The 2026 Louisville Book Festival will be held in downtown Louisville, KY on October 24th from 10 am to 5 pm at the Kentucky International Convention Center. This year will continue to give us the opportunity to celebrate the city’s culture and resiliency, while striving towards the goal that all children have access to books in their home. Highway 65 is the divide between east and west Louisville. West of 65, there are no book stores which greatly reduces access to books for our children and youth, creating a book desert. Our goal for the Louisville Book Festival is to ensure every child that attends the Book Festival leaves with at least one free age appropriate book that they get to select themselves. To date we have given away more than 20,000 books directly to kids and schools. We will continue to work on the goal of getting books in to the hands of children year round through our programs like It Pays to Read.
organization’s About the Festival page
Past Events
Not all historical events have been recorded. This page will be updated over time.
- October 24, 2026: Kentucky International Convention Center, Louisville, KY, from 10am to 5pm
- October 11, 2025: Kentucky International Convention Center, Louisville, KY, from 10am to 5pm (archive.org)
- October 18-19, 2024: Kentucky International Convention Center, Louisville, KY, from 10am to 6pm (archive.org)
- October 22-23, 2021: virtual (archive.org)
Press
- October 26, 2026: Louisville Book Festival returns with more than 100 authors, bestselling writer Roxane Gay, The Lane Report (archive.org)
- October 24, 2026: Louisville Book Festival gives thousands of free books to kids, WDRB