Pages and People: Highlights from the Savannah Book Festival
Written by Trinity Ray. Photos by Ally Miller-Henson.
Around here, the beginning of the year is for book lovers. Earlier this month, Feb. 6 to Feb. 9, the 18th annual Savannah Book Festival (SBF) was a hit among the local and non-local fans of all things literature. Each year, the SBF hosts over 30 authors and recognizes their books and achievements. The festival events are held right in the middle of historic Savannah, Georgia, occupying three squares and six venues.
The Saturday of the festival is when most of the event comes to life. Individual author talks, writing advice panels and book signings are free for the public to enjoy! Books and merchandise are available for purchase all day and local food trucks can be found around the squares (including Leopold’s Ice Cream). Besides Festival Saturday, you can attend the ticketed Headliner Addresses. This year, Anna Quindlen kicked off the festival on Thursday with the Opening Address. Sebastian Junger followed on Friday with the Keynote Address, and Ben Mezrich wrapped up our festival experience with the Closing Address on Sunday.
During my time at the festival, I was able to hear from authors Carole Hopson (“A Pair of Wings: A Novel”), Marjan Kamali (“The Lion Women of Tehran”), Susan Rieger (“Like Mother, Like Mother”) and Rainbow Rowell (“Slow Dance”). In the “Strong Female Protagonists” panel, Hopson, Kamali and Rieger discussed the story behind their recent books being recognized at the festival. They taught us how they pull inspiration from women in their own lives and around the world to write brave and empowering female characters. Rowell talked about her experience writing “Slow Dance” and her career journey as a writer of various genres and topics: adult, teenager, fantasy, comics and graphic novels. Bringing us into her writing process, Rowell said, “I just sit down and start writing. And then, I keep going.”
I was able to interview authors Rachelle Bergstein and Denny S. Bryce, which you can read about in their own respective articles on District. If you aren’t yet convinced that the Savannah Book Festival is where it’s at, I’ll pass it on to another source. “I’ve been to a bunch of book festivals and this one is just darn fun,” said author Carole Hopson.
View the Savannah Book Festival website here and see how to map out your 2026 literary getaway: https://www.savannahbookfestival.org/
