We recommend our partner hotels, the deLuxe, Dossier, Lucia, Sentinel, and Heathman, which are all walking distance (half mile or less) from the festival campus in the heart of downtown Portland! Check out our friends at Travel Portland for more ideas, and fill in your weekend with the official PBF Cover to Cover programming.

No. With the exception of the two events at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, your festival wristband admits you to ALL non-Schnitzer festival venues and events. Note that your pass is to the festival itself, which features dozens of events, and does NOT guarantee entry to any individual event.

Please note: ALL attendees must pick up a wristband before entering any festival venue. We recommend you arrive at least thirty minutes prior to the first event you want to attend to visit the box office and pick up your wristband. Purchasing and picking up your pass in advance will speed up this process.

At all venues and all events, entry and seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis; standing in line does not guarantee entry. Rooms will be cleared between sessions, meaning all attendees will be required to exit the venue and will not be permitted to remain in their seats for the next session. If they would like to attend the next session at the same venue they must exit, join the line, and re-enter. No one will be admitted to a full event session unless another attendee leaves that session.

For safety reasons, rooms will be cleared between all events; to attend the next event at the same stage, you will need to exit the venue and re-enter. This policy allows us to keep to the fire code/capacity for each room. We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your understanding.

Yes! Most in-person authors will sign immediately following their on-stage event, unless otherwise noted. Books must be purchased from a festival bookstore in order to be signed, with the exception of one pre-owned book per author.

Why do we restrict pre-owned books? On site book sales are absolutely critical to the success of the festival. By purchasing books at the festival, you support the amazing independent bookstores that partner with us as well as the authors and publishers who travel from near and far to share their work at the festival. Thank you for your support and understanding of this policy.

The festival is delighted to feature satellite bookstores to all festival stages, where attendees can purchase a book and get it signed on site. Authors will sign books immediately following the end of their event. Remember: your $5 voucher is good at any vendor at the book fair!

All books purchased at the festival, through the Powell’s, Broadway Books, Annie Bloom’s, or Green Bean bookstores, or at any of the book fair vendors, support the authors and publishers who travel from near and far to share their work at the festival and the booksellers and vendors who invest time and expense to be at the book fair. Literary Arts asks attendees to respect and follow this policy. Please buy early and often and know you are supporting the sustainability of the festival.

Book dealers are NOT allowed to bring books into the book signing area. Dealers with rolling carts and/or wagons are not allowed on the festival grounds.

Yes! The Portland Book Festival exhibitor fair represents some of the best of Portland, Oregon, and Pacific Northwest plus national publishing, writing, literary culture, academic opportunities, and more. Full-price admission to the festival will grant each attendee a $5 book voucher that they can redeem only at the book fair that day.

Applications for the 2025 Exhibitor Fair will open in the spring of 2025. If you would to be added to our notification list please email festival@literary-arts.org.

Yes! We will have free classes for youth, registration required, and free drop-in classes for adults.

Portland Book Festival writing classes are curated by the Director of Programs for Writers, Susan Moore. If you are interested in teaching at a future festival, send a proposal to susan@literary-arts.org.

There is a hashtag! It is #PDXBookFest, and look for Literary Arts on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

Please send all Portland Book Festival-related press requests to Jyoti Roy at jyoti@literary-arts.org.

Book submissions for this year’s festival closed on June 14, 2024. Titles are considered for inclusion in the event on a rolling basis. Submissions for the 2025 PBF will open in January 2025. View our 2024 guidelines here.

Invitations are issued at the discretion of the senior artistic director, who creates the program well ahead of each festival. Literary Arts receives hundreds of submissions from publicists and authors wishing to present at the festival. Note that the festival focuses on discussion and conversation among writers/artists, and does not include single-author events. Events are interviews or in-conversation style and moderated panel discussions. We welcome your suggestions, but due to the large volume of unsolicited submissions received, Literary Arts is unable to respond to every submission individually or to return materials sent for consideration.

For privacy reasons, we are not able to pass on contact details for authors presenting at the festival. We also cannot pass on messages. The best way to contact our guest authors is through their publisher or agent, or through the contact information on the author’s website.

Inquiries related to corporate sponsorship may be sent to our Senior Director of Development and Community Engagement, Katy Hilton.

Pledge your support to the festival by donating to the Literary Arts general fund through our website and adding “Portland Book Festival” to the order notes. Questions about donating may be sent to our Director of Development, Brandon Lenzi.