This October, the Harrisburg Book Festival returns for its 11th year! Proudly hosted by the Midtown Scholar Bookstore from October 18th - 22nd, this five-day festival celebrates the power of literature and its ability to unite, delight, and inspire.
The Harrisburg Book Festival is set to host some of the world’s top authors for in-person readings, panels and signings. Additionally, the festival will feature an outdoor tent sale, children’s day, and blind-date-with-a-book. All events outside of the keynote address are free and open to the public and will take place at the Midtown Scholar Bookstore.
KEYNOTE ADDRESS
The 11th Annual Harrisburg Book Festival Keynote Address will take place at the Whitaker Center on Wednesday, October 18th at 8pm with Booker Prize-winning author George Saunders and the New Yorker’s Jia Tolentino. Tickets include a signed paperback copy of LIBERATION DAY by George Saunders and one general admission seat. Tickets are available here.
AUTHOR APPEARANCES
This year’s festival boasts a star-studded lineup of world-renowned authors, including:
Booker Prize-winning author George Saunders
NPR host Steve Inskeep
Art historian Teju Cole
Pulitzer Prize-winning Viet Thanh Nguyen
Classicist Emily Wilson
Fantasy author Chloe Gong
Humorist Samantha Irby
Memoirist bestselling author Jenny Lawson
Children's book author Raj Haldar
Poet Kate Baer
Journalist Liza Mundy
The New Yorker's Jia Tolentino
Children's book author Lian Cho
Children's book author Jamia Wilson
Literary agent and author Eric Smith
Translator Stephanie McCarter
Memoirist Phuc Tran
Romance author Hannah Nicole Maehrer
YA author Brigid Kemmerer
OUTDOOR TENT SALE
The Outdoor Tent Sale will take place in the grass lot across from the bookstore at 3rd and Verbeke from Wednesday, October 18th - Sunday, October 22nd. The sale will feature over 20,000+ used books at bargain prices across all genres. Hours of the sale are 10am-6pm each day.
CHILDREN’S DAY
Children’s Day will take place on Saturday, October 21st from 10am-12pm. Activities include story time, face painting, book signings, and a bookstore scavenger hunt with prizes!
SPONSORS
Over fifteen community businesses, universities, and media partners have come on-board to sponsor the festival, including:
Catherine Hershey School for Early Learning
Messiah University School of Arts, Culture, and Society
Shippensburg University
Wilkes University Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing
WITF
Lancaster Newspaper
AAUW Harrisburg
York College of Pennsylvania
Elizabethtown College
Susquehanna University Department of English & Creative Writing
Dickinson College Department of English and Creative Writing
Carpe Librum
Harrisburg Academy
Lebanon Valley College Department of English and Creative Writing
Millersville University Department of Humanities and Social Sciences
UPMC Pinnacle
