For the first time ever, the Texas Book Festival will take place entirely online. Featuring two full weeks of free virtual programming, the 2020 Festival will run October 31 through November 15 and will bring together thousands of readers and authors across Texas and beyond for sixteen straight days of engaging, enlightening and educational programming. TBF’s vision is to inspire all Texans to love reading and this year’s virtual Festival will expand that vision beyond Texas to ensure book lovers across the country and the world can join in celebrating literacy, ideas and imagination. (Texas Book Festival, 2020)

The 2020 Texas Book Festival will feature more than 125 authors participating in virtual sessions, including programming for adults, young adults, middle-grade readers and children. The 2020 Texas Teen Book Festival will also take place during the two-week virtual festival, featuring conversations with acclaimed Young Adult authors aimed at teenage readers.

The TBF’s annual First Edition Literary Gala, which raises significant funds for TBF’s programs and is traditionally held on the Friday evening before the Festival Weekend, will also take place virtually on November 6, 2020. The first of its kind, this year’s Gala will bring together supporters of the arts, members of the TBF community and some of the world’s leading literary minds for an evening filled with good books and wonderful conversation.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak and stay-at-home measures in the U.S., the Texas Book Festival has produced dozens of online programs with Texas readers and book-lovers. These include Instagram Live author interviews, children and middle-grade story times on Instagram Live, conversations and lessons from acclaimed children’s book illustrators, educational resources for students and parents and children’s story times from beloved authors and Texans as part of the Festival’s Read Together Texas series. TBF is excited to continue providing additional online programming in the months leading up to and through the two-week virtual Festival, offering even more book discussions, author panels and interviews and bringing exciting conversations from celebrated and emerging writers, journalists, artists, scientists, chefs and more into the homes of readers across Texas and the country.

The Texas Book Festival connects authors and readers through experiences that celebrate the culture of literacy, ideas and imagination. Founded in 1995 by former First Lady Laura Bush, Mary Margaret Farabee and a group of volunteers, the nonprofit Texas Book Festival promotes the joys of reading and writing through its annual Festival Weekend, the Texas Teen Book Festival, the Reading Rock Stars Title I elementary school program, the Real Reads Title I middle and high school program, grants to Texas libraries and year-round literary programming. The 2020 virtual Texas Book Festival Weekend will take place from October 31 through November 15. Thanks to generous donors, sponsors, and volunteers, the Festival remains free and open to the public.

“Nothing will stop us from bringing people together around books, including a global pandemic. We are committed more than ever to serving our community and excited that people from all over Texas, the country, and the world can participate in this year’s Festival.” – Texas Book Festival Director Lois Kim