2026 Late Submissions – Bay Area Book Festival

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Thank you for your interest in participating in the 2026 Bay Area Book Festival (May 30–31)!

Please submit a separate proposal form for each author you would like us to consider. We will accept proposals through November 14, 2025.

We will consider your proposal and you will hear from us by January 30th, 2026, at the latest.

Advanced review copies (ARCs) will greatly aid us in our decision making process. Please send two copies to: BABF Program Team, c/o Dora La Flora Czifra, 2435 Hilgard Ave, Apt 7, 94709 Berkeley, CA, or you can attach digital copies to this form.

Please refer to the guidelines and evaluation criteria on our website. For additional questions, contact [email protected]

Please note: This form is for Adult and YA programming. IIf you are interested in proposing Children’s, Middle Grade and lower YA authors, please use this form.

PERSONAL INFORMATION

First name of primary contact(Required)

Last name of primary contact(Required)

Primary contact email(Required)

AUTHOR/ SPEAKER PROPOSAL

First name of author/speaker(Required)

Last name of author/speaker(Required)

Author/speaker's city of residence(Required)

If author/speaker resides outside of the Bay Area, will the author or publisher cover the cost of travel/accommodations?(Required)

Yes

Not Applicable (Bay Area Author)

Have you confirmed that this author is available to participate on May 30–May 31, 2026?

Yes

Title of Book(Required)

Is this work self published or published via traditional* means(Required)

Traditional Publisher “Big 5” (or their associated imprints) or Higher-ed Publisher: Penguin Random House, Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, HarperCollins or UC Press, Elsevier, Springer, etc.

Independent Publisher Published by a traditional royalties-based and/or author-subsidized publishing model (such as hybrid publisher), and not owned by a major publishing house (e.g. “Big 5” trade publishers like Random House, Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, etc. or a higher-ed publisher like Elsevier, Springer, etc.).

Author Publisher People who exclusively publish their own work, e.g., self-published author.

Publisher name(Required)

Synopsis (approx. 100 words)(Required)

Main themes(Required)

Target Audience(Required)

Please note: This form is for Adult and YA programming. If you are interested in proposing middle grade, children’s, and teen authors, please use our other form

Adults/General

Young Adults

Publication date of book(Required)

Upload digital ARC here if you have it (and/or to send physical copies, see address in the form description!)

Drop files here or

Max. file size: 100 MB.

Digital ARC URL (if file exceeds 100 MB and cannot be uploaded directly)

Genre(Required)

select from dropdown menus

Fiction primary subgenre

Nonfiction primary subgenre

Fiction secondary subgenre

If your book's genre is not listed above, please provide that here.

Author/Speaker bio(Required)

Author/speaker website

Author/speaker Instagram

Links to top one or two reviews

Can you envision this person with additional authors, and if so, who? Are there any general thematic ideas that come to mind?

Do you know that person and can provide contact information?

Is there anything else you would like us to know about your proposal?

SELF-IDENTIFICATION FIELDS

The below information is used for the Bay Area Book Festival’s internal use to better understand the diversity of our festival program. Please know that it is entirely optional, and individual responses will not be shared outside the organization. Any questions may be directed to our programming team at [email protected]

Race & Ethnicity

Select all that apply

Other (please describe)

Gender Identity

Select all that apply

Gender Identity Other

Do you identify as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community?

Do you identify as a person with a disability, chronic illness, or neurodivergence?

Physical and/or mobility-related

Developmental and/or Intellectual, including neurodiverse

Blind and/or low vision

Deaf and/or hearing impaired

Prefer not to say

Other

If you answered yes to the above question, please let us know how we can meet any accessibility needs that you may have and we will do our very best to meet them.

Is there anything else you would like the festival team to know?

2026 Proposal Form: Adult/YA Titles – LATE SUBMISSIONS

PERSONAL INFORMATION

AUTHOR/ SPEAKER PROPOSAL

SELF-IDENTIFICATION FIELDS

Dan Alter

2025 Writers’ Workshops