Los Angeles Times Announces Slate of Talent for 29th Annual Festival of Books

The Los Angeles Times today announced the lineup for the 29th annual Festival of Books, to be held April 20-21 at the University of Southern California. The weekend festival will bring together more than 550 writers, experts and storytellers, and hundreds of exhibitors to the 226-acre campus.

Participants scheduled to appear include Hanif Abdurraqib, Kaveh Akbar, José Andrés, Maria Bamford, Lance Bass, Ed Begley Jr., Blippi, Allison Holker Boss, Hannah Brown, Sophia Bush, Sarah Cooper, S.A. Cosby, the CrunchBros, John Densmore, Radhi Devlukia, Tananarive Due, Jon Favreau, Jing Gao, Lauren Graham, John Green, Max Greenfield, Taylor Hackford, Tiffany Haddish, Tamron Hall, Mark Harmon, Gilbert & Jaime Hernandez, Joe Ide, George M. Johnson, Miranda July, Hayley Kiyoko, Ron Kovic, Eriq La Salle, Christina Lauren, Jonathan Lethem, Lois Lowry, Ariana Madix, Jenny Martinez, Walter Mosley, Mythical Kitchen, Maggie Nelson, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Michele Norris, Todd Parr, QCP, Ronda Rousey, RuPaul, Dan Santat, John Scalzi, Lisa See, Jay Shetty, Nancy Silverton, Jane Smiley, Phillipa Soo, Octavia Spencer, George Stephanopoulos, Amber & Russ Tamblyn, Tiffani Thiessen, Tinx, Héctor Tobar, Justin Torres, Abraham Verghese, Tommy Vietor, Kerry Washington, Henry Winkler, Zev Yaroslavsky and Ed Zwick, with more to be announced in the coming weeks.

Weekend highlights include:

• Two special installments of the Ideas Exchange speaker series: RuPaul discussing his highly-anticipated memoir “The House of Hidden Meanings” on Saturday, April 20; and José Andrés discussing his new cookbook “Zaytinya” on Sunday, April 21.
• An L.A. Times Book Club event featuring Abraham Verghese, author of “The Covenant of Water.”
• A screening of “Turtles All the Way Down,” a film debuting on Max this spring and based on the novel of the same name, followed by a discussion with author and executive producer John Green, director Hannah Marks, and actors Isabela Merced, Cree and Felix Mallard.
• A discussion with “Pod Save America” hosts Jon Favreau and Tommy Vietor on the 2024 campaign and their book “Democracy or Else: How to Save America in 10 Easy Steps.”
• Seven outdoor stages and activity areas: L.A. Times Main Stage, Latinidad Stage, Children’s Stage, Poetry Stage, USC Stage, YA Stage and the return of the Cooking Stage featuring celebrity chefs Nancy Silverton, QCP and Tiffani Thiessen, among others.
• Celebrity authors, family-friendly entertainment, Spanish-language programming, interactive games and exhibits.
• Expert panels on a variety of topics ranging from AI and wellness to politics and pop culture.
• More than 300 exhibitors with book signings, merchandise for sale, activities and giveaways.
• Live music, food trucks and more.

To kick off the literary weekend, on the evening of Friday, April 19, The Times will host the 44th annual Book Prizes at USC’s Bovard Auditorium. The ceremony will honor Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jane Smiley with the Robert Kirsch Award for lifetime achievement and Access Books with the Innovator’s Award and will recognize outstanding literary achievements in 13 categories, including the new prize for achievement in audiobook production. The complete list of finalists and further information, including ticket packages, is available at latimes.com/BookPrizes.

The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books is presented in association with USC. General admission to the festival is free. Friend of the Festival packages (advance ticket packages), which include reservations for indoor conversations, weekend parking and festival merchandise are available for purchase now. Individual conversation tickets will be available April 14. Festival news and updates are available on the event website and Facebook, Twitter and Instagram profiles (#bookfest).