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Full schedule
Authors, speakers, and panelists
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Getting there
About the festival
The Full BOOK FEST Schedule
32nd Street Stage
Around the Neighborhood
CharmCCC Stage
Children and Teen Stage
CityLit/Ivy Stage
Normals Books Stage
Peabody Heights Stage
Red Emma’s Stage
Urban Reads Stage
Saturday, September 19th
10:00 am
African Storytelling with Grandma Edna
Children and Teen Stage
10:00 am
Drag Story Hour, featuring Chanel Janaé Chloè and Jesus Vice
32nd Street Stage
10:00 am
Teen-Zine Making Workshop with Lawrence Burney
CharmCCC Stage
10:00 am
Baltimore Beat: Conversations on a growing, changing city
Peabody Heights Stage
10:00 am
DJ The Typewriter Poet, at Jinji Chocolate
Around the Neighborhood
10:00 am
Choose Your Own Adventure Acupuncture with wind gate wellness
Around the Neighborhood
10:00 am
FUNNY LADIES OF COMEDY: STARS OF COMIC FICTION TALK SHOP, featuring Susan Coll, Amy Fussellman, Sydney Rende, & Betsy Boyd
CityLit/Ivy Stage
11:00 am
Urban Reads Presents the Family Power Festival
Urban Reads Stage
11:00 am
Spooky Season Starts Here: Tiffany D. Jackson on “Ghost in the Night”
Children and Teen Stage
11:00 am
Snug Books Presents: Kat Stoddard in Conversation with Emily J. Smith
Red Emma’s Stage
11:00 am
Stories Begin Here: A conversation with derrick adams, D. Watkins and Lawrence Burney
32nd Street Stage
11:00 am
Baltimore Review Contributors: Readings and Conversation
Peabody Heights Stage
11:30 am
THE KNOTTED PATH OF BECOMING: STORIES THAT TEST THE HUMAN SPIRIT, featuring Phill Branch, Diana Veiga, Heather Moyer, & Jess Solomon
CityLit/Ivy Stage
11:30 am
Stoop Reading with Joshua Michael
CharmCCC Stage
12:00 pm
Low Stakes, High Vibes: Cozy Fantasy for Tough Times
Peabody Heights Stage
12:00 pm
Nik Korpon presents “The Cat Prophecies: Claw Quest”
Urban Reads Stage
12:00 pm
Jump, Jump and Double Dutch with JUMP Maryland
Children and Teen Stage
12:00 pm
Growing Hearts & Community in Picture Books
Children and Teen Stage
12:00 pm
Kim Phillips-Fein presents “COUNTRY OF LORDS” IN CONVERSATION W/LESTER SPENCE
32nd Street Stage
12:00 pm
Snug Books Presents: The Family Secrets We Inherit
Red Emma’s Stage
12:30 pm
Stoop Reading with Wanda Durant
CharmCCC Stage
1:00 pm
Inferno Of Justice: Burn Down The Master’s House, featuring Clay Cane with Andy Shallal
CityLit/Ivy Stage
1:00 pm
Jenn M. Jackson Presents “the Narrative of Sojourner Truth” in conversation w/Alanah Nichole Davis
Red Emma’s Stage
1:00 pm
From Sketch to Storytime: Illustrator’s Way
Children and Teen Stage
1:00 pm
Move Your Body with Baltimore Hoop Love
Children and Teen Stage
1:00 pm
visit the Storybook Trolley, with ms. maze!
Around the Neighborhood
1:00 pm
Warriors, Assassins, and Sorceresses: The World of Dark Fantasy
Peabody Heights Stage
1:00 pm
Mark Anthony Neal presents “Save a Seat for Me: Notes on American Fatherhood” in conversation w/Jessica Marie Johnson
32nd Street Stage
1:30 pm
Stoop Reading with D. Watkins
CharmCCC Stage
1:30 pm
Simone Brown presents “Selah Has a Secret”
Urban Reads Stage
2:00 pm
João França presents “Yes, It’s Possible! A Handbook for Building Power from Below”
Red Emma’s Stage
2:00 pm
Some of What You Seek May Be Found Here
Normals Books Stage
2:00 pm
Normals Presents: Thea Brown
Normals Books Stage
2:00 pm
Black Folk in Strange Places: Liberated World-building in Black Speculative Fiction
Peabody Heights Stage
2:00 pm
Color, Craft, Create with Meghana Narayan
Children and Teen Stage
2:00 pm
Susan Stryker presents “Changing Gender” in conversation w/Jamie Grace Alexander
32nd Street Stage
2:30 pm
Normals Presents: Buck Downs
Normals Books Stage
2:30 pm
Queering Baltimore Lit, featuring The Workshop Prince, Alison Lubar, T. Mae Moll, Aldrin Badiola, & Ashley Elizabeth
CityLit/Ivy Stage
2:30 pm
B. Sharise Moore presents “A City Dream”
Urban Reads Stage
2:45 pm
Color, Craft, Create with The Creative Representation Empire
Children and Teen Stage
3:00 pm
Alexis Pauline Gumbs presents “Primary: AFTER AND WITH ALMA THOMAS” in Conversation w/Joël Diaz
32nd Street Stage
3:00 pm
Black Writer’s Pride: Black Pen Rainbow Ink Poetry Slam
Peabody Heights Stage
3:00 pm
George Abraham presents “Homosexual Intifada: a queer palestinian anthology” in conversation with rahne alexander
Red Emma’s Stage
3:15 pm
Normals Presents: Joel Dailey
Normals Books Stage
4:00 pm
Page to Screen Celebration: The Wild Robot
Children and Teen Stage
4:00 pm
Normals Presents: Madeline ffitch
Normals Books Stage
4:00 pm
FIND YOUR WAY HOME: HOW WE POET OUR PATH & OUR PAST – A CONVERSATION & READING WITH CHET’LA SEBREE, MAUI SMITH, NOEL QUIÑONES, FEATURING DENICE FROHMAN. MODERATED BY DUEWA FRAZIER
CityLit/Ivy Stage
4:00 pm
Poetry As a Tool For Conservation
Red Emma’s Stage
4:00 pm
Sheree Renee Thomas presents “Ring Shout on Saturn” & “The Tongue I Dream In” in conversation w/B. Sharise Moore, Nadine Finigan-Carr & Lawrence Brown
32nd Street Stage
5:00 pm
Normals Presents: The Tinklers
Normals Books Stage
5:00 pm
Ibram X. Kendi presents “Chain of Ideas: The Origins of Our Authoritarian Age” in conversation w/D. Watkins
32nd Street Stage
5:00 pm
Austin McCoy presents “Living in a D.A.I.S.Y. Age: The Music, Culture, and World De La Soul Made” in conversation w/Skiz Fernando
Red Emma’s Stage
5:45 pm
Black Writer’s Pride: Black Queer Roundtable
Peabody Heights Stage
6:00 pm
April Ryan presents “Notes on a Blacklash: When a Black Woman Goes Viral”
Urban Reads Stage
6:00 pm
SOUL EVOLUTION: A SOUL-STIRRING JOURNEY THROUGH TIME, SPACE, AND SOUND featuring AMOROUS EBONY & ANTONIO EYEZ with an intro by Karenthia A. Barber
CityLit/Ivy Stage
6:15 pm
DewMore Baltimore Presents marcellus vinson, baltimore’s youth poet laureate
32nd Street Stage
7:00 pm
Laverne Cox presents “Transcendent,” in conversation with dr. Melanie Bryant
32nd Street Stage
8:00 pm
Book Festival After Dark Party, featuring DJ Oji!
Peabody Heights Stage
SUNDAY, September 20th
10:00 am
Stoop Reading with Odette Ramos
CharmCCC Stage
10:00 am
Wildlife Adventures Story Time
Children and Teen Stage
11:00 am
Stoop Reading with Maryland First Lady Dawn Moore
CharmCCC Stage
11:00 am
Live at the study! information sick: How Journalism’s Decline and Misinformation’s Rise Are Harming Our Health—and What We Can Do About It
Around the Neighborhood
11:00 am
Emmaia Gelman presents “The Anti-Defamation League & the Racial State” in conversation w/Maha Hilal & Maxwell Greenberg
Red Emma’s Stage
11:00 am
Becca Rea-Tucker presents “The Abortion Companion” w/the Abortion Fund of Maryland
32nd Street Stage
11:00 am
Louise Marburg and Elizabeth Hazen: “FANCY MEETING YOU”
CityLit/Ivy Stage
11:00 am
From Picture Books to Prairie Mysteries: An Afternoon with Andrea L. Rogers
Children and Teen Stage
11:00 am
Second Chances in Love and Life
Peabody Heights Stage
12:00 pm
writers in Baltimore Schools presents “Down the Hatch”
Red Emma’s Stage
12:00 pm
Nadine Finigan-Carr presents “the waterman’s daughter”
Urban Reads Stage
12:00 pm
P.C. Verrone and Amani Jackson: “RABBIT, FOX, TAR”
CityLit/Ivy Stage
12:00 pm
Romance and Suspense: Thrilled and Enthralled
Peabody Heights Stage
12:00 pm
Molly Crabapple presents “Here Where We Live Is Our Country: The Story of the Jewish Bund” in conversation w/Margaret Killjoy
32nd Street Stage
12:30 pm
Stoop Reading with Mychal Threets
CharmCCC Stage
12:30 pm
Amazing Adventures Meet & Greet
Children and Teen Stage
1:00 pm
Lenna Jawdat: “70,000: POEMS”
CityLit/Ivy Stage
1:00 pm
Monique Couvson presents “Black Stats” and “Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools” in conversation w/Lisa Snowden
Red Emma’s Stage
1:00 pm
Austin Channing Brown presents “Full Of Myself: Black Womanhood and the Journey to Self-Possession” in conversation w/Tarana Burke
32nd Street Stage
1:00 pm
Taking the Leap: Indie to Trad Romance Publishing
Peabody Heights Stage
1:30 pm
Lawrence Brown presents “Journey and the Abolition Democracy” & “The Black Butterfly”
Urban Reads Stage
2:00 pm
Monsters, Magic, and Mates, Oh My!: The Allure of Supernatural Romance
Peabody Heights Stage
2:00 pm
Snug Books Presents Elizabeth Letts and Judith Krummeck: “FALLEN FOR FRANCE”
CityLit/Ivy Stage
2:00 pm
Gil Durán presents “The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy” in conversation w/Maximillian Alvarez
Red Emma’s Stage
2:00 pm
Sustaining Our Legacy, Building Our Future: Black Publishing in perspective
32nd Street Stage
2:00 pm
Bruiser Mag At Normals
Normals Books Stage
2:30 pm
Secrets, Spells & Suspense: Writing Unforgettable YA
Children and Teen Stage
3:00 pm
Julia Harte presents “Americans Without Borders” in conversation with Jaisal Noor
Red Emma’s Stage
3:00 pm
Alexandra Elle and Maureen Nicol: “THE COMPANY WE KEEP”
CityLit/Ivy Stage
3:00 pm
One Maryland One Book 2026 Spotlight: Lawrence Burney presents “No Sense in Wishing” in converSatioN With Doreen St. Félix
32nd Street Stage
3:00 pm
Things That Go Bump in the Night: Horror and the Art of Fear
Peabody Heights Stage
3:30 pm
Page to Screen Celebration: Magic and Fantasy
Children and Teen Stage
4:00 pm
Robert Isaacs and J. Wynn Rousuck: “IT’S HARD TO BE AN ANIMAL”
CityLit/Ivy Stage
4:30 pm
Teen-Zine Making Workshop with Hampton Boyer
CharmCCC Stage
5:00 pm
Black Writer’s Pride: IN THE STACKS Comedy Show
Peabody Heights Stage
