Louisville Book Festival Returns for Its Seventh Year With Roxane Gay, Expanded Programming, and a Bigger Vision for Literacy
On Saturday, October 24, the Louisville Book Festival will return for its seventh year with its most ambitious lineup yet, headlined by internationally recognized New York Times bestselling author Roxane Gay.
The free festival with something for all, will take place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Kentucky International Convention Center and will bring together more than 150 authors, illustrators, exhibitors, educators, aspiring writers, and readers from across the country.
For festival founder Deedee Cummings, however, the day has always been about much more than books.
The Louisville Book Festival was built on the belief that literacy is a fundamental human right—and that access to books, authors, ideas, and stories can change the trajectory of a life.
“Books are a great way to practice community care and grow community engagement,” Cummings said. “We believe books offer hope and that literacy is a fundamental human right.”
That belief has shaped the festival from the beginning.
Cummings, a local author, therapist, and attorney, spent years working with children and families in their homes as an in-home therapist. Through that work, she saw firsthand how books could help children talk about difficult emotions, expand their understanding of the world, and imagine possibilities beyond their immediate circumstances.
She later discovered that neighborhoods west of I-65 had no bookstores at all An inequity that helped inspire the creation of the It Pays to Read program, and later the Louisville Book Festival. Since then, the organization and its year-round literacy initiatives, including It Pays to Read and its partner Make A Way Media, have helped distribute more than 20,000 books directly to children and schools.
Roxane Gay Comes to Louisville
This year’s headliner marks a major milestone for the festival.
Roxane Gay is the bestselling author of Bad Feminist and Hunger, as well as an acclaimed essayist, professor, and cultural critic. Her appearance represents the Louisville Book Festival’s highest-profile headliner to date and reflects the organization’s growing vision for what a literary festival in Louisville can become.
Gay is scheduled to speak at 2 p.m. While the festival itself is free, her presentation will require a ticket because seating is expected to be in high demand. Ticketing information will be shared through the festival’s newsletter and social media when the ticket window opens.
Her appearance also supports one of the festival’s central ideas: Louisville readers should have access to the same nationally significant writers, conversations, and literary experiences available in larger cultural centers.
Two Festivals, One Roof
This year also brings a historic collaboration.
The Louisville Book Festival will be held simultaneously with the Kentucky Women’s Book Festival (an event hosted by the University of Louisville) as that festival celebrates its twentieth year. Together, the two festivals will create an even larger gathering of writers, readers, and literary organizations under one roof.
The 2026 festival will also feature a romance panel curated by A Novel Romance Bookstore, while Foxing Books will serve as the festival’s official bookseller.
Something for Every Kind of Reader
The Louisville Book Festival has always been designed as a place where lifelong readers and people who are still finding their way to books can feel equally welcome.
This year’s programming will include author meet-and-greets, book signings, children’s storytimes and activities, Louisville Free Public Library programming, WAGS therapy dogs, community resource tables, free books for children while supplies last, literacy and publishing workshops, an exhibitor hall, and literary agent pitch sessions for aspiring authors.
The lineup also includes a wide range of notable voices.
In addition to Roxane Gay, featured guests include Cummings; Louisville entrepreneur and author Maggie Harlow; Stonewall Book Award winner and former Kentucky Educator of the Year Willie Edward Taylor Carver Jr.; University of Louisville professor and author Dr. Kaila Story; and award-winning children’s book author Janelle Harper.
That range is intentional.
The festival is designed for the classroom teacher looking for new resources, the parent hoping to raise a reader, the aspiring novelist preparing to pitch an agent, the child meeting an author for the first time, the longtime book lover looking for their next favorite story, and even the reluctant reader who may not yet know which book will finally capture their imagination.
Books as Community Care
At its heart, the Louisville Book Festival is rooted in a simple idea: Books can do more than entertain:
- They can build empathy.
- They can help people understand one another.
- They can give children words for feelings they have not yet learned how to express.
- They can create connection across neighborhoods, identities, generations, and experiences.
- And sometimes, a book can show a person a future they did not know was possible.
That is why the Louisville Book Festival describes its work succinctly as “Books Are Community Care”.
The festival is not simply about celebrating literature for one day. It is part of a larger effort to strengthen literacy, expand access, support writers, and help build a community where reading is visible, valued, and available to everyone.
For Louisville, October 24 will be a day filled with authors, books, conversations, ideas, and discovery. However, the larger goal reaches far beyond the convention center.
It is about building a city where reading is celebrated and where every person has the opportunity to find themselves, and perhaps their future, inside a story.
Event Details
Louisville Book Festival
Saturday, October 24, 2026
10 a.m.–5 p.m.
Kentucky International Convention Center
Downtown Louisville
Admission to the festival is free and open to the public. Some high-interest presentations, including Roxane Gay’s appearance, will require tickets.
The full author lineup, schedule updates, ticket information, literary agent pitch opportunities, and exhibitor information are available through the Louisville Book Festival website.
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