Every March, the Virginia Festival of the Book presents five days of programming featuring hundreds of speakers discussing their new books, in addition to year-round virtual events in our Shelf Life series.

We select speakers through active recruitment as well as open submissions, June 1 through October 1 annually. During this time, we invite submissions of new, published books of fiction (including genre fiction), nonfiction, poetry, cookbooks, and books for young readers.

Books may be submitted by authors, illustrators, publicists, or other publishing professionals with permission.

We encourage submissions by individuals from diverse backgrounds, including race and ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation, class, and/or abilities. Only online submissions are accepted.

About the Virginia Festival of the Book: Since 1995, the Virginia Festival of the Book has celebrated books, reading, literacy, and literary culture. With a longstanding focus on accessibility and diversity, Festival programming engages attendees and viewers with new books, on a variety of topics and across genres, and which we hope will prompt discourse, inspiration, and connection. In March 2022, we presented our first hybrid Festival, featuring both online and in person programs that brought writers and readers together.