Even in this digital age of rapid global communication, book conferences, fairs, and festivals have remained an important part of the book business as places where different parts of the industry can meet and, in a growing number of cases, have direct contact with readers. Here’s our roundup of some of the big stops on the publishing meeting circuit.
January
New Delhi World Book Fair, New Delhi, Jan. 5–13
ABA Winter Institute, Albuquerque, N.Mex., Jan. 22–25
Angoulême International Comics Festival, Angoulême, France, Jan. 24–27
ALA Midwinter Meeting, Seattle, Jan. 25–29
February
Ekushey Book Fair, Dhaka, Bangladesh, Feb. 1–28
PubWest, Santa Fe, N.Mex., Feb. 7–9
Feria Internacional del Libro La Habana, Havana, Feb. 7–17
Taipei International Book Exhibition, Taipei, Taiwan, Feb. 12–17
San Miguel Writers Conference, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, Feb. 13–17
Amelia Island Book Festival, Amelia Island, Fla., Feb. 14–16
San Francisco Writers Conference, San Francisco, Feb. 14–18
Foire du Livre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Feb. 14–17
Savannah Book Festival, Savannah, Ga., Feb. 14-17
Vilnius Book Fair, Vilnius, Lithuania, Feb. 21–24
Wizard World Portland, Portland, Ore., Feb. 22–24
March
Emirates Airline Festival of Literature, Dubai, U.A.E., Mar. 1–9
Tucson Festival of Books, Tucson, Ariz., Mar. 2–3
Lit & Luz Festival, Mexico City, Mar. 6–9
South by Southwest, Austin, Tex., Mar. 8–17
London Book Fair, London, Mar. 12–14
SleuthFest, Boca Raton, Fla., Mar. 14–17
Palm Beach Book Festival, Palm Beach, Fla., Mar. 15–16
Salon du Livre Paris, Paris, Mar. 15–18
Tech Forum and E-bookcraft, Toronto, Mar. 18–21
Virginia Festival of the Book, Charlottesville, Va., Mar. 20–24
Leipzig Book Fair, Leipzig, Germany, Mar. 21–24
Deckle Edge Literary Festival, Columbia, S.C., Mar. 23
Alexandria International Book Fair, Alexandria, Egypt, Mar. 25–Apr. 7
AWP Conference & Bookfair, Portland, Ore., Mar. 27–30
Festival Neue Literatur, New York, Mar. 28–31
Left Coast Crime, Vancouver, Canada, Mar. 28–31
Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival, New Orleans, Mar. 29–31
WonderCon, Los Angeles, Mar. 29–31
The Write Stuff Writers Conference, Bethlehem, Pa., Mar. N/A
Long Island LitFest, Rockville Centre, N.Y., Mar. N/A
Bangkok International Book Fair, Bangkok, N/A
April
Bologna Children’s Book Fair, Bologna, Italy, Apr. 1–4
UW–Madison’s Annual Writers’ Institute, Madison, Wis., Apr. 4–7
IBPA Publishing University, Chicago, Apr. 5–6
San Antonio Book Festival, San Antonio, Tex., Apr. 6
Association of College & Research Libraries Conference, Cleveland, Ohio, Apr. 10–13
Quebec International Book Fair, Quebec City, Canada, Apr. 10–14
I Wanna Be With You Everywhere Festival, April 11-14, New York, N.Y.
