Press Room - Bay Area Book Festival

Press Room

A warm welcome to regional, national, and international credentialed members of the press. Thank you for your interest in the Bay Area Book Festival.

You’ll find everything you need to get started here, including press releases, Q&A, detailed program descriptions, downloadable photos, logos, and more.

2024 Festival News

The Festival has earned a reputation as a world-class literary event that brings together some of the most acclaimed authors from the Bay Area, nation, and world. Two weekends of literary celebration, and fun activities for both adults and children offer a wealth of opportunities for media coverage.

We provide press passes to credentialed media. If you’d like to attend the Festival or need more information, please contact Julia Drake.

Bay Area Book Festival Welcomes New Executive Director!

Youth Program Press Release 2024

10th Anniversary Press Release 2024

April 9, 2024: San Francisco Chronicle: Bay Area Book Festival Announces 2024 Lineup
April 30, 2024: Piedmont Exedra: Local Lit | May’s top tips for book lovers
April 30, 2024: Berkeleyside: Bay Area Book Festival returns to Berkeley for its 10th anniversary
May 1, 2024: East Bay Times: Local News – In brief
May 2, 2024: Edible East Bay: Bay Area Book Festival Celebrates 10th Anniversary
May 2, 2024: KPFA Bookwaves: Interview with Joan Baez
May 15, 2024: Latinitas Magazine: Interview with Bay Area Book Festival Latina Author Dani Trujillo
May 15, 2024: Berkeley High Jacket: Berkeley Public Library hosts annual Bay Area Book Festival
May 20, 2024: East Bay Times: 30+ festivals, fairs and things to do in the Bay Area this summer
May 23, 2024: Bay City News: Bay Area Book Festival offers powerhouse writers, thinkers on 10th anniversary
May 24, 2024: Berkeleyside: What to Expect at the 10th Bay Area Book Festival
May 26, 2024: KPFA Bookwaves: Interview with Aya deLeon, Interim Program Director of the Bay Area Book Festival
May 29, 2024: Latinas Magazine: Interview with Ingrid Rojas Contreras
May 29, 2024: Bay Area Reporter: Going Out, May 30-June 7, 2024 – arts & nightlife events
May 30: Tri-City-Voice: Joan Baez and Amy Tan to appear at the Bay Area Book Festival in Berkeley
May 31, 2024: 48 Hills: Arts Forecast
June 3, 2024: India Currents: Writers, Book Lovers Converge At The Bay Area Book Festival ‘24

2023 Festival News

Youth Program Press Release 2023

Adult Program Press Release 2023

May 18, 2023: Books, brews, Baez: The Daily Californian: 2023 Bay Area Book Fest champions counterculture, change
May 4, 2023: Berkeleyside: Picture book authors aim to expand kids’ palates, healthy eating at Bay Area Book Festival, May 6
May 3, 2023: Local News Matters: International guests join local literary community for Berkeley’s Bay Area Book Festival
May 3, 2023: 48hills: From ‘Vagina Monologues’ to ‘Reckoning,’ V still fights for women’s voices and dreams
May 1, 2023: Local News Matters: Gripping history about a slave couple’s escape among Bay Area book fest’s plentiful offerings
May 1, 2023: KQED: Our Picks for the 2023 Bay Area Book Festival
May 1, 2023: 48hills: Bay Area Book Fest turns the page to a new era—but first, a weekend worth a million words
May 1, 2023: Nob Hill Gazette: Spotlight on Cherilyn Parsons
April 29, 2023: 7×7.com: 25 Fun Things To Do This Week
April 28, 2023: MSN.com: Hooked on Books: What to read before you go—books that prepare you for that place you’ve never been
April 28, 2023: Berkeleyside: Legendary Oakland librarian Dorothy Lazard appearing at the Bay Area Book Festival
April 27, 2023: The Bay Area Reporter: Going Out, April 27-May 5, 2023
April 27, 2023: Bookwaves (KPFA): Interview with Bay Area Book Festival Program Director Norah Piehl
April 24, 2023: Edible East Bay: Overview of Festival Food Programming
April 20, 2023: Atherton Living “Bay Area Book Fest Highlight”
April 9, 2023: The Sunday Show (KPFA): Interview with Adam Hochschild and preview of the Festival
April 6, 2023: The San Francisco Chronicle: Bay Area Book Festival founder to step down
March 27, 2023: Patch: Bay Area Book Festival Set To Return In May
March 24, 2023: San Francisco Chronicle: Joan Baez, W. Kamau Bell to headline 9th Bay Area Book Festival
January 24, 2023: Edible East Bay: Crying at H Mart Author Event Almost Sold Out!

