Bay Area Book Festival

The Bay Area Book Festival, one of the leading literary events in the U.S., returns to Berkeley the weekend of May 6-7. The international festival is the biggest literary weekend of the year in Northern California. To date, the Festival has featured more than 1,500 notable authors, including winners of the Nobel Prize, Booker Prize, Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, Prix Goncourt, Newbery and Caldecott Medal winners, and many other awards.

Known for a focus on social justice, strong inclusion of BIPOC authors and women's voices, some of the Festival’s most recent top featured authors include Kazuo Ishiguro, Michelle Zauner, Tracy K. Smith, Patti Smith, George Saunders, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Nnedi Okorafor, Richard Flanagan, and Ann Patchett.

The Bay Area Book Festival is presented in partnership with the San Francisco Chronicle; other major media sponsors are KQED and Cityside Publishing – Berkeleyside and The Oaklandside.

Visit Berkeley is a proud sponsor of the Bay Area Book Festival. Additional sponsors include: City of Berkeley, Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, Stephen M. Silberstein Foundation, Zoetic Press, Saul Zaentz Company, the Downtown Berkeley Association, and more.