Baltimore Book Festival

09/12/2025

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Friday first-page challenge, special Baltimore Book Festival edition!

Can you identify this contemporary young adult fantasy novel, written by an internationally acclaimed author who is one of the incredible authors speaking at this weekend's Baltimore Book Festival?

All of our books are from actual books found at

09/12/2025

FESTIVAL KICK-OFF TONIGHT! Who wants cake?

09/10/2025

Two events to catch Baltimore’s own Hannah Sawyerr!
SAT 9/13 11AM at RED EMMA’S (INSIDE)

Girl Power: Diverse Female Leads in YA Literature,
with Xan Kaur, Hannah Sawyerr, and Anna Lapera, moderated by Alanah Nichole Davis

Dive in to the emerging world of diverse YA writing with three women authors blazing new paths for black and brown heroines across multiple genres, moderated by Alanah Nichole Davis

Xan Kaur is a Punjabi-American author who grew up in rural Georgia, where there were more gnats than people. Her debut novel is When Devils Sing, an instant New York Times and national Indie bestseller. xankaur

Hannah V. Sawyerr was recognized as the Youth Poet Laureate of Baltimore in 2016. Her debut novel in verse All the Fighting Parts was a finalist for the William C. Morris Debut award, a Walter Dean Myers Award Honoree, a Rise Feminist Book Project Top Ten Title, and a Kirkus Best Book of the Year. Her sophomore novel in verse Truth Is (Abrams/Amulet) is slated for release on September 23, 2025.

Anna Lapera is a Guatemalan-American author and educator. Her debut novel, Mani Semilla Finds Her Quetzal Voice, is an International Latino Book Award winner, the 2025 International Literacy Association Honor book, a finalist for the Jane Adamms Children’s Book Award, and an American Library Association’s Feminist Book Project selection.

SUN 9/14 11AM at the 32ND ST STAGE

Truth Is: Hannah Sawyerr & Niccara Campbell in conversation

Niccara Campbell is the vibrant force behind “...But Make It Books” podcast and the influential voice of . Blending her extensive background in federal political strategy with her passion for literature, Niccara creates a unique space where books become vehicles for healing and transformation.

Presented by

09/10/2025

Special shout out to some of our local bookshops who are participating vendors this year! If you live in the area, and have never checked some of these shops out, be sure to find them and say hi. Find them on the vendor list!

09/09/2025

Why waste time circling the block? So many ways to get to the Book Festival!
From the free Charm City Circulator, to the CityLink, to a LIME rental, you have tons of options!

If you are driving, be sure to check out the street map (link in the bio), and you'll see there are so many neighborhoods and directions you can come from. Park a few blocks away and walk through the beautiful rowhomes.

All of these details and more on the Getting There page on our site!

09/09/2025

Two events to catch Baltimore’s own Hannah Sawyerr!
SAT 9/13 11AM at RED EMMA’S (INSIDE)

Girl Power: Diverse Female Leads in YA Literature,
with Xan Kaur, Hannah Sawyerr, and Anna Lapera, moderated by Alanah Nichole Davis

Dive in to the emerging world of diverse YA writing with three women authors blazing new paths for black and brown heroines across multiple genres, moderated by Alanah Nichole Davis

Xan Kaur is a Punjabi-American author who grew up in rural Georgia, where there were more gnats than people. Her debut novel is When Devils Sing, an instant New York Times and national Indie bestseller.

Hannah V. Sawyerr was recognized as the Youth Poet Laureate of Baltimore in 2016. Her debut novel in verse All the Fighting Parts was a finalist for the William C. Morris Debut award, a Walter Dean Myers Award Honoree, a Rise Feminist Book Project Top Ten Title, and a Kirkus Best Book of the Year. Her sophomore novel in verse Truth Is (Abrams/Amulet) is slated for release on September 23, 2025.

