At noon on a recent Friday, a few dozen biblio-foodies in Ladd Library put down their pencils and picked up their plates to sample literary treats like “Lime and Punishment by Fyodor Donut-oyevsky” — chocolate donuts topped with mint and lime frosting — one of 11 entries in this year’s Edible Books Festival.
Around the world, Edible Books events originated about a quarter century ago; the Bates version arrived three years ago, a brainchild of Grey McGloon ’21, a library assistant for access services who started the event to foster post-COVID community.
“And also to remind people that a library is welcome to everyone,” said McGloon, who contributed the whimsical “Lime and Punishment.” “It also gets people just out of their normal schedule to be baking something kind of silly.”
This year’s entrants interpreted the assignment in various ways. Some recreated book covers, while others materialized fictional treats, and others still saw an opportunity for jokes and word play.
Michael Staffenski, associate director of culinary and retail operations and executive chef, joined the festival as a judge. The cuisinier took his time making his edible assessments, meandering between tables and sampling the creations.
“I’m using my palette,” Staffenski quipped, when asked how he was applying his culinary expertise to the day’s work.
Sam Gamber ’25 of Marlborough, Mass., used the event to share childhood nostalgia, creating a cake inspired by the children’s book Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney, which she fondly remembers her mom reading to her as a child.
The entry, which won Most Comedic, comprised a red velvet cake enclosed in a graham cracker frame and topped with colorful fondant, effectively mimicking a bed covered in a quilt. Sitting up beneath the quilt, seeming to defy gravity, was the titular llama — sculpted from Rice Krispies Treats, coated in fondant, and anchored by wire — its head hovering several inches above the bed.
“There’s one wire holding up the pillow and then another holding up his neck,” Gamber said. “And then other than that, it’s just Rice Krispies and prayer.”
Down the table from Donut-oyevsky, library assistant Hannah Dawkins offered hexagonal slices of a hive-shaped honey cake inspired by The Hobbit — a nod to the shapeshifting, bee-loving character whose guests enjoy the same treat.
“I just like seeing everyone come together and share food. It’s a great sense of community,” Dawkins said. “Everyone’s so happy. It’s a lot of fun. I like to see all the creativity.”
Dre Gager, associate director in the Office of Institutional Research, Analysis, and Planning, took home Most Creative for her oceanic cake inspired by Life of Pi by Yann Martel. Beneath its blue-frosted exterior and adorning chocolate flying fish, the cake’s interior was orange and black striped, representing the coat of the bengal tiger at the center of Life of Pi’s story.
“It’s just so fun to see all these people coming together over something that is just fun and joyful,” Gager said. “It just feels really good.”
The Bates academic program was represented by Edible Books regular Cheryl Stephenson, a visiting lecturer in Russian, and her advanced Russian students. They won People’s Favorite for their cake inspired by a play they’ve been studying, Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull, chosen by Stephenson partly because it was being staged in Schaeffer Theatre in March.
“We’re really trying to engage with the text from a bunch of different angles, and this one is super delicious, and we love, too, an event that has staff together with faculty and students,” Stephenson said.
Stephenson provided a lightly frosted cake and decorations — including coconut flakes, pretzels, and chocolate chips — for the students, who then created the final design. They ended up with a miniature, delicious recreation of the Russian countryside staged in The Seagull: green coconut flakes covering the cake mimicked grass, blue gel frosting formed the play’s iconic lake, and a small stage of pretzel logs rested atop.
As for incorporating the symbolic bird at the center of The Seagull, the students took some creative liberty. Because a seagull famously dies during the play, the students veered away from literal depictions of the bird for appetite’s sake, opting instead to frost the lake in the shape of a seagull.
Stephenson enjoys finding unique, creative ways for her students to engage with the coursework; they also created a puppet show based off of The Seagull.
“It’s a really cool way to end the experience of reading a piece of literature and then seeing how many different ways you can expand on it,” said George Miller ’25 of Savannah, Ga.
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