Six Bridges Book Festival

The 21st Annual Six Bridges Book Festival is SO CLOSE, and we can't wait to show you another selections of great authors you'll meet at the Fest this year.
Danielle Bayard Jackson, Gabino Iglesias, Lana Williams The Tender Gardener, Samuel Freedman, and Elliott West will all be there - and that's not all! Check out the full schedule now and register to attend sessions with your must-sees at SixBridgesBookFestival.org

Links to these authors sessions can be found in the captions.

Yes, they're delicious.

And if you attend the Six Bridges Book Festival Fest Kickoff Party you can try them for yourself! They'll give you the sugar rush you need to confidently take to the CALS Ron Robinson Theater stage for karaoke!

Visit https://events.cals.org/event/11764726 for all the details, and be sure to click that register button so we know how many of these incredible cookies to order for the party 😉

We got these samples from Community Bakery. It’s pretty cool to see the Six Bridges Book Festival art on a cookie (you can try one at the kickoff party on Sept. 27)! Register for sessions at SixBridgesBookFestival.org.

With the 21st Annual Six Bridges Book Festival fast approaching, we'd like to take a moment to thank our Junction Bridge-level sponsors.

We appreciate Central Arkansas Library System Adult Programming, Youth Programming, and Used Book Sale; Wright Lindsey Jennings; At Home in Arkansas Magazine; Arkansas Times; and Oxford American for helping make the Fest possible!

Another Friday, another excellent selection of authors to introduce to you.

This year Nate Powell returns to the Fest, joined by Jasmin Graham, Sally Nixon, Toluse Olorunnipa, Manisha Sinha, Randall Woods, and a ton more authors you won't want to miss!

Make plans to join us at the 2024 Six Bridges Book Festival, September 22-29. Find out more at sixbridgesbookfestival.org

The full lineup of authors and schedule of events is now live! Start planning your 2024 Six Bridges Book Festival experience on our website at SixBridgesBookFestival.org

Happy Fest Friday! How is it already the end of August? We've got all hands on deck at the Central Arkansas Library System getting everything ready to welcome the literary world to Little Rock!
We're excited to announce another round of authors and books for you to look forward to seeing at the Fest, September 22-29.

Ayana Gray, Debbie Urbanski, Kamilah Cole, Regina Porter, and Jedediah Berry will all be part of the Fest this year, and we still have so many more authors to tell you about! Find out more at sixbridgesbookfestival.org.

Happy Fest Friday! We're posting a new round of authors and books each Friday for you to look forward to seeing at the Fest, September 22-29.

Kevin Brockmeier, Myah Ariel, Carrie Sun, Marcela Fuentes, John Vercher, and Susie Dumond will all be guests of the Fest this year, and that's not all! Find out more at sixbridgesbookfestival.org.

Happy Fest Friday, festivalgoers! Each Friday we'll be posting a new round of authors and books for you to look forward to seeing at the Fest, September 22-29.

Eli Cranor - Author Page, Alice Driver, Jess H. Guitierrez, Brian Fairbanks, and Santiago Jose Sanchez will all be guests of the Fest this year, and we're just getting started! Find out more at sixbridgesbookfestival.org.

The Central Arkansas Library System Communications Department is busy printing the posters for the 2024 Fest!

Don’t miss a bit of the exciting news we have coming up about the Six Bridges Book Festival. Watch this space, and check back often at SixBridgesBookFestival.org for all the latest!

We're so excited to share the lineup of this year's Six Bridges Book Festival with you that we're going to make it a whole thing. So Happy Fest Friday! Each Friday we'll be posting a new round of authors and books for you to look forward to seeing at the Fest, September 22-29.

Jen Fawkes, Margot Livesey, Crystal Wilkinson, Boyce Upholt, and Ilyon Woo, Author will be guests of the Fest this year, and you won't want to miss a single minute! Find out more at sixbridgesbookfestival.org.

The Center for Fiction has announced the 2024 First Novel Prize longlist, and you'll be able to meet one of those authors at the Fest next month!

The Center for Fiction says, "These 25 books speak meaningfully to the present moment in literary art and underscore the importance of supporting writers at all stages of their careers."

Congratulations to all the authors but especially Marcela Fuentes, author of Malas!

