This weekend is the 38th annual Southern Festival of Books, presented by Humanities Tennessee and Vanderbilt University! Founded in 1989, it’s one of the nation’s oldest literary festivals. Here’s my guide.
📍 The Basics
When: Select events on Oct. 15-16 (including Jack White!), with the main festival running Oct. 17 from 9 a.m.-6 p.m., and Oct. 18 from 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
Where: Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park, Tennessee State Library and Archives, and the Tennessee State Museum
Cost: Free!
Parking: There’s free parking at the museum and park, but it can fill up fast. Here’s a list of paid lots, or take a WeGo bus or rideshare.
Accessibility: I find the festival’s new spot at Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park more accessible than its old downtown location, where vendors were on a steep hill. All vendors are located along paved paths, and a golf cart can take disabled visitors to their destinations. Find full accessibility details here.
📚 Festival Tips
Look at the schedule and plan what authors to see before heading to the festival. Presentations overlap, so you might have to make some hard decisions about which authors to see! You can organize the schedule by topic and date. Planning ahead also means you can bring any books you want signed. After each presentation, authors go to the signing tent to sign books. One year I had so many books I wanted signed I brought them in a rolling cart! (In my defense, I was also pregnant.)
Parnassus Books will be on site selling books from presenting authors. Bring a sturdy tote for buying books, and consider waiting until the end of the day to shop so you’re not carrying a heavy bag all day. There will also be festival merch and lots of vendors selling other fun stuff.
Between food trucks and the restaurants inside the Nashville Farmers’ Market, you'll have no trouble finding something to eat.
Find Paul Collins’ Unbannable Library art installation between the carillon bells. (Margaret Kingsbury / City Cast Nashville)
✍️ What Authors Will Be There?
This year’s author lineup includes many people we’ve interviewed on the City Cast Nashville podcast! Before seeing them at the festival, listen to our episodes with Nashville’s favorite naturalist Margaret Renkl, ice cream queen Lokelani Alabanza, The War on Cars podcast host Sarah Goodyear, former Tennessee governor and U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, International Market chef and owner Arnold Myint, and leader of the Tennessee chapter of Authors Against Book Bans Christina Soontornvat.
Other big-name authors speaking include Barbara Kingsolver, Ann Patchett, Elizabeth Kostova, Katheryn Stockett, Kevin Wilson, Alex Wright, and Olivie Blake.
🚸 Children’s Activities
In addition to the festival’s stellar list of children’s authors, there are heaps of kid activities in front of the Tennessee State Museum. Kids can watch the Nashville Puppet Truck present “Hansel and Gretel,” meet Little Critter, listen to authors read their picture books, and make crafts.
