The 11th annual Bay Area Book Festival took place May 31–June 1 in Berkeley, Calif., drawing crowds to various venues for author events, writing workshops, panel discussions, and other festivities. A “Bookworm Block Party” on Sunday took place on several streets radiating out from the main branch of the Berkeley Public Library; there, self-published authors, publishers, booksellers, literary organizations, and other vendors displayed, sold, or—in some cases—gave away books and other wares.
According to the festival’s organizers, this year’s event featured 275 speakers ranging from locals to national literary luminaries like Viet Thanh Nguyen, Judith Butler, and Roxane Gay. There were 85 panels, eight workshops, and 120 exhibitors, ranging from micro-presses to companies with national distribution networks, like Collective Book Studio, Heyday Books, and AK Press, which are all headquartered in the Bay Area. Half Price Books’s booth was mobbed all day, with book lovers happy to score free and heavily discounted books.
Overall, event programming emphasized diversity and leaned heavily towards progressive takes on political and cultural topics. Saturday’s program, which was designated as Family Day, featured story times and panel presentations in the library, with 90 children’s and YA authors participating in discussions ranging from “Finding Your Place in Middle Grade” to “All Bodies, All Selves.” For adults, the Saturday slate also featured a series of four presentations, “Democracy Dialogues,” which included a presentation by Ari Berman (Minority Rule), the voting rights correspondent for Mother Jones, and Zack Beauchamp, senior correspondent for Vox, discussing the rise of Donald Trump to the presidency. “In a healthy society,” Berman observed, “Trump never would have been elected.”
Sunday’s programming included “Inside Ideas” panels and presentations, ranging from authors sharing their experiences with both traditional and nontraditional publishing models, to a critique of the American legal system and social justice organizing. The Bookworm Block Party featured a Poetry Stage, where local poets at all stages of their careers read from their work. The street festival concluded Sunday with Maxine Hong Kingston, who took to the Poetry Stage with Chun Yu (Little Green: Growing Up During the Chinese Cultural Revolution), the Chinese translator of Kingston’s work. The two took turns reading Kingston’s poetry—a haiku entitled “The Malu Cycles,” as well as a longer poem, “Chinese Time.” Kingston read first in English, followed by Yu in Chinese. “When Yu translates my poetry into Chinese,” Kingston noted, “they are transformed. They become her poems.”
BABF executive director J.K. Fowler told PW, “I am deeply honored that my first year as executive director was met with such enthusiasm and joy from attendees and participants alike.” Fowler continued: “Our theme was ‘Changing the Narrative,’ and it was more than a slogan—it was a call to action, and our communities answered with courage, creativity, and joy.”
The Bay Area Book Festival will next take place on May 30-31, 2026.