Alabama Book Festival, Montgomery, Ala., Apr. 13
L.A. Times Festival of Books, Los Angeles, Apr. 13–14
Texas Library Association Conference, Austin, Tex., Apr. 15–18
Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival, Sharjah, U.A.E., Apr. 17–27
Norwescon, SeaTac, Wash., Apr. 18–21
Unbound Book Festival, Columbia, Mo., Apr. 19
North Texas Teen Book Festival, Irving, Tex., Apr. 22–23
Abu Dhabi International Book Fair, Abu Dhabi, U.A.E., Apr. 24–30
Tehran International Book Fair, Tehran, Iran, Apr. 24–May 4
Arkansas Literary Festival, Little Rock, Ark., Apr. 25–28
Idaho Writers Guild Pitchfest, Boise, Idaho, Apr. 25–27
Bogota International Book Fair, Bogotá, Colombia, Apr. 25–May 6
Buenos Aires Book Fair, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Apr. 25–May 13
International Book Festival Budapest, Budapest, Hungary, Apr. 25–28
Newburyport Literary Festival, Newburyport, Mass., Apr. 26–27
Southern Kentucky Book Fest, Bowling Green, Ky., Apr. 26–27
The Self-Publishing Conference, Leicester, England, Apr. 27
ECPA Leadership Summit, Washington, D.C., Apr. 30–May 1
Tulsa Lit Fest, Tulsa, Okla., Apr. N/A
Chicago Humanities Festival Springfest, Chicago, Apr. N/A
May
Geneva Book and Press Fair, Geneva, May. 1–5
YALLWest Book Festival, Santa Monica, Calif., May 3–4
Malice Domestic, Bethesda, Md., May. 3–5
Hudson Children’s Book Festival, Hudson, N.Y., May 4
LitUp, Independence, Mo., May 4
Bay Area Book Festival, Berkeley, Calif., May 4–5
Nonfiction Writers Conference, online, May 8–10
Miami Writers Institute, Miami, May 8 - 11
Book World, Prague, May 9–12
Turin International Book Fair, Turin, Italy, May 9–13
Gaithersburg Book Festival, Gaithersburg, Md., May 18
Warsaw Book Fair, Warsaw, May 23–26
Hay Festival Wales, Wales, U.K., May 23–June 2
BookExpo, New York City, May 29–31
New York Rights Fair, New York City, May 29–31
Literary Hill BookFest, Washington, D.C., May N/A
Thessaloniki Book Fair, Thessaloniki, Greece, May N/A
Romantic Times Booklovers Convention, Atlanta, May N/A
St. Petersburg International Book Fair, St. Petersburg, Russia, May N/A
Bronx Book Festival, the Bronx, N.Y., May N/A
Hawai‘i Book & Music Festival, Honolulu, TBD
The Prince George’s Book Festival, Landover, Md., TBD
June
BookCon, New York City, June 1–2
Printers Row Lit Fest, Chicago, June 8–19
PePcon: The Print + ePublishing Conference, New Orleans, June 12–13
Nantucket Book Festival, Nantucket, Mass., June 14–16
The Santa Barbara Writers Conference, Santa Barbara, Calif., June 16–21
Association of Jewish Libraries 53rd Annual Conference, Woodland Hills, Calif., June 17–19
ALA Annual Conference, Washington, D.C., June 20–25
Chuckanut Writers Conference, Bellingham, Wash., June 21–22
Sarah Lawrence College Writing Institute, Bronxville, N.Y., June 22
ABA Children’s Institute, Pittsburgh, June 26–28
Why Reading Matters, Brooklyn, June N/A
Queens Book Festival, Queens, N.Y., June N/A
Seoul International Book Fair, Seoul, June N/A
Bookapalooza, a Book and Literary Craft Fair, Sacramento, Calif., June N/A
Feira do Livro de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal, TBD
July
ThrillerFest, New York City, July 9–13
Comic-Con International, San Diego, Calif., July 18–21
Hong Kong Book Fair, Hong Kong, July 18–24
PoetryFest, New York City, July 27-28
Fiction at Its Finest Festival, London, July N/A
Pennsylvania Writers Conference, Wilkes-Barre, Pa., N/A
Northwest Book Festival, Portland, Ore., TBD
Read Up, Greenville, Greenville, S.C., TBD
August
Romance GenreCon, Kansas City, Mo., August 1-3
Book Passage Travel Writers and Photographers Conference, Corte Madera, Calif., Aug. 8–11
Writers at Woody Point, Woody Point, Canada, Aug. 14–19
Mississippi Book Festival, Jackson, Miss., Aug. 17
Beijing International Book Fair, Beijing, Aug. 21–25
Book Passage Mystery Writers Conference, Corte Madera, Calif., Aug. 22–25
