2023 Six Bridges Book Festival Schedule Announced

2023 Six Bridges Book Festival Schedule Announced

Critically acclaimed authors make the rounds for sessions, workshops, and family activities

Little Rock, AR – The Central Arkansas Library System (CALS) is excited to announce the 2023 Six Bridges Book Festival schedule. The 20th annual Book Fest will run Monday, September 25, through Sunday, October 1, featuring more than 40 award-winning, bestselling, and emerging authors in virtual and in-person sessions and special events, including David Grann, author of Killers of the Flower Moon and The Wager; Pulitzer Prize winner Andrew Sean Greer; birder Christian Cooper; historian Jermaine Fowler; and NPR’s book critic Maureen Corrigan. The Fest is also hosting two writing workshops. All sessions are free except for three cooking workshops, which are $15 each. Registration/RSVP is requested for all events. The schedule, registration links, and cooking workshop tickets are available at SixBridgesBookFestival.org.

In-person sessions will start on Thursday, September 28, in venues located at Library Square and around Little Rock. Events will be held for several evenings at CALS Ron Robinson Theater, 100 River Market Ave. First off, Chris Cillizza will discuss Power Players: Sports, Politics, and the American Presidency on Thursday, September 28, at 6:30 p.m., followed by David Grann, author of The Wager and Killers of the Flower Moon, at 8 p.m. On Friday, September 29, Julio Vincent Gambuto’s one-man show, Please Unsubscribe, Thanks!, is at 6:30 p.m., followed by the lively “Toast the Authors” party at 8 p.m. On Saturday, September 30, is Christian Cooper’s Better Living through Birding: Notes from a Black Man in the Natural World at 6:30 p.m., followed by Andrew Sean Greer’s Less Is Lost and Justin Torres’s Blackout at 8 p.m. On Sunday, October 1, at 8 p.m., Maureen Corrigan will close the Fest and kick off Banned Books Week (October 1 – 7) with her presentation, “Banned Books, Burned Books: Forbidden Literary Works.”

Virtual sessions include Pulitzer Prize winner Darrin Bell, The Talk; Pulitzer finalist Rebecca Makkai, I Have Some Questions for You; bestselling author Curtis Sittenfeld, Romantic Comedy; and authors Byron Lane and Steven Rowley of the well-reviewed Big Gay Wedding and The Celebrants.

Three cooking demonstrations will take place at Eggshells Kitchen Co., 5501 Kavanaugh Blvd., on Saturday, September 30, beginning with Stacey Mei Yan Fong, 50 Pies, 50 States: An Immigrant’s Love Letter to the United States through Pie, at 10:00 a.m.; Susan Gravely, Italy on a Plate, at 11:30 a.m.; and Sandra A. Gutierrez, Latinísimo: Home Recipes from the Twenty-One Countries of Latin America, at 1 p.m. The trio will have a combined author panel at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church at 4 p.m. that same day. Food enthusiasts shouldn’t miss the return of the Traditional Pie Bake-Off and Recipe Swap Competition at the Root Café, 1500 Main St., on Sunday, October 1, 3-5 p.m.

For those interested in the process of writing, two workshops are available on Saturday, September 30, at the Rock It! Lab, 120 River Market Ave. Writing Workshop I features CALS’s Deb Moore and the Writing Circle at 10 a.m. Popular author duo Quinn Connor, Cicadas Sing of Summer Graves, along with CALS’s Jobe, will host Writing Workshop II at 11:30 a.m.

Children and family programs will be held Saturday, September 30, from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. at the Hillary Rodham Clinton Children’s Library & Learning Center. In partnership with the Junior League of Little Rock, Little Readers Rock includes an outdoor fair, a community art project, a Flurffy and Friends puppet show, and a talk from Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award honoree Laura Freeman at noon. Freeman will also appear during the opening reception for the Framing History exhibition at Pyramid Art, Books & Custom Framing on Thursday, September 28, 5:30-7 p.m.

Festival books are available for purchase in store and online at WordsWorth Books and at Pyramid Art, Books & Custom Framing now and at the Fest. View the list of authors, see full event details, and register/RSVP to attend sessions at SixBridgesBookFestival.org.

Click the links below to:

Download a printable schedule.
Download author photos.
Download book covers.

The 2023 Six Bridges Book Festival is presented thanks to the following sponsors, partners, and supporters. BROADWAY BRIDGE: Arkansas Humanities Council; Dishongh Charitable Trust; Arkansas Arts Council; Little Rock Convention & Visitors Bureau; Arkansas Democrat-Gazette; PARTNERS: Junior League of Little Rock (Little Readers Rock); Latino Art Project; Seis Puentes; Consulate of Mexico in Little Rock; MAIN STREET BRIDGE: The Fred K. Darragh, Jr. Foundation; ProSmart Printing; Arkansas Times; ROCK ISLAND BRIDGE: Wright Lindsey & Jennings LLP; Little Rock Public Radio; The Rebsamen Fund; Central Arkansas Library System Foundation; WordsWorth Books; Hearne Fine Art/Pyramid Art, Books & Custom Framing; Riggs Cat; University of Arkansas at Little Rock School of Literary and Performing Arts; JUNCTION BRIDGE: Phillip Huddleston; Windgate Foundation; Boyette Strategic Advisors; Friends of CALS; Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts; CALS Adult Programming; Meadors, Adams & Lee; Arkansas Cinema Society; William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum; Windstream; Alan Ross Kumpe Memorial Endowment; CALS Main Library Renovation Architects: Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects + WER Architects + Stocks Mann Architects; At Home in Arkansas; Oxford American; BARING CROSS BRIDGE: Fest Permanent Fund; John David Coulter Memorial Fund; Fuqua Campbell P.A.; Chris and Julie Keller; The Root Café; Chicot Elementary School; Washington Elementary School; Eggshells Kitchen Co.; Anonymous; I-30 BRIDGE: Fred Ursery; St. Mark’s Episcopal Church; Loblolly Creamery; Susan Santa Cruz; ADDITIONAL DONORS: Robert L. Brown; Mark Christ; Annick Dellmann-Schafer; Lawrence Diaz; LaReina R. Fuentes-Cook; Tameka A. Lee; Brad Mooy; Bonnie Nickol; Sandra Kathleen Reed.

The Six Bridges Book Festival is supported in part by a grant from the Arkansas Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities. The Central Arkansas Library System gratefully acknowledges the support of the Little Rock Convention & Visitors Bureau and the many other donors and partners who make this festival possible. The Junior League of Little Rock is a partner for the Little Readers Rock events.