WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.  Bookmarks has announced that its 13th Festival of Books and Authors will take place September 7 – 10 in downtown Winston-Salem. Bookmarks’ Festival continues to be the largest annual book festival in the Carolinas. More than 45 authors will visit Winston-Salem over the course of the four days. Festival authors will visit with 5,000 students in Triad schools on Friday, Sept. 8, meeting with pre-K through college-aged students.

Thursday’s Kick Off on Sept. 7 celebrates and brings awareness to literacy with Foothills’ Craft Happiness IPA Project. This event will take place from 5 to 9 p.m. at Foothills Brewing at 638 West Fourth Street. Foothills’ newest creation, Bookworm IPA, will be premiered with author sightings throughout the evening. Friday, Sept. 8 features yoga with Jessamyn Stanley (author of Every Body Yoga) at 8 a.m. in the Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts at 251 North Spruce Street. Tickets are required and are $12 per person (includes a yoga session led by Jessamyn and a copy of Every Body Yoga). Friday night at 7 p.m., enjoy a Girls Night Out with Jancee Dunn (author of How Not To Hate Your Husband After Kids) at the Art for Art’s Sake Center for the Arts, 630 North Liberty Street. Tickets are required and are $20 per person (includes Raffaldini wine, shopping after hours, and a copy of How Not To Hate Your Husband After Kids).

Eat and Greets also will be held throughout the weekend. On Saturday, Sept. 8 at 11:30 a.m. Jamie Ford (author of House on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet) will have an Eat and Greet at the Hanesbrands Theatre at 209 North Spruce Street. A ticket is required and are $35 per person (includes a box lunch and a copy of his new book Love and Other Consolation Prizes). On Saturday, Sept. 9, join John Feinstein (author of Backfield Boys – for ages 12+) at 8:30 a.m. at Calvary Moravian Church Fellowship Hall, 600 Holly Avenue (entrance off Poplar Street). Tickets are required and are $35, which includes breakfast and a copy of Backfield Boys. Join the Lee Brothers (authors of Princess Pamela’s Soul Food Cookbook) for brunch on Sunday, Sept. 10 at 10:30 a.m. at the Old Salem Visitor Center at 900 Old Salem Road. Tickets are $45 and include a copy of Princess Pamela’s Soul Food Cookbook: A Mouth-Watering Treasury of Afro-American Recipes with a breakfast inspired by the cookbook’s recipes prepared by California Fresh Catering.

Sunday, Sept. 10’s Closing Keynote will feature perennial bestselling author Janet Evanovich (author of Dangerous Minds: A Knight and Moon Novel). This event will take place at 4 p.m. at R. J. Reynolds Auditorium at 301 N. Hawthorne Road. Tickets are $14 (general admission); $26 (includes a hardcover copy of Dangerous Minds: A Knight and Moon Novel); and $60 (premier seating and a copy of Dangerous Minds – $35 is tax deductible).

Tickets for these events will go on sale August 1 and can be purchased by visiting www.bookmarksnc.org or calling 336-747-1471.

Saturday’s events (from 9:30 a.m. – 5 p.m.) are free and feature author sessions, various reading related exhibitors, food trucks, and creative activities for children. These events will take place at the Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts and the surrounding areas on Spruce, Poplar, and Holly Streets in downtown Winston-Salem. Special panel discussions will be held entitled: Celebrating the NC Arts Council’s 50^th Anniversary, Superheroes, Southern Fiction, Alexander Hamilton, Civil War Fiction; as well as a Flash Fiction Writing Workshop; K-12 Summer Reading Program Celebration; and—back by popular demand—NC Writers’ Network presents Slush Pile Live! This interactive event is for aspiring writers to get immediate feedback on their work from editors and agents.

The following is a list of the authors who will appear at the Saturday, September 9 free Festival of Books

Fiction Authors: Steve Cushman, Jamie Ford, Kathleen Grissom, Allan Gurganus, Linnea Hartsuyker, Christina Henry, Patti Callahan Henry, Robert Hicks, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Margaret Maron, Jill McCorkle, Sarah McCoy, Robin Sloan, Daren Wang, Stephanie Powell Watts, Lisa Wingate

Nonfiction Authors: Garth Callaghan, Andrew Carroll, Jancee Dunn, Marc Lamont Hill, Dara Kurtz, The Lee Brothers, Joan Nathan, Andrés Reséndez, Jessamyn Stanley,  Beverly Tatum

Children’s Book Authors: John Claude Bemis, Angela Dominguez, Michael Fry, Alan Gratz, Teri Kanefield, Grace Lin, Jason Reynolds, Javaka Steptoe, Matt Tavares

Young Adult Authors: Leigh Bardugo, Martha Brockenbrough, Megan E. Bryant, John Feinstein, Jeff Zentner

Poets and Storytellers: Jill Bialosky, Mitch Capel (Gran’daddy Junebug storyteller), Jaki Shelton Green

Slush Pile Live! Agents and Editors: Steve Kirk, Robin Miura, and Julia Smith

On July 8 of this year, Bookmarks opened a new home for the literary arts at 634 West Fourth Street #110. This expansion will allow Bookmarks to double its annual outreach with a space that includes an independent bookstore featuring dynamic event space as well as office and meeting space for Bookmarks. This new space allows Bookmarks to offer additional in-house programming, educational outreach, and collaboration with schools and other organizations to host unique and educational literary events, in furtherance of Bookmarks’ mission of connecting readers with authors and books. The new home is being incorporated into the Festival footprint and expanded programming will be held at Calvary Moravian Church.

Bookmarks is so grateful to the community for their amazing support. It could not do all that it does without the support of individuals, foundations, and sponsors. The Festival’s 2017 Top Sponsors are: The Dash, The Winston-Salem Journal, Our State, the Arts Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County, Fidelity Investments, The Millennium Fund, Wake Forest University, and Salemtowne Retirement Community.

Bookmarks is a literary arts nonprofit organization that engages, inspires, and connects readers with authors and books. This is achieved through the largest annual free book festival in North and South Carolina; Triad-based author talks; and the Authors in Schools program, which will reach over 8,000 students in 2017. Visit bookmarksnc.org for a schedule and more information. Full schedule available by August 1 on the website with printed brochures available August 10.