The Lehigh Valley Book Festival has announced its full 2026 program lineup, bringing four days of author talks, book signings, family activities, and special events to venues across the region from Thursday, March 26 through Sunday, March 29.
Now in its seventh year, the festival was founded in 2020 and is produced by Let’s Play Books Co. The End Bookstore coordinates the authors on tour, while host venues include Bethlehem Area Public Library, Cedar Crest College, Shankweiler’s Drive-In Theatre, and Nowhere Coffee Co.
This year’s theme, “Reading is Resistance: Celebrating Conversations, Not Keyboards,” highlights the festival’s focus on slowing down, reading deeply, and engaging with new ideas in an era dominated by screens and digital noise.
Most events during the four-day festival are free, though tickets are required for some programs. The only paid event is The Dating Game on Saturday evening at Nowhere Coffee Co., where romance readers can meet authors Sophie Andrews, Xio Axelrod, and Victoria Schade. Tickets are $23 and include one free book.
2026 Lehigh Valley Book Festival, Complete Schedule
Thursday, 3/26 Book Swap @ Shankweiler’s Drive-In Theatre. (Tickets required, free.) 5:30pm
Midnight Lair readers (Horror/Occult/Dark Romance/Romance/Romantasy/
Friday, 3/27 Authors’ Reception, The End Bookstore (Tickets required, free) 6 – 7:30pm
Gather with us at The End to celebrate the Lehigh Valley Book Fest! Enjoy meeting and greeting fellow readers and writers in town early for Saturday’s festivities. Meet featured local authors as well as a preview event with Julissa Hernández Roberts, The New American Diner Cookbook.
Saturday, 3/28 BOOK FEST Day at the Bethlehem Area Public Library 10:00am – 5:00pm
Kids’ Fest, 10am – 12pm:
Best-selling kids’ authors & illustrators, story times, activities, book signings, Little Golden Book fun and more. Kevin McCloskey, Snails are Just My Speed, Alyssa Reynoso-Morris, Bold, Brilliant & Latine, Matt Phelan, Bartleby, Justin Colón, Impossible Possum for Mayor!, Namrata Agarwal, The Mithai Box is Not Empty. Play Books with A Storybook Party – Rumi, K-Pop sing-along & signing.
11:00am – 2pm: Lehigh Valley Book Festival EXPO Over 20 exhibit tables – local, independently published authors; small presses & artisans. Free Activities.
Main Stage, 12 – 5pm (concurrent programs)
12pm: A New Era of Discovery – social media and online communities have changed the way readers find must-read stories and connect with their favorite authors. In this session, we’ll explore how reading – and talking about reading – have evolved. Content Creators Aubree Côté, Chris Dougherty, Wallie Martinez-Vega and Jarlyn Ortiz in discussion with Theresa Hegel
1pm: Key Conversations
1pm: Jeff Boyd, Hard Times, with Jaciel Córdoba, WFMZ (Crime Thriller)
1:30pm: Misty L. Heggeness, Swiftynomics: How Women Mastermind and Redefine our Economy with Jennifer Musser, Align Your Business with the Real You (Business)
2pm: Time for Romance – Sugar, spice and everything nice? These authors have all the ingredients to create swoon-worthy love stories. Join us for a conversation that goes from meet-cute to happily-ever-after and everything in-between. Sophie Andrews, Going Deep, Xio Axelrod, Girls with Bad Reputations & Victoria Schade, Fated Skates, with Theresa Hegel
2:30pm: It’s a Mystery – Whether it’s a psychological thriller, suspense set against a suburban backdrop, a historical detective story or a twisty time loop mystery – these books will keep you guessing and leave you wanting more. Kristine Delano, The Lies We Trade, Christina Kovac, Watch Us Fall, Rob Osler, The Case of the Murdered Muckraker & Katie Siegel, Out of the Loop, with Paul Acampora, In Honor of Broken Things
3:15pm: Are We Frightened? – From the spine-tingling to the truly terrifying, these authors know how to get your heart racing and the wheels in your head spinning. Edward Ashton, The Fourth Consort, Clay McLeod Chapman, Bodies of Work & De Elizabeth, This Raging Sea with Thomas Elrod, The Franchise.
