- 49 Henry Street, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
2026 Festival Sessions
Announcing the 2026 Saratoga Book Festival Schedule
Click on the image below to download the Schedule-at-a-Glance PDF.
SBF 2026 Session Details
Thursday, October 1
7:00pm – 8:30am: Keynote (TICKETS REQUIRED)
The Saratoga Book Festival and Northshire Bookstore welcome comedian, actor, author and singer-songwriter, Eric Idle, to Saratoga for his new memoir, Idle in Provence: A Brief History of Thyme. Thursday, Oct. 1 at Universal Preservation Hall. Idle in Provence follows Eric’s purchase of a ramshackle property in the south of France, just two years after the launch of Monty Python’s Flying Circus. Both hilarious and tender, we follow Eric on a tale spanning fifty years, seeking his own slice of the simple life.
Tickets Required. Check HERE for availability.
Friday, October 2
6:00pm – 9:00pm: SBF’s Literary Night Market and Local Author Showcase (Universal Preservation Hall)
Even book festivals have a pre-game! Join us at the Saratoga Book Festival’s Literary Night Market, where you can enjoy live music, light bites, and a cash bar all while mingling with 70+ local authors,and literary-themed vendors. We may be biased but we think it’s much more fun than a tailgate.
Saturday, October 3
9:30am — 11:00am
Saratoga Poet Laureate Jay Rogoff and Poet Marilyn McCabe share revision approaches to suggest various ways of improving poems.
10:00am – 11:00am
Chris Bohjalian, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Midwives and The Flight Attendant talks about his latest blockbuster hit The Amateur with Joe Donahue, host of WAMC’s The Book Show and Round Table.
11:30am – 12:30pm
Julia Alvarez is the author of numerous works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, including How the García Girls Lost Their Accents, and In the Time of the Butterflies, which was selected by the National Endowment for the Arts for its Big Read program. She was the subject of an American Masters documentary, Julia Alvarez: A Life Reimagined, on PBS and was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Barack Obama. Alvarez will speak with Rachel Person, Director of Events at Northshire Bookstore, about Visitations, her first poetry collection in more than twenty years, her newest book In the Time of the Butterflies: The Graphic Novel, and her career as writer, poet, and teacher.
Join bestselling authors Mai Corland and Lauren Blackwood for tea and biscuits as they chat about their new fantasy/romance novels Verity Guild (Corland) and The Queen’s Bodyguard (Blackwood) with Caitlin Sheldon, Fantasy Maven and SSPL Librarian.
1:00pm – 2:00pm
Award-winning Author Francine Prose talks about Five Weeks in the Country, her new immersive historical novel inspired by the strange friendship between Charles Dickens and Hans Christian Andersen and set during the summer when Dickens’s family life exploded. Moderated by Halimah Marcus, founding Executive Director of Electric Literature and Editor of Horse Girls.
Authors Kate Fagan (The Three Lives of Cate Kay), Kim Van Alkemade (Upstate) & Kayla Rae Whitaker (Returns and Exchanges) discuss fictional women who leave their old lives behind to live and love authentically. Beck Krefting moderates.
Host and Moderator Trevor Oakley leads a stellar horror panel, including Clay McLeod Chapman (Devil Inside), Paul Tremblay (Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep), Christoph Paul (The Last House on Earth) & Saratoga Schaefer (Trad Wife) to talk about new books from some of the most innovative writers of this popular genre.
2:30pm – 3:30pm
Bestselling author and Yaddo artist John Searles dishes about Single Girls, his charming fictionalization of the iconic Helen Gurley Brown’s early years at the helm of Cosmopolitan magazine in a book chat with fellow Yaddo alumnus Jonathan Santlofer. Santofer is the author of several nonfiction works and literary thrillers. His latest, Ten Perfect Guests, is a new locked-room psychological thriller about ten people trapped on a secluded tropical island for a weekend memorial that includes a vengeful killer.
Christine Kuehn has written a propulsive, never-before-told story of one family’s shocking involvement as Nazi and Japanese spies during WWII and the pivotal role they played in the bombing of Pearl Harbor. She is joined by husband Mark Schiponi in this session moderated by Matt Witten.
Two new speculative fiction novels from Isabel J. Kim & Yume Kitasei take on timely issues: emigration and climate change. Moderated by Author Robert Repino.
4:00pm – 5:00pm
Bestselling authors Ashley Winstead and Nic DiDomizio dish at a Crime Fiction Happy Hour with Abby Tegnelia about their latest novels. Hot Girl Murder Club, by Winstead is a buzzy, bloody new thriller about success, sisterhood, and demanding justice…by any means necessary. Nicolas DiDomizio is the author of the instant USA TODAY bestseller A Murder Most Camp, a fun, twisty mystery following a spoiled nepo baby forced to work at a struggling summer camp who stumbles into a real-life murder mystery he has no choice but to solve.
