Festival of Books Wrap
- The L.A. Times Festival of Books took place April 18–19 at USC with over 500 authors and celebrities. - Organizers expected roughly 150,000 attendees across panels, signings, and stages. - The festival spotlighted conversations about AI, book bans, and diverse publishing voices in live sessions ( ).
The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books drew crowds across the University of Southern California campus this weekend for two days of panels, signings and stage talks. (latimes.com) The 2026 festival ran April 18 and 19 at USC, with free general admission and separate tickets for some featured events. Organizers said the program included more than 500 authors and celebrities, while other festival materials put the lineup at more than 550 speakers and guests. (latimes.com; rafu.com; ktla.com) Attendance estimates for the weekend landed in the same range: about 150,000 in advance festival promotion, and as high as 155,000 in same-day coverage. USC Annenberg described the event as attracting more than 150,000 people, with seven stages, 14 panel rooms and 300 exhibitors. (rafu.com; ktla.com; annenberg.usc.edu) This year’s program put publishing’s current fights onstage. The Los Angeles Times’ April 17 book-prize coverage said festival conversations centered on artificial intelligence, book bans and the push for more diverse books, with Amy Tan saying, “We need diverse books.” (latimes.com) The lineup also showed how the festival now mixes literary publishing with television, music and celebrity memoir. Los Angeles Times promotion named guests including Lionel Richie, Sarah Jessica Parker, Larry David, Pat Benatar, Jennie Garth, Tina Knowles and Anne Lamott. (latimes.com) The De Los stage, produced with L.A. Times en Español, added a bilingual and Latino-focused track with Julio Vaqueiro, Gloria Calderón Kellett, Quiara Alegría Hudes, Carolina Ixta and Yesika Salgado. (latimes.com) The festival opened with the Los Angeles Times Book Prizes on Friday, April 17, at 7 p.m. in Bovard Auditorium on the USC campus, turning the weekend into a three-day stretch of awards, author appearances and public programming. (latimes.com) The event has been a USC fixture since 1996, and this year’s crowd size and expanded guest list showed the formula still holds: free entry, big names and a campus built for browsing. (latimes.com; rafu.com)
