The 15th annual Vegas Valley Book Festival is set for Oct. 15 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. It will take place in downtown Las Vegas at the Historic Fifth Street School.
The purpose of the annual event, which attracts thousands of attendee, is to celebrate literacy and foster a love for reading and the written word.
The children’s side of the Vegas Valley Book Festival features live music, crafts, performances, special bilingual entertainment, bookmaking and presentations from renowned authors and illustrators of children’s books. Children will be able to meet and greet costumed characters throughout the day, including Clifford the big red dog, Babar the elephant, Daniel Tiger of “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood,” and Jet from “Ready, Jet, Go.”
Several children's book authors will also share their stories in the Storytime Tent including Megan McDonald (“Judy Moody,” “Stink” and “Sisters Club” series), Chris Van Dusen (“With Mr. Magee” series), Stephen Savage (“Where’s Walrus”), Nathan Hale (“Hazardous Tales” series), Kory Merritt (“Poptropica” series), Amy Ignatow (“The Popularity Papers” series) and husband-and-wife team Sean Qualls and Selina Alko (“The Case for Loving”). Authors will sign their books after each story time. Click here for schedule.
The festival will also feature entertainment by local DJ Tony, 2015 Latin GRAMMY Award winner for Best Children's Album Mister G, the Bushwick Book Club of Seattle, Doug Mishler will perform as Theodore Roosevelt, and DISCOVERY Children's Museum will present an interactive performance.
Adult and young-adult fare will include a mix of workshops, panels and author presentations on a wide variety of genres, including fiction, non-fiction, romance, LGBTQ, mystery, thriller, crime, suspense, humor, history, comic/graphic novels, banned books, poetry and more. Celebrity authors across genres, ages, and cultural backgrounds will share their work and creative processes starting at 10 a.m.
Other events associated with the festival include the After-Dark events on Oct. 14 and 15.
The After-Dark event on Oct. 14 will take place at The Writer's Block and will feature an evening of poetry with Joanne Kyger, Claudia Keelan, Erica Vital-Lazare and Hanna Andrews.
The After-Dark event on Oct. 15 is happening at Inspire Theater and will begin with a reading and conversation with English novelist and essayist Geoff Dyer, interviewed by Geoff Schumacher, at 5:30 p.m. Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist and short-story writer Adam Johnson will begin his talk at 6:30 p.m. and investigative journalist and editor Katherine Boo will be interviewed at 7:30 p.m. by Joshua Shenk.
Since the festival's founding in 2002, the festival has presented more than 800 autors and speakers and produced or sponsored more than 500 events, sessions, readings, workshops and book signings.
The festival is free and open to the public.