Sigrid Nunez, the New York Times bestselling, National Book Award-winning author of The Friend and Mark Mayer, author of About, Above, Around: 50 Prepositions read from their new collections of stories and discuss the short story form with Robert Boyers of the New York State Summer Writers Institute.
Darkly funny and moving Vladimir, by Julia May Jonas, explores issues of sex, gender, power, and desire from its own unique perspective. Now a major Netflix series starring Leo Woodall and Rachel Weisz. Local author Kim van Alkemade interviews Jonas, a former Skidmore faculty member.
7:00pm – 8:30pm
NYT Journalist and Author Jim Windolf (Where the Music Had to Go) dives into the surprisingly supportive, occasionally rivalrous, and always fertile relationship between Bob Dylan and the Beatles in an interview with Paul Bogaards followed by a listening session with The Rochmon Club’s Chuck Vosganian.
Sunday, October 4
10:00am — 11:00am
Join award-winning journalist, bestselling author, and longtime Good Morning America host Joan Lunden for a conversation about her newest book, Joan: Life Beyond the Script. Joan will be interviewed by three-time Emmy Award-winning broadcast journalist and author Julie Chapman.
Reservations Suggested. Click HERE to register for this free session.
Chandi Deitmer, Kate Hawkins & EricaWojcik provide tips and the inside scoop about creating and solving great puzzles. Led by Saratoga Living’s Natalie Moore.
11:30am — 12:30pm
Jennifer Iacopelli, bestselling author of Finding Her Edge―now streaming on Netflix–will talk about her latest book Wild Card, a sports rom-com filled with friendship, rivalries, and drama. She is joined by Elizabeth Everett, USA Today bestselling author of two critically acclaimed historical romance series. Her newest book Magic & Mischief at the Wayside Hotel is set in Upstate New York. The panel moderator is Donna Marchetti, author of the bestselling Hate Mail, and The Proposal Project.
Two masters of murder and mystery, Ashley Winstead & Jonathan Santlofer, talk about their new books and what draws them to write about the dark side. Author Joshilyn Jackson moderates.
1:00pm – 4:00pm: KidZone (The Children's Museum at Saratoga)
Over 25 local children’s authors and publishers.
The Saratoga Book Festival KidZone is a book event designed for kids and their families and offers a chance for children’s authors to meet young readers in a fun setting. In addition to meeting many wonderful authors, there will be special exhibitors to entertain and enhance this book showcasing experience!
Vendor Highlights: Magic Matt Entertainment, Ben & Jerry’s, Saratoga Springs Publishing, The Dark Horse Mercantile, and more.
1:00pm — 2:00pm
A discussion with Culinary Historian Nancy Siegel about Political Appetites, the book that inspired the WMHT Public Media original documentary, Feeding the American Revolution. Siegel uncovers foods that could signify whether your neighbor was Loyalist or Patriot in a wide-ranging talk with Saratoga County Historian Lauren Roberts.
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Joshilyn Jackson writes page-turning domestic suspense novels that revolve around timely women’s issues. She talks about Missing Sister, her new page-turner, with the two-time Emmy nominated TV writer, novelist, and playwright Matt Witten. Witten’s new book, 51%, is a speculative thriller; NBC has already hired him to cowrite a TV pilot adaptation.
Award-winning author Cara Benson (An Armsfull of Birds) and Journalist, Public Opinion Survey Researcher, Demographer, and Media Reformer Paul Taylor (This Is Getting Old: Two Boomers and Their Generation at Dusk) discuss their new memoirs with Author Patricia A. Nugent (They Live On: Saying Goodbye to Mom and Dad).
2:30pm — 3:30pm
Cofounder of the “Ministry of Pop Culture,” bestselling author Jennifer Keishin Armstrong joins Ellen Beal on stage to talk about the feel good comedy that inspired a vision for a better America.
If you’ve the urge to get your novel, non-fiction, poetry, or memoir into book form, the “I Could Write a Book” panel is perfect for you. Three successful authors reveal the do’s and don’ts of the process, providing concrete examples on fashioning your idea into a sellable, finished product. Options for editing, proofing, cover art, book production, marketing, public relations and sales will all be covered. Don’t miss this one.
4:00pm — 5:00pm
Poets Carol Graser, Elaine Handley, and Lucyna Prostko read from their new poetry collections. Hosted by Saratoga Poet Laureate Jay Rogoff.
