Want to Travel the World Without Leaving Home?

The easiest way to travel to a far-off land is by reading a book.

Literature offers a deep dive into foreign places and people from backgrounds very different from our own. It is the next best thing to going there in person. And yet in the United States, only 3% of books published are works in translation.

In this time when both xenophobia and migration are on the rise worldwide, we need to publish and read more books from other countries. From its inception in 2015, the Bay Area Book Festival has presented the most robust list of international writers of any literary festival west of New York.

This year, 21 writers are flying to the festival from 12 countries outside the United States, including Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Korea, Mexico, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories. The festival also presents three writers originally from Africa—Uganda and Nigeria—and others originally from Ecuador, Cuba, and other parts.

Peruse the map of authors and then take a look at some of the highlights of our international programming.

We’ll see you June 3 and 4!