Anna Lapera is a Guatemalan-American author and educator. Her debut novel, Mani Semilla Finds Her Quetzal Voice, is an International Latino Book Award winner, the 2025 International Literacy Association Honor book, a finalist for the Jane Adamms Children's Book Award, and an American Library Association’s Feminist Book Project selection.

SUN 9/14 11AM at the 32ND ST STAGE

Truth Is: Hannah Sawyerr & Niccara Campbell in conversation

Niccara Campbell is the vibrant force behind "...But Make It Books" podcast and the influential voice of . Blending her extensive background in federal political strategy with her passion for literature, Niccara creates a unique space where books become vehicles for healing and transformation.

Presented by

09/09/2025

SAT 9/13 12:30PM at the 31st ST STAGE:
MAGGIE STIEFVATER in conversation with CLAUDIA FRIDDELL

The Listeners: Sweetwater Beneath the Business of Luxury

Maggie Stiefvater is the New York Times bestselling author of the Shiver trilogy, The Raven Cycle, and The Scorpio Races, among dozens of other YA fantasy novels. Her latest books are The Listeners, her adult debut, and a graphic novel adaptation of The Raven Boys, both hitting shelves in 2025. Stiefvater’s books have sold over five million copies around the world, and she lives in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia with her husband and their two children.

Claudia Friddell, the award winning and starred reviewed author of eight narrative nonfiction books, considers herself a treasure hunter who loves to find and write true stories that highlight extraordinary people and events from America’s past. Claudia most especially loves writing books about heroic women who are timeless role models for readers of all ages, including Grace Banker and Her Hello Girls Answer the Call and To the Front! Clara Barton Braves the Battle of Antietam. Some of Claudia’s other meticulously researched books of American icons and unsung heroes that are relatable and exciting for today’s young readers include Washington’s Spies, Saving Lady Liberty, Road Trip!, Goliath, Hero of the Great Baltimore Fire, and Cool off and Ride! Her latest nonfiction YA book, The Mysterious Virginia Hall, World War II’s Most Dangerous Spy, reads like a thriller.

09/08/2025

A look at the stages and venues throughout the festival… including a satellite event at The Study Hotel!

09/08/2025

SUN 9/14 4PM at the 31st ST STAGE:
The Hot L Poets Series: Featuring Eileen G’Sell and Hayden Saunier

Eileen G’Sell is a poet and culture critic with recent contributions to Poetry, Peripheries, Smartish Pace, Hyperallergic, The Baffler, and Jacobin. Her first book of poetry, Life After Rugby, was published in 2018 from Gold Wake Press; her second poetry volume, Francofilaments, was published in 2024 from Broken Sleep Books. In February 2026, her first book of nonfiction, Lipstick, comes out from Bloomsbury. A 2023 Rabkin Prize winner for arts journalism, she teaches writing and media studies at Washington University.

Hayden Saunier is the author of six poetry collections, including Wheel (2024.) Her work has been awarded a Pushcart Prize, Ni**od International’s Pablo Neruda Prize, the Rattle Poetry and Gell Poetry prizes, and has been published in The Sun, 32 Poems, Shenandoah, Smartish Pace, and Virginia Quarterly Review, among others. Hayden founded and directs the interactive poetry performance group No River Twice.

Presented by

09/07/2025

SAT 9/13 12PM at URBAN READS

Ron Lacks - Henrietta Lacks: The Untold Story

New Author Ron Lacks tells a behind the scenes story of what happened in the past 9 years to his family in his new book Henrietta Lacks: The Untold Story. Ron Lacks is the oldest grandson of Henrietta Lacks.  Henrietta Lacks was an African American woman whose cells were the first human cells to grow in cultures known as HeLa cells. Before the discovery of HeLa, scientists were challenged in their research due to the difficulty of keeping cells alive outside of the human body. HeLa cells forever changed the medical landscape. They were used to test the first polio vaccine, which protected millions of people around the world.

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