SAN ANTONIO – More than 100 state, national and international authors will be in town on Saturday to spark a love for reading as the San Antonio Book Festival returns for its 14th year.
The San Antonio Book Festival is free and takes place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. around the downtown library in the 600 block of Soledad Street.
“We bring in over 100 authors every year to San Antonio,” said Lisa Ayres, who took over as the festival’s executive director last fall.
The festival, which is centered around the Central Library downtown, celebrates books, authors and literacy. It’s a mission organizers say has guided the event since its inception.
Ayres said the community has embraced the festival from the start.
“It was popular from the beginning,” she said. “I feel like they were surprised at how excited San Antonio was to have something like this.”
The festival launched in 2012 when founder Katie Flato partnered with the Texas Book Festival in Austin, the City of San Antonio and the Southwest School of Art. By 2019, the San Antonio Book Festival became an independent nonprofit organization.
“Of course, it wasn’t 100 authors. Probably half of that, but it was still very exciting,” Ayres said of the early years. “In those first years and on, we had crowds come out.”
Now a one-day event, the festival draws more than 25,000 people annually to hear from around 100 authors through panels, discussions and book-centered activities.
Ayres said she sees room to grow when asked about her vision for the festival’s future.
“I think that your opportunities are endless,” she said. “Many festivals are more than one day, so that could be something we could hope for for the future.”
In addition to the festival, event organizers maintain programs throughout the year, including a “Get Lit Author Series,” several “Authors in School” events and the distribution of about 2,000 free books.
Ayres said she wants to expand and increase book giveaways to 10,000.
“Creating that love for young readers, giving them that interaction with authors coming to a festival that’s all about books, is a great way to create readers for the future,” she said.
Thursday will kick off a special presentation with authors Juliet Faithfull and Jenna Bush Hager. The event starts at 5:30 p.m. at Central Christian Church.