Submissions for the 2020 Festival are open from January 7 through June 5, 2020.

Portland Book Festival will take place on Saturday, November 7, 2020 at the Portland Art Museum and neighboring venues. The festival will feature a diverse group of contemporary authors in conversations, panels, and presentations. When evaluating submissions, we consider not only a book’s literary merit but where it might fit in with the other work in the festival lineup.

Books are accepted to the festival from submissions on a rolling basis; we advise sending us your submission the earliest you are able to! 

Please read all of the following information before submitting a book to Literary Arts for consideration for this year’s festival.

To be considered for this year’s festival, please submit or have your publicist submit all of the following:

• Two (2) copies of a finished book/galley/ARC/manuscript (note: electronic submissions will not be considered)
• A press kit (electronic with your submission form and/or printed) with clippings and reviews and an author bio, including past publications when applicable, and any other information that often helps us evaluate the submission
• A cover letter (no more than a page). Please include any additional information if needed regarding travel funding, local connections, or anything else we should know to best evaluate your submission.
• A completed 2020 Festival Submission Form. Please complete either our fillable online form or send us pages 3-4 of this .pdf document. If you fill out the .pdf pages, you may submit them electronically to liz [at] literary-arts [dot] org and/or by mail with your other materials.

Send materials to:
Literary Arts 
ATTN: PORTLAND BOOK FESTIVAL
925 SW Washington Street 
Portland, OR 97205

• Incomplete submissions will not be considered. Please make sure you include all materials. Your submission will not be considered complete until we have received all required materials.
• Literary Arts will accept submissions of books between January 7, 2020 and June 5, 2020 for the 2020 festival, which takes place on Saturday, November 7, 2020. Complete submissions must be received by June 5, 2020.
• To be considered, books must be published in the fifteen months preceding the festival; priority consideration will be given to books published in 2020.
• Books are accepted on a rolling basis. Please send your submission at your earliest convenience.
• Should you be selected to be a part of the festival program, you will hear back no later than September 2020.
• Due to the large number of submissions we receive, we are unable to reply to each inquiry individually.
• Materials will not be returned.
• All authors who are invited to participate will be featured in a panel or conversation session with other authors; the festival will not feature authors for book signings only or for solo presentations/readings.

The festival will consider books in the following genres:

• Art and architecture
• Children’s literature, including middle grade and young adult
• Cookbooks and food writing
• Fiction — all genres
• Narrative nonfiction — history, biography, memoir, and essays
• Poetry

Portland Book Festival focuses on the promotion of literature and literary culture; books on the topics of self-improvement, how-to, or books strictly of academic or religious interest will not be considered.

Self-published titles will only be considered if they meet the following criteria:

• Printed copies can be available for our bookstore(s) to sell.
• The work has been professionally edited and a marketing plan is in place.
• The author maintains an accessible website.

The consideration for self-published titles that meet the above criteria will be the same as traditionally published books, as outlined above. For the 2020 festival, we will not accept self-published titles that exist only in ebook format.

Please complete either our fillable online form or send us pages 3-4 of this .pdf document, AND ALSO send two copies of the book, a press kit, and a cover letter to Literary Arts in order to be considered for the 2020 festival.

If you have any questions, please consult the FAQ first, and if your question is not answered, email the public programs coordinator, Liz Olufson, at liz [at] literary-arts [dot] org.