Book lovers add music to the 5th annual festival

Five best-selling authors (for adults, kids and family) to headline. New this year: a musical guest and a "night market."

Jun 23, 2025

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5th Annual Saratoga Bookfest runs Oct. 2 through 5.

What to Expect at the Saratoga Book Festival:

Keynote Author Presentations Featuring Best-Selling Authors
Readings and Conversations with Authors of Popular Books for All Ages
Panel Discussions on Timely and Compelling Topics
Book Signings
NEW THIS YEAR - Night Marketplace with a Local Author Showcase
KidsZone with Literary-Themed Activities for Children of All Ages

The 2025 5th Annual Saratoga Bookfest headliners:

Chris Bohjalian

Chris Bohjalian is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of twenty-five books, including The Princess of Las Vegas, The Lioness, Hour of the Witch, Midwives, and The Flight Attendant, which was adapted in an Emmy Award winning Max series starring Kaley Cuoco.

Kate DiCamillo & Sophie Blackall

Kate DiCamillo and Sophie Blackall present The Lost Evangeline Saturday, October 4, 2025 – 10:30 am Maple Avenue Middle School.

Sophie Blackall, has illustrated over 50 books for children, including The New York Times best-selling Ivy and Bean series. She is the 2016 Caldecott Medal winner for Finding Winnie, and the 2019 Caldecott Medal winner, Hello Lighthouse, which she also wrote.

Kate DiCamillo’s many books include Because of Winn-Dixie, The Tale of Despereaux and Flora and Ulysses. Lost Evangeline, DiCamillo’s is a magical middle-grade fairy tale about love, loss, and a tiny girl’s brave journey to find her family.

This is a paid session. Details: This SBF family headline event is presented with Northshire Bookstore. Click here to purchase tickets.

Amity Gaige

Amity Gaige is the author of five novels, O My Darling, The Folded World, Schroder, Sea Wife and, most recently, Heartwood, a best-seller. It was selected by Jenna Bush Hager of “The Today Show” as her April Read With Jenna Book Club pick. She is a professor of creative writing at Yale University.

Ruth Reichl

Ruth Reichl’s most recent book, The Paris Novel, is a testament to living deliciously, taking chances, and finding your true home. The writer and critic is The New York Times bestselling author of five memoirs, another novel Delicious!, and the cookbook My Kitchen Year. The former editor in chief of Gourmet magazine has served as restaurant critic for the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times. She has won the James Beard Lifetime Achievement Award.

This is a paid session. Details: SBF presents The Paris Novel: A Conversation with Ruth Reichl Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025, 11 a.m. Universal Preservation Hall. Click here to purchase tickets.

Béla Fleck, Edmar Castañeda, and Antonio Sánchez

The Saratoga Bookfest will start the four-day festival with music and storytelling as the genre-bending trio of Béla Fleck, Edmar Castañeda, and Antonio Sánchez take the stage in UPH’s Great Hall. Together, they create a genre-bending tapestry of music that is as virtuosic as it is unexpected — a bold blend of jazz, classical, Latin, and world rhythms that defies categorization.

Fleck is the 19-time Grammy-winning banjoist whose work spans bluegrass to classical concertos with a discography that includes Rhapsody in Blue, My Bluegrass Heart, and the Grammy-winning Remembrance.

Castañeda has turned jazz harp into a lead voice in modern jazz. Castañeda has collaborated with Wynton Marsalis, John Scofield, and Paco De Lucía, among others.

Sánchez Sánchezis a powerhouse of rhythmic innovation. He has worked with Pat Metheny. His work on the Oscar-winning film Birdman won him a Golden Globe-nomination for the film score. His latest album, SHIFT, features collaborations with Dave Matthews, Trent Reznor, and Meshell Ndegeocello.

This is a paid session. Details: SBF & UPH present the trio Thursday, Oct. 2, 2025, 7:30 p.m. Universal Preservation Hall. Click here to purchase tickets.

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