This is a big week for local book lovers. Friday, the Baltimore Book Festival starts a three-day run along the 600 block of N. Charles St. You’ll find authors who thrill (Walter Mosley and Omar Tyree) and challenge (Dr. Cornel West and Naomi Wolf). And you’ll find award-winners in every genre.

On one of the panels, Nancy and I will discuss "The Changing Landscape of Book Reviews," and the recent cutbacks by many U.S. newspapers. At the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Hartford Courant, book editors left and were not replaced. The Los Angeles Times eliminated its book review section and folded coverage into the lifestyle section. Other papers, including The Baltimore Sun, have trimmed book coverage.

Some newspapers use blogs as a new way to connect with readers. But the cutback in coverage has created an opening for independent bloggers, who are flourishing. To discuss these changes, we’ll be joined on the panel by Heather Johnson, who blogs at Age 30+ ... A Lifetime of Books.

Let us know how changes in newspaper coverage — and the growth in blogging — affect you. Where do you get book reviews and recommendations for reading? Do you use blogs regularly? Do you think newspapers and bloggers can coexist?

I hope some Read Streeters can make it to our panel discussion Sunday, Sept. 28, at 11 a.m. on the Festival Stage; it would be nice to meet you. As part of the festivities, we'll give away some new releses, including Hardly Knew Her by Laura Lippman, Night of Thunder by Stephen Hunter, The Given Day by Dennis Lehane and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson.