The San Antonio Book Festival (SABF) is excited to announce its 2020 author lineup, which includes more than 120 local, regional and national authors who will appear at the 8th annual festival as well as a new event – Lit Crawl. This year’s lineup includes nationally renowned authors such as Saeed Jones, Attica Locke, Marie Arana, César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández and more. The amazing weekend of festivities will take place on Saturday, April 4, from 9a.m. to 5p.m. at the Central Library and Southwest School of Art. (The San Antonio Book Festival, 2020)

The book festival is a free, family-friendly event that draws more than 20,000 festival goers to downtown San Antonio for a full day of author presentations, panel discussions, book sales, signings, children and teen activities and food trucks. It showcases first-time novelists and established writers, and introduces attendees to new literary talents and connects them with their favorite authors. A listing of all festival writers as well as a detailed festival schedule will be available online in March.

This year, there will be an additional free event, Lit Crawl, a big block party for books and everyone who loves to read them. This is the first time Lit Crawl is held in San Antonio and the city is just the 15^th one globally to produce Lit Crawl. The event will take place the evening of Friday, April 3, as part of First Friday in Southtown in the Blue Star Arts complex. Lit Crawl brings literature to the streets, offering a mini-festival within the larger Book Festival that features writers, poets and storytellers performing their work and inviting audience participation. Lit Crawl will feature several events, including Literary Death Match, where four writers will compete for “bookish” glory; at another event, writers will speak about writerly topics but will be unaware that the audience has been instructed to take a shot every time one of the writers utters specific words. Lit Crawl involves the local literary scene and captures San Antonio’s unique flavor—all while getting book lovers and revelers alike drunk on words. The inaugural Lit Crawl is produced with the help of Ricos Products and the Blue Star Arts Complex.

Internationally acclaimed writer Sandra Cisneros will debut a new festival event, Sandra Cisneros Presents, where she introduces four of her favorite writers to festival audiences. Cisneros’ long list of accolades includes NEA fellowships in both poetry and fiction, the Texas Medal of the Arts, a MacArthur Fellowship, several honorary doctorates and national and international book awards, including the National Medal of the Arts awarded to her by President Obama in 2016.

The San Antonio Book Festival is also excited to bring back the 4th Annual Book Appétit Literary Feast at the Witte Museum’s Mays Family Center on April 2 featuring novelist Amor Towles. SABF will also be hosting Book It! luncheons, three opportunities to have an intimate lunch with a festival author at Club Giraud on April 4.

The mission of the San Antonio Book Festival (SABF) is to unite readers and writers in a celebration of ideas, books, libraries, and literary culture. SABF was first presented in April 2013. Founding partners include the San Antonio Public Library, the Southwest School of Art, the San Antonio Public Library Foundation, and Texas Book Festival. This “Fiesta for the mind” is a gift to visitors and the citizens of San Antonio, free and open to all.