FILE - A sign for the Portland Book Festival on Nov. 2, 2024.
John Rudoff / Courtesy of Literary Arts
The Portland Book Festival will return bigger than ever this fall to celebrate storytelling in its many forms.
This year’s festival, which will span multiple days for the first time following a sold-out one-day event in 2025, will feature more than 150 authors, chefs, musicians, artists and moderators.
From Nov. 2 to 8, festivalgoers can attend ticketed intimate readings, workshops, pop-ups and more at 10 indoor and outdoor locations in Southwest Portland, including the South Park Blocks, Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall and the Portland Art Museum. Saturday, Nov. 7 will be the festival’s biggest day, with programming from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Many events on and outside that date require separate tickets to attend. Tickets for all events are on sale now.
In addition to the weeklong expansion, the festival announced another major change: a new title sponsor. While Wells Fargo and Bank of America were the title sponsors of the festival over the last several years, the Eberwein family was named this year’s lead sponsor following pro-Palestinian protests, as reported by Willamette Week. Bart Eberwein, who has worked for Hoffman Construction for 30 years, has sat on boards for Literary Arts, the Architecture Foundation of Oregon and the Oregon Symphony.
Festivities range from musical performances to panel discussions, including one with author and Academy Award-winning actor Ke Huy Quan, known for his role in the beloved Oregon-filmed flick, “The Goonies.”
OPB’s Dave Miller will moderate the discussion with Quan about Quan’s new memoir “Never Say Die” at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall.
Other OPB staff leading discussions include “The Evergreen” host Jenn Chávez, “Morning Edition” host Jess Hazel, “Weekend Edition” host Lillian Karabaic, “All Things Considered” hosts Crystal Ligori and Geoff Norcross, and Aaron Scott of “Oregon Field Guide.”
Other well-known guests include two-time Hugo Award winner and “Wayfarers” author Becky Chambers; 2026 Newbery Medal winner and No. 1 New York Times bestselling author Renée Watson; Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Andrew Sean Greer; and Colin Meloy, lead singer of The Decemberists and author of “Wildwood,” a bestselling middle-grade fantasy book with a film adaptation soon to be released by Laika. Carson Ellis, the book’s illustrator and Meloy’s spouse, will also be in attendance.
Portland children's book author and illustrator Zoey Abbott, seen here reading one of her books to preschool students in the gym at the Sellwood Community House in Portland, Ore., on May 15, 2026, is one of the guests at the 2026 Portland Book Festival.
Eli Imadali / OPB
While this year’s event incorporates food, music and art, the Portland Book Festival is, at its heart, a literary showcase. Readers will find a wide variety of book genres represented, from fiction, nonfiction and poetry to comics, young adult, middle grade (typically for readers aged 8 to 12) and picture books.
Culinary events include a collaboration at L’Echelle where chefs Farideh Sadeghin, Peter Cho, Mika Paredes and Sam Smith will each create their own version of a hot dog inspired by Sadeghin’s “The Hot Dog Cookbook.” Another festival highlight will be a recording of the Portland-based public radio variety show “Live Wire Radio” at the Portland Art Museum. The full festival lineup is available online.
Originally founded in 2005 as “Wordstock,” the festival’s name changed to its current iteration when the nonprofit organization Literary Arts took over the event and relaunched it in 2015.
Disclosure: OPB is a media sponsor of the Portland Book Festival.
