Eat those books! No, it’s not an April Fool’s joke – the University of Puget Sound really is encouraging book-eating at their annual Edible Book Festival this Friday. Part of an 11-year-old world-wide event, the festival celebrates witty food art, asking competitors to create an edible “book” inspired by an actual book. Entries will be on display in the library during the day with an awards ceremony at 3:30 p.m. for winners in various categories.

But you have to get creative. Some of last year’s winners were “A Thousand Splenda Suns” (after Khaled Hosseini), “The Prince and the Whopper” (Mark Twain), “A Dill’s House” (Henry Ibsen) and Jerzy Kosinski’s “Bean There.”

Prize categories include Most Humorous, Most Creative, Most Literary, Best Student Entry and People’s Choice, voting for which will be open through 3:30 p.m. Light refreshments will be served at the ceremony. The judging panel includes Julie Coykendall, director of dining and conference services at Puget Sound; William Jolly, culinary arts instructor at Clover Park Technical College; and veteran judge Barbara Racine, manager of the Puget Sound bookstore.

No registration is required, though entries must be edible and be brought to the library between 8-11 a.m. April 1. The library is free to the public at the University of Puget Sound campus, 1500 N. Warner St., Tacoma.

For more information, visit www.pugetsound.edu/academics/academic-resources/collins-memorial-library/edible-books or www.books2eat.com