Killer Nashville, Nashville, Tenn., Aug. 22–25
Writer’s Digest Conference, New York City, Aug. 23–25
Dragon Con, Atlanta, Aug. 29–Sept. 2
AJC Decatur Book Festival, Decatur, Ga., Aug. 30–Sept. 1
National Book Festival, Washington, D.C., Aug. 31
September
Open Book Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa, Sept. 4-8
Bookmarks Festival of Books and Authors, Winston-Salem, N.C., Sept 5-8
Feira do Livro do Porto, Porto, Portugal, Sept. 6-22
Digital Book World Conference + Expo, Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 10–12
Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance Discovery Show, New Orleans, Sept. 13–15
New American Festival, New York, Sept. 14–15
Northern California Independent Booksellers Association Discovery Show, San Francisco, Sept. 20–21
Brooklyn Book Festival, Brooklyn, Sept. 22–23
The Village Trip, New York, Sept. 26–29
Göteborg Book Fair, Göteborg, Sweden, Sept. 26–29
History Book Festival, Lewes, Del., Sept. 27–28
Harbor Springs Festival of the Book, Harbor Springs, Mich., Sept. 27–29
Southern California Independent Booksellers Association Trade Show, San Gabriel, Calif., Sept. 27–28
Kentucky Women Writers Conference, Lexington, Ky., Sept. 19-22
Word on the Street, Toronto, Sept. 21-22
Burlington Book Festival, Burlington, Vt., Sept. 27-29
Kerrytown BookFest, Ann Arbor, Mich., Sept. N/A
Transylvanian Book Festival, Richis, Romania, Sept. N/A
Unicorn Writers Conference, Purchase, N.Y., Sept. N/A
October
The Heartland Fall Forum, Lombard, Ill., Oct. 2–4
New England Independent Booksellers Association Fall Conference, Providence, R.I., Oct. 2–4
New York Comic Con, New York City, Oct. 3–6
Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Tradeshow, Portland, Ore., Oct. 6–8
Liber International Book Fair, Madrid, Spain, Oct. 9-11
Mountains and Plains Independent Booksellers Association, Denver, Oct. 10–12
Litquake, San Francisco, Oct. 10-19
Southern Festival of Books, Nashville, Oct. 11-13
Rainbow Book Fair, New York, Oct. 12
High Desert Book Festival, Hesperia, Calif., Oct. 12
Twin Cities Book Festival, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minn., Oct. 12
Bucks County Book Festival, Doylestown, Pa., Oct. 12-13
Lit & Luz Festival of Language, Literature, and Art, Chicago, Oct. 12-19
2019 Neustadt Lit Fest, Oklahoma City, Oct. 15-17
Frankfurt Book Fair, Frankfurt, Germany, Oct. 16–20
Brattleboro Literary Festival, Brattleboro, Vt., Oct. 17–20
Florida Writers Association Annual Conference, Florida City, Fl., Oct. 17-20
Boston Book Festival, Boston, Oct. 19-20
International Belgrade Book Fair, Belgrade, Serbia Oct. 20-27
Vancouver Writers Fest, Vancouver, Canada, Oct. 21–27
Helsinki Book Fair, Helsinki, Oct. 24–27
Texas Teen Book Festival, Austin, Tex., Oct. 26 - 27
Bouchercon, Dallas, Tex., Oct. 31–Nov. 3
RomCon, Denver, Oct. N/A
November
Brilliant Baltimore, Baltimore, Md., Nov. 1-10
Istanbul Book Fair, Istanbul, Nov. 2-10
ECPA Publishing University and Art of Writing Conference, Nashville, Tenn., Nov. 5-6
Sharjah International Book Fair, Sharjah, U.A.E., Nov. 6–16
YALLFest, Charleston, S.C., Nov. 8-9
Festival Albertine, New York City, Nov. 8-10
Tampa Bay Times Festival of Reading, Tampa Bay, Fla., Nov. 9
Wordstock: Portland’s Book Festival, Portland, Ore., Nov. 9
Dublin Book Festival, Dublin, Nov. 14-17
Shanghai Children’s Fair, Shanghai, Nov. 15–17
Miami Book Fair, Miami, Nov. 17-24
Salon du Livre de Montréal, Montreal, Canada, Nov. 20–25
NCTE Annual Convention, Baltimore, Md., Nov. 21–24
Guadalajara International Book Fair, Guadalajara, Mexico, Nov. 30–Dec. 4
International Fair of Intellectual Literature, Moscow, N/A
Editor’s Note: For events that have not yet released their dates for this year’s fair, we have placed the meeting in roughly its usual time period. This article will be updated periodically with further information.
