SOKY Book Fest events are organized by a team of book-lovers like you who work all year long to organize programs which promote reading and writing, both in and outside of the classroom.

SOKY Book Fest is always the fourth weekend in April. This year: April 20-21, 2018.

The Knicely Conference Center (2355 Nashville Rd.) in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Nope. SOKY Book Fest is always FREE and open to the public. Bring your friends, family members, book clubs, classes, etc.

Sorry, but previously purchased books are not allowed to be signed. All signed books must be purchased at Book Fest Friday and/or Saturday.

The schedule for panels and presentations will be posted on our website each winter. It will also be sent out in a special Daily News insert each April to residents of Bowling Green and surrounding areas. The schedule is subject to change.

The Author List will be updated continually on our website starting in November. We often post author announcements and sneak peeks on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and our blog, so friend/follow us! 150+ authors and illustrators attend each year representing all literary genres, including many from right here in Kentucky!

Absolutely! Send them to us, or post them to our Facebook.

Teen & Children’s Day is a full day devoted to school children in grades K-12, librarians, and to celebrate reading, learn from authors and illustrators, and buy signed books. It’s always the Friday before SOKY Book Fest. Children’s, Middle Grades, and Young Adult authors will be selling and signing books from 9am-2pm at the Knicely Conference Center. Patrons are invited to attend panels and presentations throughout the day. Lunch is provided to all students through our generous sponsors, and there are concessions available on site as well.

A conference for adults, taught by accomplished adult writers. It’s like college, but free. Workshops vary each year, and have covered screenwriting, poetry, editing a manuscript, finding an agent, revising your work, and more. Register online in March.

The writers conferences are craft workshops led by one or two authors. Panels are discussions with up to 5 authors on a variety of writerly/bookish topics, from writing fantasy to illustrating a book and more. Please do not hop from one panel to another.

No, all panels and presentations on Saturday are open to the public.

That’s a lot of questions! The Meet the Authors reception is an event the Friday before Book Fest from 5pm-7pm at the Knicely Conference Center where you can mingle and meet the authors attending SOKY Book Fest the next day. There’s great food and lovely libations and the presentation of our annual Kentucky Literary Award. Dress is business casual. Tickets are $50.00 each, and will be available for purchase starting in March.

Contact us and we’ll get back to you with an assignment. We only need volunteers for Saturday, but you can help by spreading the word about this event year-round!

If you do not hear back within two weeks after submitting an application, please Contact Us. Decisions will be made on a rolling basis until the application window closes in November, with a full roster finished in January.

Never fear – we’ll send that info out once you’re accepted.

Our bookseller takes care of books. If you need to bring your own, you will be contacted. Otherwise, don’t worry; you’re covered.

The Holiday Inn University Plaza (1021 Wilkinson Trace), The Hyatt Place (1347 Center St.), and Staybridge Suites (680 Campbell Lane) are our partner locations, and all provide shuttles for guests. There are a bunch of options if you take Exit 22 off I-65 coming towards Bowling Green (Days Inn, Hampton Inn, Ramada, etc.), and they’re about 15 mins from the Knicely Center.

See a map of the local area on our Directions page.

Our intern actually budgets for Book Fest by putting 10% of her paychecks into a savings account. She also makes a list of the authors coming that she is interested in and makes a list of the books she would like to buy. She lists them from the ones she is most interested in to least interested in and then goes to Barnes and Noble’s website to get a price for each book. This is a dedicated approach. Put aside money under your mattress or in a jar or shoebox or something so you can pick up some awesome books at Book Fest. You can try, but you may never surpass the amount of signed books our partner at the public library has.