Portland Book Festival Day schedule to
be released in early October!
Portland Book Festival’s main Event will take place on Saturday, November 7, 2026.
Following a sold-out event in 2025, Literary Arts has expanded our programming to bring more of what you love about the festival to Portland’s city center. Portland Book Festival will take place throughout the week of November 2-8, with the largest gathering of readers, writers, and storytellers taking place on November 7.
This year, Portland Book Festival stretches throughout downtown Portland—from the South Park Blocks to neighboring theaters, music venues, restaurants, and gathering spaces—inviting audiences to experience stories through literature, music, food, visual art, and community.
In partnership with some of Portland’s leading cultural organizations, this year’s expanded festival has even more exciting ways to engage with Portland’s arts and culture offerings including live music, visual art, culinary experiences, and late-night events—all part of the larger festival centered around books and storytelling.
Where to Stay
Literary Arts is excited to partner with some of Portland’s most iconic hotels to offer festivalgoers a welcoming place to stay during Portland Book Festival. Guests who book through our hotel partners will receive a preferred booking rate.
Where to Find the Festival
Portland Book Festival takes place across 10 stages in southwest Portland, with outdoor venues across the South Park Blocks, and events within the Portland Art Museum and neighboring venues.
Venues include: Portland Art Museum, which hosts pop-up events in the main building galleries and the book and exhibitor fair in their Mark Building; Portland’5 venues: Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall and various theatres inside Hatfield Hall; The Judy Kafoury Center, The First Congregational United Church of Christ, The Old Church, and Shemanski Park.
A Newly Expanded Festival
Alongside more than 100 authors, this year’s festival will also feature live music, visual art, food experiences, cocktails, and late-night events designed to bring new energy to downtown Portland and continue building the Portland Book Festival into a signature cultural event for the city.
Explore new ways of enjoying Portland.
Cover to Cover
With PBF Cover to Cover, we invite dozens of organizations across the city to take part from November 2 through 8. The Cover to Cover program is an eclectic mix of fun events organized by community partners across the metro area that expands Portland Book Festival. This additional programming is aimed at going beyond the scope of a traditional reading or author panel. Past events have included a mock burial, tea ceremonies, and poetry karaoke!
The Cover to Cover partner events do NOT require a PBF pass. While many Cover to Cover events are free, some are ticketed individually by program partners or venues.
Check out our Festival program to find both free and ticketed partner programming.
Getting to the Festival
Portland Book Festival attendees are encouraged to walk, bike, or take mass transit to the festival. Trimet has a useful trip planner here. The museum/festival does NOT have a dedicated parking lot, but parking garages and street parking are available throughout downtown Portland. Supplemental bike racks will be available.
For our out of town friends planning a trip to Portland, visit travelportland.com for information on travel specials and hotel offers.
Accessibility at PBF
If you are unable to stand while in line, or you need accessibility accommodations for an event, please notify a volunteer and they will be sure you have a place to sit. All PBF volunteers are distinguishable by their volunteer t-shirts.
Each of our venues’ websites provide information about accessibility: Portland Art Museum / Portland’5 / UCC / The Old Church / The Judy
For ASL accommodations: if you would like to request a Sign Language interpreter, please email festival@literary-arts.org with the event(s) you would like to attend and we will be in touch. Due to the nature of scheduling, we kindly request at least four weeks advanced notice.
FAQ
Literary Arts is thrilled to include our own bookstore alongside an array of independent, Portland-based bookstores. Our indie bookstore partners include Powell’s Books, Broadway Books, A Children’s Place Bookstore and Annie Bloom’s Books. All Festival author books purchased from partner bookstores support the authors and publishers who share their work at the festival and the booksellers. When you purchase books from our partner stores you are supporting the sustainability PBF.
Joining the bookseller lineup this year, the Literary Arts bookstore is located at our new building which houses our office, classrooms, a cafe, and much more. Doors open this fall and we’d love to see you at 716 SE Grand Avenue! In the meantime, you can support the Literary Arts by ordering through our online bookstore.
For safety reasons, rooms will be cleared between all events; to attend the next event at the same stage, you will need to exit the venue and re-enter. This policy allows us to keep to the fire code/capacity for each room. We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your understanding.
Yes! Most in-person authors will sign immediately following their on-stage event, unless otherwise noted. Books must be purchased from a festival bookstore in order to be signed, with the exception of one pre-owned book per author.
Why do we restrict pre-owned books? On site book sales are absolutely critical to the success of the festival. By purchasing books at the festival, you support the amazing independent bookstores that partner with us as well as the authors and publishers who travel from near and far to share their work at the festival. Thank you for your support and understanding of this policy.
The festival is delighted to feature satellite bookstores to all festival stages, where attendees can purchase a book and get it signed on site. Authors will sign books immediately following the end of their event. Remember: your $5 voucher is good at any vendor at the book fair!
All books purchased at the festival, through the Powell’s, Broadway Books, A Children’s Place, Annie Bloom’s, or Literary Arts bookstores, or at any of the book fair vendors, support the authors and publishers who travel from near and far to share their work at the festival and the booksellers and vendors who invest time and expense to be at the book fair. Literary Arts asks attendees to respect and follow this policy. Please buy early and often and know you are supporting the sustainability of the festival.
Book dealers are NOT allowed to bring books into the book signing area. Dealers with rolling carts and/or wagons are not allowed on the festival grounds.
Yes! The Portland Book Festival exhibitor fair represents some of the best of Portland, Oregon, and Pacific Northwest plus national publishing, writing, literary culture, academic opportunities, and more. Full-price admission to the festival will grant each attendee a $5 book voucher that they can redeem only at the book fair that day.
Yes! We will have free classes for youth, registration required, and free drop-in classes for adults.
Portland Book Festival writing classes are curated by the Director of Programs for Writers, Susan Moore. If you are interested in teaching at a future festival, send a proposal to susan@literary-arts.org.
A full-price in-person festival pass includes a $5 book voucher. Festival book vouchers are non-transferrable, cannot be exchanged for cash, and are limited to one per attendee. For example, you could use your one $5 voucher toward the purchase of a $15 book, but you could not purchase a $15 book with three vouchers. Vouchers are redeemable only on festival day at the book fair at the Portland Art Museum. All festival vendors accept vouchers. Vouchers will be distributed to attendees at the point of ticket purchase or at will call pick up. Vouchers are not redeemable for cash and are limited to one per person.