The Abridged version:
- The Sacramento Book Festival will be held at the Scottish Rite Masonic Center on Sunday, April 19, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- More than 250 authors will showcase their books and attend signings.
- The festival is free for all visitors.
This story was reported by a member of the Abridged by PBS KVIE Community Reporters program. The Community Reporters program empowers local residents to report stories with guidance and support from the Abridged editorial staff.
The Sacramento Book Festival returns for its third year this weekend at the Scottish Rite Masonic Center — its biggest venue yet — featuring the most authors the event has ever hosted.
From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday, April 19, readers and their families can attend children’s book readings, cookbook panels, author signings and conversations about Sacramento’s favorite genres, all with free admission.
Award-winning science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson and young adult author Wendelin Van Draanen will give the keynote addresses, but writers from the romance, LGBTQ+, fantasy, science fiction, historical fiction, nonfiction, thriller, mystery, young adult and children’s genres — 250 authors in total — will all be in attendance.
Organized by the California Writers Club Sacramento Branch, those 250 authors will spend the day meeting readers, selling their books and participating in panel discussions. Sacramento Book Festival Chair Scott Coatsworth said that just as many are eager for a table.
“We actually sold out for the authors’ side on the first day in the first six hours,” Coatsworth said. “And we’ve got about 190 authors on the wait list right now.”
A growing festival
Last year’s event at the much smaller Shephard Garden & Arts Center had 130 authors and 5,000 attendees and, according to the festival’s co-chair Tim Schooley, it was one of the hottest days of the year. He recalled what it was like to see the festival flourish.
“I was sitting next to another member of our committee,” Schooley said. “We were at author tables trying to sell our own books. And we suddenly realized that the Shepherd Center was so packed, people couldn’t get in.”
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Now with a bigger space for more authors, attendees and food trucks — plus plenty of parking — organizers are ready for an equally large turnout. Schooley says the demand has never been greater for a festival like this.
“There’s a renaissance, and there’s just great interest among readers to meet new authors,” Schooley said. “What we’re seeing from statistics is that the largest number of readers right now are millennials who are coming into their own adulthood and reading voraciously.”
Representing the region
Coatsworth estimates 80% of the attending authors are from the greater Sacramento region, including writers from Stockton, Turlock, Placerville, Vacaville and Davis.
“There’ll be good representation from the LGBTQ community, as well as from the Black community and from the Filipino community and from the disabled community,” Coatsworth said. “We’re really trying to have everybody come together.”
Roseville children’s book author and illustrator Sharon Fujimoto-Johnson will be signing copies of both of her books, “The Mochi Makers” and “Shell Song.” Both are stories that come from her own life and family history. She says that not just writing them down, but meeting the children and adults who read them, make this her “favorite work [she’s] ever done.”
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“Readers respond to the heart in a children’s book. That’s really rewarding to see,” Fujimoto-Johnson said. “As creators, we work in our little caves as we make our books. To take it out into the world is a whole different experience.”
Fujimoto-Johnson will also speak on the “Home Grown: SacTown Authors” panel hosted by Beth Ruyak featuring authors Brianna Heath, Rachel L. Ertassi and Archana Maniar.
Karen Phillips will be on the “In Our Backyard: Sac-Set Mysteries” panel discussing the latest installment of her “Rocky Nelson Boxing” series, set in the hills of Sacramento, Placer and El Dorado counties. She says that she got inspiration to write mystery from — where else? — a trailer and classic car show in Lodi.
“When I went through all the trailers, I was having so much fun, I thought, ‘What a great place to find a dead body,’” Phillips said.
Other activities include a passport stamp hunt, kid’s zone, and a performance by CapLit of attending author Jasmin Iolani Hakes’ most recent novel “The Pohaku” to close out the event. While there will be some craft-focused events for aspiring writers, Sacramento Book Festival 2026 is for the readers. This year’s theme is Building Community Book by Book.
“We’re really trying to make the festival a central hub for readers and authors to come together,” Coatsworth said.
Each year the Sacramento Book Festival also asks attendees to participate in a coloring and activity book drive for the Mustard Seed School. Schooley said that last year’s drive was almost too successful. Last he heard, Mustard Seed is only part-way through the mountain of children’s books.
“The people brought so many books that I think Mustard Seed still hasn’t opened all the boxes of books that are in their storage,” Schooley said.
For more information on the Sacramento Book Festival, visit sacramentobookfestival.com.
Emilie DeFazio-Reilly is a member of the Abridged Community Reporters program.