Los Angeles Times Festival of Books

What is the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books?

The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books began in 1996 with a simple goal: to bring together people who create books and those who love to read them.

The festival quickly became a success, featuring musical performances, poetry readings, and workshops. There are also photography exhibits, film screenings, and Q&A sessions on current topics.

The festival annually attracts around 150,000 people of all ages from Southern California and other parts of the country. General admission is free, but some special presentations during the festival weekend may require a paid ticket.

Festival Highlights

Booksellers and publishers, museums, theaters, and cultural organizations have their booths. They sell and promote books, distribute relevant information, and offer handmade clothing and accessories. Many independent booksellers participating in the festival represent various ethnic and cultural communities of Los Angeles, offering books in different languages and genres.

There are several places for authors to sign autographs, and many activities take place on various outdoor stages.

Brief History of the Festival

Special Projects Editor Claudia Luther helped create and launch the first Los Angeles Times Festival of Books at UCLA with assistant Narda Zacchino. The then-publisher of the Los Angeles Times fully supported their initiative.

In 2010, the event featured a particularly diverse lineup of authors, including Gregory Boyle, Lisa Lillien, Meg Cabot, Mary Higgins Clark, Dave Eggers, James Ellroy, Daisy Fuentes, Louis Gossett Jr., Terry McMillan, Bernadette Peters, Jane Smiley, and Alice Waters.

Since 2011, the annual Festival of Books has been held on Saturday and Sunday, April 30 and May 1. Featured authors included Patti Smith, Jennifer Egan, Mary Higgins Clark, Nancy Temple Rodrigue, Nick Flynn, and Dave Eggers.

Festival Participants

• A.C. Vroman, Inc. Vroman's Bookstore
  Founded in 1894, Vroman's is the oldest and largest independent bookstore in Southern California. The main store, located at 695 E Colorado Blvd in Pasadena, houses 85,000 books, thousands of gifts, an international newsstand, and a café. Vroman's also hosts 400 events annually.
• Tony Graham
  Award-winning author of the Crossroad series. In 2018, she successfully showcased her Crossroad series at the New York Book Expo, the Texas Book Festival, and the Bay Area Book Festival.
• DC Entertainment
  Home to iconic superheroes like Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, and The Flash. DC Entertainment publishes thousands of comics and graphic novels annually and is known as the world's largest English-language comic book publisher.
• Marvel
  A subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company, Marvel Entertainment is one of the most prominent global entertainment companies, boasting over 8,000 characters featured in various media over eighty years.
• Poetry Flash
  The Poetry Flash Literary Review & Calendar publishes reviews, interviews, poems, and news for all of California and presents public readings, the Northern California Book Award, and the Watershed Environmental Poetry Festival. They also award the Fred Cody Lifetime Achievement Award.