Book Events

2016 Book Fairs, Festivals, and Conventions

These are just some of the many book-related events of 2016. Locally, I’ve focused mostly on the US and Canada, but many of the major international events are here as well. Some of the events occurring late in the year haven’t been scheduled yet; I’ll try to update this list periodically.

Science fiction/fantasy conventions: For a more complete list, see Upcoming Cons: Science Fiction Conventions
Comic conventions: For a complete list, see Upcoming Cons: Comic Cons
Writers conventions and workshops: For links to workshops and conventions for writers, see the lists compiled by Joni Renner Editing and Shaw Guides, as well as Wikipedia.

If you know of a book festival I’ve missed, please let me know! My contact info is on the About Me page.

January

Jan. 8-12 ALA Midwinter Meeting (Boston)

Jan. 8-10 Wizard World New Orleans Comic Con (New Orleans, Louisiana)

Jan. 9-17 New Delhi World Book Fair (New Delhi, India)

Jan. 21-25 Jaipur Literature Festival (Jaipur, India) – largest free literary festival in the world

Jan. 22-24 COSine (Colorado Springs, Colorado) – science fiction and fantasy convention. 2016 Guest of Honor: Jim Butcher

Jan. 27-Feb. 10 International Cairo Book Fair (Cairo, Egypt)

Jan. 29-31 ChattaCon (Chattanooga, Tennesee) – speculative fiction convention

February

Feb. 11-14 Savannah Book Festival (Savannah, Georgia) – free and open to the public

Feb. 18-20 Amelia Island Book Festival (Amelia Island, Florida)

Feb. 19-21 Deckle Edge (Columbia, South Carolina) “South Carolina’s literary festival”

Feb. 19-21 Wizard World Portland Comic Con (Portland, Oregon)

Feb. 16-21 Taipei International Book Exhibition (Taipei, Taiwan)

Feb. 18-21 Brussels Book Fair (Brussels, Belgium)

Feb. 19-21 Boskone 53 (Boston, Massachusetts) – major science fiction & fantasy convention

Feb. 25-28 SleuthFest (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) – a convention for mystery, suspense, and thriller writers and fans

Feb. 25-28 Left Coast Crime (Phoenix, AZ) – mystery convention (location changes year to year)

March

Mar. 1-12 Emirates Airline Festival of Literature (Dubai, U.A.E.)

Mar. 5 The Augusta Literary Festival (Augusta, Georgia) – free and open to the public

Mar. 5 NoVaTEEN Book Festival (Arlington, Virginia)

Mar. 7-9 Digital Book World Conference & Expo (New York City)

Mar. 11-13 Florida Antiquarian Book Fair (St. Petersburg, Florida)

Mar. 11-14 StarFest Denver (Denver, Colorado) – major science fiction/fantasy convention

Mar. 11-20 South by Southwest (Austin, Texas)

Mar. 12-13 Tucson Festival of Books (Tucson, Arizona) – free and open to the public

Mar. 12-13 Dahlonega Literary Festival (Dahlonega, Georgia) – mostly free and open to the public

Mar. 16-20 Virginia Festival of the Book (Charlottesville, Virginia) – mostly free; some events are ticketed

Mar. 17-20 Leipzig Book Fair (Leipzig, Germany)

Mar. 17-20 Paris Book Fair (Salon du Livre) (Paris)

Mar. 24-27 Norwescon (SeaTac, Washington)

Mar 25-27 WonderCon (Los Angeles, California)

Mar. 25 – Apr. 5 Alexandrina International Book Fair (Alexandria, Egypt)

Mar. 30 – Apr. 2 AWP Conference & Bookfair (Association of Writers & Writing Programs) (Los Angeles, California)

Mar. 30 – Apr. 3 Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival (New Orleans, Louisiana)

April

Apr. 1-2 Palm Beach Book Festival (Palm Beach, Florida)

Apr. 4-7 Bologna Children’s Book Fair (Bologna, Italy)

Apr. 7-10 New York Antiquarian Book Fair (New York City)

Apr. 9-10 Los Angeles Times Festival of Books (Los Angeles, California)

Apr. 12-14 London Book Fair (London)

Apr. 12-17 Romantic Times Book Lovers’ Convention (Las Vegas, Nevada)

Apr. 13-17 Québec International Book Fair (Québec City, Canada)

Apr. 14-17 Arkansas Literary Festival (Little Rock, Arkansas) – mostly free and open to the public

Apr. 16 Annapolis Book Festival (Annapolis, Maryland)

Apr. 18-24 Fox Cities Book Festival (Wisconsin)