2022 Festival Coverage

June3, 2022, India Currents: Indian Authors Discuss Race And Identity At The Bay Area Book Festival
May 19, 2022, Daily Californian: Booked weekend: Bay Area Book Festival 2022 turns new page
May 6, 2022, Oaklandside: Come listen to Frances Moore Lappé and Anna Lappé, food activists, in-person at Bay Area Book Festival
May 5, 2022, J Weekly: Bay Area Book Fest: Claire Stanford’s debut novel takes on tech-driven obsession with happiness
May 5, 2022 KQED Do List: The Children of Hip-Hop Take Center Stage at the Bay Area Book Festival
May 4, 2022 SF Gate/Bay City News: Best Of The Fest – Our Top 5 Picks For This Weekend’S Bay Area Book Festival In Berkeley
May 3, YubaNet.com: Becoming Story, Writing the Land: Obi Kaufmann and Greg Sarris on California Dreaming – In-Person and Virtual talk at the Bay Area Book Festival, May 7-8
May 3, East Bay Times: ‘Diet for a Small Planet’ author, daughter to speak in Berkeley
April 29, Diablo Magazine: Bay Area Book Festival: Off the Page in Berkeley
April 28, Marin Independent Journal: Sex, happiness, respect: What older women want and deserve, says Marin author
April 28, Sights & Sounds (KALW radio): Interview with Kira Allen
Apr 26, the San Francisco Chronicle: Bay Area Book Festival is back in Berkeley in person with a whirlwind of authors and events
April 22, KQED Forum: Danyel Smith on the Black Women Artists Who ‘Shine Bright’ in Pop Music History
April 21, Edible East Bay: Diet for a Small Planet author at Bay Area Book Festival, May 7 & 8
Apr 22, AFAR Magazine: 3 Book Festivals Around the Country to Dog-Ear This Spring
Apr 12, Write minded Podcast: All About Book Festivals, featuring Cherilyn Parsons
Apr 8, 2022, Bay City News: Bay Area Book Festival announces its return to Downtown Berkeley with a high-profile lineup
Jan 28, 2022, Mercury News: A worldwide literary festival will star the Bay Area’s Greg Sarris

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2021 Virtual Festival Coverage

Bay City News, April 27: Seventh annual Bay Area Book Festival boasts a star-studded roster

Marin Independent Journal, April 24: Book Events: Bay Area Book Festival (Orville Schell and Yiyun Li)

7X7, April 26: 22 Fun Things to Do This Week (4.26.21)

Berkeleyside, April 16: After a 40-year writing odyssey, Berkeley’s Orville Schell publishes his first novel

San Francisco Arts Monthly, April/May 2021: Literary Highlights Curated by Evan Karp (page 8)

7X7, March 15: 24 Fun Things to Do This Week (3.15.20)

Diablo Magazine, March 12: Top Tickets, At-Home Edition: March 11-17

KRON ON, March 8: INTERVIEW: DAN RATHER

Nob Hill Gazette, March 2: What To Do This Weekend: Mar 4–7

Diablo Magazine, February 23-March 3: Virtual Event The Committed: Viet Thanh Nguyen on Betrayal and Belonging

Writer’s Digest, February 6: Cherilyn Parsons Talks Women Lit, a Program of the Bay Area Book Festival

Local News Matters, January 14: Best Bets: book events and pandemic performances

Nob Hill Gazette, January 14: Celebrate being “All Too Gloriously Human” with two epic storytellers

KQED, January 4: A Russian Lit Course Comes to Life with George Saunders and Tobias Wolff

Press Kit Gallery

Literary Programs

Literary Programs

Book Signings

Book Signings

Children and Free Books

Children and Free Books

Festival Authors Gala

Festival Authors Gala

Women Lit

Women Lit

Free Outdoor Fair

Free Outdoor Fair