LA Times Festival of Books Weekend
- Large outdoor book festival with author panels, vendors, and family programming. - Apr 18–19 at Exposition Park/USC — final day is Sunday, Apr 19. - Full schedule and details: welikela.com
The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books is in its final day Sunday, April 19, with free general admission and a full day of panels and outdoor programming on the University of Southern California campus. (latimes.com) The 31st annual festival runs April 18-19 at USC, and the Los Angeles Times says it includes nearly 100 panel conversations, more than 500 authors and celebrities, and about 150,000 attendees over the weekend. (latimes.com) Most of the festival grounds are open without a ticket, while indoor panels and special events require reservations or paid tickets, and online sales end when each panel begins if seats remain. (tixr.com) USC’s festival schedule adds its own programming to the Times lineup, including faculty-led discussions, live music on the USC Stage, family activities and community events spread across the University Park Campus. (sites.usc.edu) The event has grown into what USC and the festival describe as the nation’s largest literary festival, turning a weekend on campus into a city-scale gathering for publishers, booksellers, authors and readers. (festivalofbooks.usc.edu) This year’s lineup leans hard on celebrity memoir, fiction and current-affairs conversations, with scheduled appearances by Sarah Jessica Parker, Lionel Richie, Larry David, Susan Lucci, Tom Selleck, David Duchovny, Jennie Garth, Blair Underwood and Valerie Bertinelli. (today.usc.edu) The 2026 festival also added a new Audiobook and Podcast Stage, broadening a program that already mixes author talks with signings, performances and sponsor activations across the grounds. (foxla.com) For families, the weekend includes children’s stages and outdoor activities that do not require advance reservations, keeping the busiest parts of the festival accessible even for visitors who did not book panel seats ahead of time. (tixr.com; lapaneng.com) Sunday’s schedule closes out the weekend the same way it opened: as a campus-wide event built for wandering, with readers moving between ticketed conversations indoors and free book fair crowds outside. (latimes.com; sites.usc.edu)