Apr. 19-May 2 Bogota International Book Fair (Bogota, Colombia)

Apr. 20-24 Nancy Drew Sleuths Convention (New Orleans, Louisiana) – Nancy Drew convention; venue changes yearly

Apr. 21-24 Budapest International Book Festival (Budapest, Hungary)

Apr. 21 – May 9 Buenos Aires International Book Fair (Buenos Aires, Argentina) (English-language website)

Apr. 22-23 Southern Kentucky Book Fest (Bowling Green area, Kentucky) (Children’s Day – Apr. 22; Kentucky Writers Conference – Apr. 22)

Apr. 23 Alabama Book Festival (Montgomery, Alabama) – free and open to the public

Apr. 23 Ohioana Book Festival (Columbus, Ohio)

Apr. 25 – May 4 PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature (New York City) – focusing this year on Mexico and the Mexican diaspora

Apr. 27 – May 1 Geneva International Book and Press Fair (Geneva, Switzerland)

Apr. 27 – May 3 Abu Dhabi International Book Fair (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates)

Apr. 28 The Edgars Banquet (New York City) – annual mystery awards banquet

Apr. 29-30 Newburyport Literary Festival (Newburyport, Massachusetts)

Apr. 29 – May 1 RavenCon (Williamsburg, VA) – science fiction/fantasy convention

Apr. 29 – May 1 Ad Astra (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) – major science fiction/fantasy convention

Apr. 29 – May 1 Malice Domestic (Bethesda, Maryland) – mystery convention for writers and fans

May

May 7 Hudson Children’s Book Festival (Hudson, New York)

May 12-14 Book Expo America (BEA) (Chicago, Illinois)

May 12-16 Turin International Book Fair (Turin, Italy)

May 12-15 Prague International Book Fair and Literary Festival Book World (Prague, Czech Republic)

May 14 Prince George’s Book Festival (Landover, Maryland)

May 14 Teen Book Festival (Rochester, New York) 2016 featured authors include Mercedes Lackey

May 14 BookCon (New York City) Guest authors include Sarah J. Maas, Leigh Bardugo, Meg Cabot, Marissa Meyer, and lots of other well-known YA authors

May 19-22 Crimefest (Bristol, UK) – annual international crime fiction convention

May 19-22 Warsaw International Book Fair (Warsaw, Poland)

May 21 Gaithersburg Book Festival (Gaithersburg, Maryland) – free and open to the public

May 26-29 St. Petersburg International Book Salon (St. Petersburg, Russia)

May 26 -June 5 Hay Festival Wales (Hay-on-Wye, Wales, UK)

May 27-30 Balticon 50 (Baltimore, Maryland) – major science fiction & fantasy convention. 2016 Guest of Honor: George R.R. Martin. They’ve also invited all the previous 49 Guests of Honor to return.

June

Jun. 1-6 Romance Novel Convention (Las Vegas, Nevada)

Jun. 4-5 Bay Area Book Festival (San Francisco, California)

Jun. 15-19 Seoul International Book Fair (Seoul, South Korea)

Jun. 16-18 Ann Arbor Book Festival (Ann Arbor, Michigan)

Jun. 17-19 Wizard World Sacramento Comic Con (Sacramento, California)

Jun. 17-19 Nantucket Book Festival (Nantucket Island, Massachusetts)

Jun. 23-28 ALA Annual Conference (Orlando, Florida) American Library Association conference; venue changes yearly

June 30 – July 3 CONVergence (Bloomington, Minnesota) – science fiction & fantasy convention

[Dates TBD] Chicago Tribune Printers Row Lit Fest (Chicago)

July

Jul. 5-9 ThrillerFest XI (New York) – a conference for thriller enthusiasts. 2016 Guests include Heather Graham, Gillian Flynn, and Walter Mosley

July 7-10 Readercon (Quincy, Massachusetts) – speculative fiction convention focusing almost exclusively on the written word (as opposed to films, television, gaming, and comics). 2016 Guests: Catherynne M. Valente and Tim Powers

Jul. 20-26 Hong Kong Book Fair (Hong Kong)

July 21-24 Comic-Con International (San Diego, California)

July 30 Northwest Book Festival (Portland, Oregon)

August

Aug. 5-6 Rocky Mountain Book and Paper Fair (Denver, Colorado) – for antiquarian books, maps, and ephemera. The 2016 theme is Mystery.

