After a one-year hiatus, Lawrence’s River City Reading Festival plans to return in 2010.

Altrusa International of Lawrence, a nonprofit organization for women with a focus on promoting literacy, announced recently the half-day festival will be Oct. 9 at the Lawrence Public Library, 707 Vt.

The library will be a community sponsor for the 2010 event. Library director Bruce Flanders and youth services coordinator Kim Fletcher will work with the reading festival’s steering committee to plan, promote and conduct the event.

Altrusa canceled the 2009 event due to a lack of sponsorships.

The festival started in 2007 when the headliner was Jim Lehrer, host of “NewsHour with Jim Lehrer” on PBS, and the 2008 headliner was Thomas Frank, author of “What’s the Matter with Kansas?” and “The Wrecking Crew.”

The 2010 festival will specifically target pre-kindergarten through sixth-grade children. It will include author readings, activities and story-book characters in costume.

On the festival’s steering committee, the event chairwoman is Rhonda Green, the travel and event manager at Prosoco Inc., a Lawrence manufacturer. Rachel Rademacher, vice president of Rademacher Financial Inc., will be the event vice chairwoman.

More information is available on the group’s Web site.