From Here All-the-Way-Down, or How to Write a Festschrift Piece

Abstract

This is the first time I have participated in the great academic exercise that is the festschrift. I was not sure how to approach this specific task. Usually when faced with such a situation, one of my first calls is to a person who has been a mentor and a friend since I became an academic. But because Heather Gerken is the honoree of this little get together, it seemed a bit weird to ask her for advice on how to proceed. So I did what any good academic would do: research. After hours and hours of looking through festschrift articles, I found that the best all took the same three-part form. For those of you who have not spent as much time studying how to do this, I offer the following guide to writing a successful festschrift piece.