Aug. 12-14 When Words Collide (Calgary, Alberta, Canada) – a festival for readers, writers, artists and publishers of commercial and literary fiction, including genre, YA, children’s books, and poetry

Aug. 13-29 Edinburgh Book Festival (Edinburgh, Scotland, UK)

Aug. 17-21 WorldCon 74: MidAmericon II (Kansas City, Missouri) – the world science fiction/fantasy convention, at which the Hugos are awarded (WorldCon home page). 2016 Guests of Honor: Tamora Pierce, Kinuko Y. Craft, Patrick and Teresa Nielsen Hayden, Michael Swanwick, and Pat Cadigan

Aug. 18-21 Killer Nashville Writers’ Conference (Nashville, Tennesee) – thriller, suspense, and mystery convention for writers and fans

Aug. 20 Mississippi Book Festival (Jackson, Mississippi)

Aug. 24-28 Beijing International Book Fair (Beijing, China)

[Date TBD] Decatur Book Festival [Decatur (Atlanta), Georgia] – mostly free and open to the public

Date TBD] Martha’s Vineyard Book Festival (Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts)

September

Sept. 2-5 DragonCon (Atlanta, Georgia) – a major science fiction, fantasy, gaming, comics, and pop culture convention

Sept. 15-18 Bouchercon (New Orleans) – annual crime fiction convention; venue changes yearly. 2016 Chairs: Heather Graham & Connie Perry. 2016 Guests of Honor: Harlan Coben, Craig Robertson, R. L. Stine

Sept. 18 Brooklyn Book Festival (Brooklyn, New York City) Children’s Book Festival: Sept. 17. Bookend Events: Sept. 12-18. Free and open to the public.

Sept. 22-26 South Dakota Festival of Books (Brookings and Sioux Falls, South Dakota)

Sept. 23-25 Tokyo International Book Fair (Tokyo)

Sept. 23-26 Baltimore Book Festival (Baltimore, Maryland)

Sept. 24-30 Fall For the Book (Virginia, DC, and Maryland)

Sept. 30 – Oct. 1 RomCon Reader Weekend (Denver, Colorado) – a romance convention for readers

Sept. 30 – Oct. 2 Creatures, Crime, & Creativity Convention (Columbia, Maryland) – a convention for readers and writers of mystery, suspense, thriller, horror, sci-fi, fantasy and paranormal. 2016 Guest Speaker: Alexandra Sokolov

[Date TBD] National Book Festival (Washington, DC)

[Dates TBD] International Agatha Christie Festival (Torquay, Cornwall, UK)

[Dates TBD] Word Vancouver (Vancouver, BC, Canada) – mostly free and open to the public

[Dates TBD] Florida Heritage Book Festival and Writers Conference (St. Augustine, Florida)

October

Oct. 6-9 New York Comic Con (New York City)

Oct. 7-9 Sheboygan Children’s Book Festival (Sheboygan, Wisconsin)

Oct. 8-9 Seattle Antiquarian Book Fair (Seattle, Washington)

Oct. 13-15 Vegas Valley Book Festival (Las Vegas, Nevada)

Oct. 13-16 Whistler Readers and Writers Festival (Whistler, BC, Canada)

Oct. 14-16 Southern Festival of Books (Nashville, Tennessee) – free and open to the public – NOTE: dates unconfirmed; website still shows 2015 information

Oct. 15 Carolina Book Festival (Charlotte, North Carolina)

Oct. 15 African-American Author’s Expo and Multicultural Book Fair (Morgan State University, Baltimore/Timonium, Maryland)

Oct. 15-17 New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association Fall Conference (Baltimore, Maryland)

Oct. 18-23 Vancouver Writers Fest (Vancouver, BC, Canada)

Oct. 19-23 Frankfurt Book Fair (Frankfurt, Germany)

Oct. 20-23 Midwestern Book Lovers Unite Convention for Readers and Authors (Bloomington, Minnesota) (MBLU home website)

Oct. 20-23 Dodge Poetry Festival (Newark, New Jersey)

Oct. 23-30 Belgrade Book Fair (Belgrade, Serbia) Dates not confirmed; website not updated

Oct. 27-30 Helsinki Book Fair (Helsinki, Finland) (no website yet)

Oct. 27-30 World Fantasy Convention (Columbus, Ohio) – world fantasy convention, held in a different location each year (World Fantasy Convention homepage)

Oct. 28-30 Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair (Boston, Massachusetts)

[Dates TBD] Chippewa Valley Book Festival (Eau Claire area, Wisconsin)

[Dates TBD] Boston Book Festival (Boston, Massachusetts) – free and open to the public

[Dates TBD] Louisiana Book Festival (Baton Rouge, Louisiana) – free and open to the public