Announcing The Center for Fiction 2024 First Novel Prize Longlist | The Center for Fiction We are pleased to announce the longlist for The Center for Fiction 2024 First Novel Prize! This year, we received 144 submitted titles with U.S. publication dates between January 1, 2024, and December 31, 2024. In partnership with this year’s panel of judges, over...

The Central Arkansas Library System's Butler Center for Arkansas Studies will award the annual Booker Worthen Literary Prize to John Kirk, the George W. Donaghey Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, for his biography Winthrop Rockefeller: From New Yorker to Arkansawyer, 1912–1956, published by the University of Arkansas Press in 2022.

Visit the CALS YouTube channel to see Dr. Kirk's appearance at the Six Bridges Book Festival in support of his book.
https://youtu.be/tdN4q-_kxQU?si=IhVt4RSFah7pTzp3

Congratulations, John Kirk!

Brooks Blevins & John A. Kirk [Six Bridges Book Festival]

“I wish my mom were still alive to know about this,” McBride said. “I’m delighted and honored. Does it mean I can use the Library? If so, I’m double thrilled.”

James McBride to Receive 2024 Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction James McBride to Receive 2024 Library of Congress Prize for American FictionAuthor of Books ‘The Color of Water,’ ‘Deacon King Kong’ and ‘The...

"Vercher speaks with NPR's Lauren Frayer about why he felt magical realism made the story about American history and loss and racism more accessible, and how different layers of grief manifest in the story."

https://www.npr.org/2024/07/09/1196980826/nprs-book-of-the-day-john-vercher-devil-is-fine

We're excited to host John Vercher, author of Devil Is Fine, at this year's Six Bridges Book Festival!

'Devil Is Fine' explores race, colonialism and grief through magical realism : NPR's Book of the Day Devil Is Fine, the new novel by John Vercher, follows an unnamed protagonist banging out a book pitch in a fugue state that mirrors what's happening in his own life: after the death of his son, a biracial writer inherits a plantation from the white side of his family, which has the remains of both h...

Our friends at WordsWorth Books are hosting Jen Fawkes to mark the release of Daughters of Chaos. Go if you can - this is going to be a fascinating conversation for sure.

Celebrate Jen Fawkes' new novel at WordsWorth Books on Tuesday - Arkansas Times “Daughters of Chaos” comes out July 9, and WordsWorth Books is hosting a launch party on the same day, where Little Rock writer Jen Fawkes will be in conversation with Arkansas magic realism master Kevin Brockmeier.

Can't wait to get BROILER by Eli Cranor, hot off the presses and out now!

Young readers and parents will want to check this out!

Join us Tuesday, July 9, at 1PM for a visit to Deckawoo Drive with everyone's favorite adventure loving pig, Mercy Watson!
Newbery Medal winning author Kate DiCamillo will be sharing the stories behind the creation of her early chapter book series, the original Mercy Watson, and the follow up series, Tales from Deckawoo Drive. We will also be celebrating the publication of the final book in the Mercy Watson series!
Register now to attend this free virtual event at events.cals.org/event/10626259

Wishing good health for our 2024 Festival Chair Joyce Elliott.

Our thoughts are with Senator Elliott and her family. We wish her a speedy recovery.

You Dreamed of Empires, by Álvaro Enrigue; translated by Natasha Wimmer, hits store tomorrow. “A historical novel set in 1519, at the moment the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés entered the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan (today’s Mexico City), Enrigue’s feverish tale paints a picture of the city in its earlier glory and imagines another outcome for the land and its people,” according to The New York Times.

“Books are not made to be believed, but to be subjected to inquiry. When we consider a book, we mustn’t ask ourselves what it says but what it means.” Umberto Eco, author of The Name of the Rose, who was born on this day.

This one hit stores two days ago. "Beauty, make-up, art, power: How to Be a Renaissance Woman presents an alternative history of this fascinating period as told by the women behind the paintings, providing a window into their often overlooked or silenced lives."

Celebrate, but stay warm this holiday season! (Photo courtesy of Mitchell Orr on Unsplash.)

Nikki Payne (Fest 2023) has a new reimagined Austen coming out in February. "I do not have the words for how deeply I loved this book. It’s the smartest Austen update I’ve read in ages, and the relationship between the main characters is utter perfection. I love, love, love Bear and Nora, and so will everyone wise enough to buy this book."—Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times bestselling author