Attendees of previous years walk through the entrance of the Columbus Book Festival. Credit: Courtesy of the Columbus Metropolitan Library
Book lovers throughout Columbus will celebrate their love of literature this weekend at the annual two-day Columbus Book Festival.
Hosted by the Columbus Metropolitan Library, the festival will take place Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the library — located at 96 S. Grant Ave. — and the neighboring Topiary Park — at 480 E. Town St.
The festival is free to attend and will feature readings and book signings from more than 200 local and national authors, live entertainment and a marketplace, said Mikalene Guiser, the festival manager.
The author lineup and their books will showcase a variety of genres and subjects. According to the Columbus Book Festival’s website, author showcases and “speed matching” events — where five readers will spend five minutes with each author talking about their newest book — will be held in the main library’s meeting rooms.
A majority of these author-focused events will take place inside the library, with the exception of select discussions taking place at the author stages in Topiary Park, along with many more attractions, such as Indie Author Alley, vendor and exhibitor booths, entertainment acts at the Gatehouse Stage and the Friends of the Library Big Book Sale.
Guiser said the Indie Author Alley tent will house many local and self-publishing authors in attendance.
“We’ve got all sorts of indie authors — you know, if you like mystery or horror or romance or poetry or just general fiction — Indie Author Alley just has such a variety of authors,” Guiser said.
The festival will have six authors headlining, such as Amal El-Mohtar, author of “The River Has Roots,” Gregg Hurwitz, author of “Nemesis” and Anna Todd, author of “The Last Sunrise,” Guiser said. These authors’ readings and discussions require registration to attend, which can be done on the festival’s website.
All prospective authors are required to submit an application for their books to be considered, Guiser said. Therefore, primarily recent books will be featured, as every author of the festival has been published within the previous year.
Guiser said despite the event’s free admission, there will be many opportunities for attendees to purchase merchandise from local authors and vendors.
“We’ve got a wonderful festival marketplace full of a variety of book-ish vendors. There’ll be artwork inspired by books, and there’ll be handmade jewelry from local artisans — they’re coming in from all over,” Guiser said. “They’ll have sweatshirts, book totes, pins and all kinds of artwork and merch that is all literary inspired.”
A man reading a map alongside a large stack of books at last year’s Columbus Arts Festival. Credit: Courtesy of the Columbus Metropolitan Library
Guiser said many distinctive and creative vendors will be present at the marketplace as well.
“We have this vendor coming in called Celestial Art, and she makes ornaments and little fairies out of recycled books,” Guiser said. “We’ve got another vendor called Cleverland Puzzles and they make wonderful puzzle books, all hand-lettered.”
Guiser said there will also be many vendors selling merchandise appealing to younger attendees, particularly those fond of “BookTok,” a literary-focused corner of TikTok.
“Folks in our festival marketplace will have a lot of the books and the book-ish merch that is very popular on social media,” Guiser said. “A lot of our vendors will do the ‘blind date with a book’ packages.”
Diverse entertainment acts will perform on the Gatehouse Stage at the south end of the park, concurring with those on the Kaufman Plaza Stage, off Library Park North. A map of the activities and their locations can be accessed on the festival’s website.
“We’ve got two entertainment stages with a variety of local acts,” Guiser said. “We’ve got bands and dancers, and we’ve got poetry readings and children’s singalongs.”
Right alongside the park, the library will put on their largest discounted book sale.
“One of our big draws is our Friends of the Library Big Book Sale,” said Ben Zenitsky, media specialist and the festival’s spokesperson. “Any library books that are no longer suitable for our collection, at any of our 23 locations, are sold to the Friends of the Library, who then sell them to the public with proceeds benefiting library programs and services.”
Zenitsky said the process of putting the festival together was “nothing short of magical.”
“I might not know each and every author that participates, but to see the giddiness and excitement on the faces of visitors and customers who come and who are so over-the-top overjoyed to see an author in person, it just fills you with a sense of wow,” Zenitsky said. “So, that’s a really great thing to see.”
The Book Festival originated in downtown Columbus’ two years ago, and this year will mark the third annual festival and celebration, Zenitsky said.
“Two years ago, in 2023, the Columbus Metropolitan Library celebrated its 150th birthday…and as a part of those celebrations, we unveiled this Columbus Book Festival,” Zenitsky said. “The community response was so tremendous.”
Zenitsky said the event unites book lovers of all kinds.
“It is just a feeling of community. It’s a feeling of love for reading and books,” Zenitsky said. “I’ve been struck by the diversity that I see … people of all ages come out to this, and it’s really just a wonderful community event.”
For more information on the event, visit the Columbus Book Festival’s website.
This story was updated at 4:30 p.m. July 10 to correct the spelling of Mikalene Guiser’s name.
