: The Magic Fish created by Ten Nazur (Runner-up: Diary of a Wimpy Kid created by Nia Barkey and Ariana Strasser-King)
  • Funniest/Pun-iest: Fahrenheit 451 created by Meenal Srivastava, Lydia Lung, and Elise Li (Runner-up: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs created by Claire Runquist)
  • Best Vegan: Book and Dagger: How Scholars and Librarians Became the Unlikely Spies of World War II created by Hannah Leone (Runner-Up: The Book of the Dead created by Elena and Katherine Budinger-Echavarria Gil)