Choose language

English EN Français FR
+ Add a site
Category

Book fairs

Book fairs are where readers meet the people who make the books they already own. The listings here cover festivals and fairs across the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada, from the Bay Area Book Festival to the Cheltenham Literature Festival. Some run for a single weekend in a city centre; others take over a park, a university or a convention hall.

You come to this category when you want a date in the calendar, a city to travel to, or a room full of presses whose catalogues you can flip through in person. Literary festivals and comics conventions sit side by side, so the range is wider than a single genre.

By State & Region

California 6 sites Texas 2 sites Florida 2 sites New York 4 sites Pennsylvania 3 sites Illinois 1 site North Carolina 2 sites Washington 1 site Massachusetts 3 sites West Virginia 1 site England 5 sites Scotland 3 sites Wales 3 sites Northern Ireland 2 sites New South Wales 2 sites Victoria 3 sites Queensland 2 sites Ontario 2 sites British Columbia 2 sites

By Genre

Comics 9 sites Children's 1 site Crime 2 sites

Geography is the first split. California alone holds the Bay Area Book Festival, while Texas, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, North Carolina, Washington, Massachusetts and West Virginia each anchor their own circuits. The United Kingdom divides further: England has the Cheltenham Literature Festival and the Cambridge Literary Festival, Scotland has Aye Write and Bloody Scotland, Wales has the Aberystwyth Poetry Festival, and Northern Ireland has the Belfast Book Festival and the Ballyscullion Park Book Festival. Australia and Canada follow the same pattern, with New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland on one side and Ontario and British Columbia on the other.

Subject matter is the second split. Comics and Children's tags pull toward events such as C2E2, where artists and small presses share floor space with costumed readers, while Crime points to Bloody Scotland, a weekend built around forensic panels and tartan noir. A visitor who picks the regional branch gets a weekend of author signings and local presses; a visitor who picks the subject branch gets programming aimed at one shelf of their library. Bookmarks Festival of Books and Authors, the Bronx Book Festival, the Boston Book Festival and the Cape Fear Book Festival sit closer to the regional model, mixing genres under one roof. Brisbane Writers Festival and Byron Writers Festival do the same for Australian readers.