Calling all book lovers to the Savannah Book Festival
Written by Ally Abruscato. Photo courtesy of SBF
If you’re a book lover who’s interested in meeting authors, the Savannah Book Festival (SBF) is the perfect opportunity to do so! Located around the city, the festival is taking place from Feb. 17-20. While Festival Saturday is free for everyone, there are some events where tickets are necessary. On Thursday, Friday and Sunday, three headlining authors will be giving presentations with tickets costing between $25-30. If you’re interested in attending those specific events, you can buy tickets here.
Although the Savannah Book Festival was held virtually in the past, it’s back to being in-person this year. Still, to ensure everyone’s safety, masks are required inside SBF venues and encouraged in outdoor areas. Each participant is required to show proof of full vaccination or a negative test within the past 72 hours and a photo ID. Vaccination status can be uploaded using the My Bindle app. A negative test can be printed out or shown digitally, but at-home tests are not allowed. If you wish to attend virtually, SBF will livestream author presentations on Festival Saturday through links on their website.
The festival presents the amazing opportunity to meet authors and get their signatures. To get a book signed, you have to purchase it at the Book Sales Tent in Telfair Square. The tent opens at noon on Feb. 18 and will be open all of Festival Saturday. Each book bought comes with a signing card for authors to sign after presentations. Also, headlining books can be purchased at Lucas Theatre before the presentations. It’s important to buy the books in these ways because authors are not permitted to sign anything else. Books can be signed in the Author Signing Tent in Telfair Square or after presentations in the Lucas Theatre.
To see which authors will be present and learn a little more about them, check out the schedule and lineup.
Executive Director at SBF, Erika Dongre, has some extra insight into the festival. As this is Dongre’s fifth festival, she says it’s important to “realize you won’t be able to make a session in every time slot AND get your books signed by the author. So, pick the few author sessions you definitely want to attend, staying aware of the times, and that you’ll need time after that session to wait in line to have your book signed by the author (if you want).” Although there’s so much to enjoy about the festival, Dongre especially loves “working with Leopold’s to rename their ice cream flavors to incorporate the SBF authors’ names or book titles for festival weekend!” There is so much to look forward to when it comes to the SBF, so make sure to check it out!
