As a holiday gift to you, we are thrilled to share our full list of featured speakers for the 2018 Festival! Totaling more than 300 authors, illustrators, and publishing professionals, the list is comprised of speakers with new books that span all genres. Some highlights include:

• Monica Hesse (American Fire) one of The New York Times‘ 100 Notable Books of 2017
• Lisa Ko (The Leavers) one of Los Angeles Times‘ Best Fiction of 2017
• Carmen Maria Machado (Her Body and Other Parties) one of Chicago Review of Books’ Best Fiction Books of 2017
• Charles Mann (The Wizard and the Prophet) a three-time National Magazine Award finalist
• David Barclay Moore (The Stars Beneath Our Feet) one of Time’s Top Ten Young Adult and Children’s Books of 2017
• Justin Spring (The Gourmands’ Way) one of Publishers Weekly’s Best Nonfiction Books of 2017

Explore the full list of 2018 Festival speakers >>

Then, stay tuned for the complete Festival schedule, which will be announced on VaBook.org in mid-January 2018.

Don’t forget: Festival tickets such as these also make great holiday gifts!

Read & Lead Lunch with Leland Melvin
NASA astronaut Leland Melvin (Chasing Space) will share stories from his memoir about how he found success in football and in outer space.

Literary Luncheon with Nathan Englander
Nathan Englander, author of Dinner at the Center of the Earth, will speak about his riveting and powerful fiction.

Hope & Sacrifice: A Conversation with Khizr Khan
Khizr Khan (An American Family) will discuss his experiences as an immigrant, our rights as Americans, and the legacy of democracy.

Crime Wave Brunch with Attica Locke 
Join hundreds of other readers for brunch with Attica Locke, author of Bluebird, Bluebird and winner of the 2016 Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction.

In Pursuit of Truth: An Evening with the National Book Awards
2017 National Book Award finalists Erica Armstrong Dunbar (Never Caught) and David Grann (Killers of the Flower Moon) join longlisted author Kevin Young (Bunk) and National Book Foundation executive director Lisa Lucas in a discussion of the hidden impacts of racism and social inequality in America and the pursuit of truth in their award-winning nonfiction.