4pm: Closing Session: Reading Is Resistance – In an age of book bans and censorship, reading widely and diversely is more important than ever. Children’s authors Robin Gow, Alison Green Myers & Alexandra Villasante with Aimee Saunders, Red, Wine & Blue.
Program Rooms 12 – 3pm (concurrent programs)
12pm: Middle Grade 4 All – Morgan Baden, Famous Anonymous, Cordelia Jensen, Lilac and the Switchback, Robin Gow, Sabertooth, Matthew Landis, National Archive Hunters with Dana Kramaroff, The Do More Club
1pm: Words In Your World – Drop-in activity with Alison Green Myers, This Way To Happy & Alexandra Villasante, Fireblooms – all ages welcome
2pm: Meet The Authors: Joyce Hinnefeld, The Dime Museum 2pm, Julissa Hernández Roberts, American Diner Cookbook, 2:15pm
Saturday, 3/28, The Dating Game, Nowhere Coffee Co., 7pm.
The Romance Book Event of the year! Three romance authors, with three to four books each, equals up to TWELVE possible choices. Sophie Andrews, Xio Axelrod, & Victoria Schade, with host Wallie Hernandez-Vegas. Tickets are $23 and include a free book of choice.
Sunday, 3/29 Closing Keynote: Show Your True Color, 2pm. Cedar Crest College
Kory Stamper, a lexicographer and bestselling author of Word for Word, in conversation with Cedar Crest College adjunct professor and author Megan Angelo in celebration of Stamper’s new book True Color: The Strange and Spectacular Quest to Define Color – from Azure to Zinc Pink.* After the program, put your newfound color expertise to the test with an interactive art experience led by Lauren Beck, founder of Bloomery, Art Co. *Early release
Featured touring authors (Adult/YA):
Edward Ashton, The Fourth Consort (St. Martin’s Griffin, 1/27/26)
Jeff Boyd, Hard Times (Flatiron Books, 3/17/26)
Clay McLeod Chapman, Bodies of Work * (Titan Books, 4/7/26)
De Elizabeth, This Raging Sea (Holiday House, 9/23/25)
Thomas Elrod, The Franchise (Tor Books, 5/12/26) – Future Release
Kristine Delano, The Lies We Trade (Tyndale Fiction, 1/20/26)
Misty L. Heggeness, Swiftynomics: How Women Mastermind and Redefine our Economy (University of California Press, 1/27/26)
Christina Kovac, Watch Us Fall (Simon & Schuster, 12/5/25)
Rob Osler, The Case of the Murdered Muckraker (Kensington, 1/27/26)
Julissa Hernández Roberts, The New American Diner Cookbook* (Harvard Commons Press, 4/7/26)
Victoria Schade, Fated Skates (Avon, 1/13/26)
Katie Siegel, Out of the Loop (Crooked Lane Books, 2/10/26)
Kory Stamper, True Color (Knopf, 3/31/26) *Early Book Release
Namrata Agarwal, The Mithai Box is Not Empty (Holiday House, 9/30/25)
Alyssa Reynoso- Morris, Bold, Brilliant & Latine (Wide Eyed Editions, 9/2/25)
Alexandra Villasante, Fireblooms (Nancy Paulsen Books, 9/30/25)
Featured touring authors (Childrens/Middle Grade):
Namrata Agarwal, The Mithai Box is Not Empty (Holiday House, 9/30/25)
Morgan Baden, Famous Anonymous (Pixel+Ink, 9/9/25)
Justin Colón, Impossible Possum for Mayor! (Disney Hyperion, 11/18/25)
Cordelia Jensen, Lilac and the Switchback (Holiday House, 8/19/25)
Matthew Landis, National Archive Hunters (Pixel+Ink, 7/15/25)
Alison Green Myers, This Way to Happy (Dutton Books for Young Readers, 9/23/25)
Matt Phelan, Bartleby (Macmillan, 3/10/26)
Advertisement
Advertisement
Email your news release to info@lehighvalleywithlovemedia.com
