The San Antonio Book Festival will bring over 100 national, regional and local authors to town for a day of panels, readings, book signings and family activities.
It will be a “party for pages,” said the festival’s literary director, Anna Dobben. “This free, family-friendly event will get everybody excited about books and reading.”
The celebration of literature takes place April 12 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Central Library and UTSA Southwest Campus.
Among the more than 100 authors in attendance, will be National Book Award Winner Martin Espada with his latest poetry collection, Jailbreak of Sparrows; Pulitzer Prize finalist Laila Lalami showcasing her new novel, The Dream Hotel; Erin Entrada Kelly and Kwame Mbalia, who have teamed up to write On Again, Awkward Again; and Kelsey McKinney, whose popular podcast “Normal Gossip” inspired her latest book, You Didn’t Hear This From Me: (Mostly) True Notes on Gossip.
Nowhere Bookshop, the festival’s official bookseller, will be selling featured authors’ books at the event.
“It’s a great day for book lovers in San Antonio and we’re proud to be a part of it,” said Elizabeth Jordan, the shop’s general manager and buyer.
The genre-inclusive festival will feature authors who write everything from horror to history and poetry to picture books.
Texan authors joining the event include Joe Holley with his newest book, Native Texan: Stories from Deep in the Heart; romance writer Etta Easton with her latest, The Love Simulation; horror writer Gabino Iglesias with his novel, House of Bone and Rain; and Stephen Harrigan with his latest, Sorrowful Mysteries: The Shepherd Children of Fatima and the Fate of the Twentieth Century.
For the younger readers, Newbery Medal–winning author Matt de la Peña, will be in attendance. His latest book, Home, is an ode to the places we feel at home and safe. Also joining the festival will be author-illustrator Breanna Carzoo, whose book The Squish, a story about a sandcastle trying to be bigger and stronger, was named a Publishers Weekly Best Picture Book.
For the older kids, Greg Foley, author of Dex Dingo: World’s Best Greatest Ever Inventor, and Adrianna Cuevas, author of What Fell From the Sky, will be present.
Young adult authors Farrah Rochon and National Book Award finalist Huda Fahmy, will also be at the festival. Rochon’s latest, Bemused, is the untold story of the five Muses from the Disney movie, Hercules, and Fahmy’s Huda F Wants to Know? is a story about a teen’s life that gets out of control after a big family change.
For the full author lineup and more information about this year’s San Antonio Book Festival, visit the festival’s website.
