For several years we’ve been talking about the need for a good, regional book festival. With the support of the Amherst Business Improvement District (BID), we’ve decided to try to organize one for 2026.
We’re envisioning a festival that celebrates books, authorship, and publishing. We’re hoping to get participation by our local bookstores, libraries, publishers, writing organizations, the five colleges, and our many authors. And, of course, the public.
We’re at the very beginning of the process. Our goal at this phase is get the word out that we’re starting and to invite people to provide feedback. Our first challenge is to identify a date. But that’s just one of many.
We have a lot of questions: Do we want to hold it during the summer or the academic year? Do we want to have something more informal or include a conference with readings and talks and panel discussions. What do we want our book festival to be?
We have set up a website (with a contact form) and two mailing lists: one for announcements and another for organizers. We are currently hoping to have a group of organizers before the end of the year that would be interested in meeting (via zoom) to begin planning for the festival.
Visit https://amherstbookfestival.com/ to learn more, contact us, provide feedback, and sign up.