Pensacola’s Largest Literary Event Returns
Calling all bookworms and bibliophiles! Pensacola’s Books By the Bay Festival (BBB) is back for its second year of reading, writing and literary entertainment in historic downtown Pensacola.
Hosted by Emerald Coast Writers (ECW), this annual outdoor festival brings authors, readers and book lovers together in an engaging family-friendly atmosphere.
The inaugural BBB Festival was held in 2024, with more than 1,100 authors and literary lovers in attendance. This year, BBB will return to the streets of downtown Pensacola on March 29, bringing a day of literary fun to children and adults of all ages.
BBB will be held in and around Museum Plaza, including the Voices of Pensacola Multicultural Center and the J. Earle Bowden Building in downtown Pensacola.
At the festival, attendees will have a chance to meet numerous notable and best-selling authors, participate in literary exhibitors and author signings, enjoy stage performances and book readings, literary-themed activities and more.
This year’s festival is set to feature nearly 100 authors, more than 40 literary exhibitors and presentations by two award-winning authors.
As a nonprofit organization, BBB is run solely by volunteers and members of ECW. The tremendous success of last year’s BBB event helped put Northwest Florida on the map for book lovers.
“We are on the Writer’s Digest event page for book festivals, and then early on in the year, we got picked up by an online magazine that touted Pensacola as being the fourth top place in the US to go for book lovers, and they talked a lot about our festival being one of the reasons. Then, that got picked up by MSNBC and a few other online venues,” BBB Event Director and ECW President Tonya Dalhaus explained.
Thanks to this publicity, BBB has gained the attention of authors and bookworms from across the country, with some of this year’s authors traveling from places like New Hampshire, Illinois, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Georgia, to name a few.
The main activities at BBB are the readings and the book signings at the Author’s Tent. Throughout the day, attendees will also have a chance to hear readings from 16 notable authors representing a variety of different genres; from Fantasy and Mystery to Non-Fiction and more. Readings will be held from 12:30 to 3 pm in the Voices of Pensacola Multicultural Center. Children’s book readings will also be held at the J. Earle Bowden Building from 1 to 2 pm.
In the Author’s Tent, fans will have the opportunity to meet with some of their favorite or soon-to-be-favorite authors, purchase books and get them signed.
With nearly 100 authors signing books and meeting with fans, the Author’s Tent will host a series of book signings throughout the day, where authors will rotate in and out of the tent every two to four hours. which will rotate every 2 to 4 hours. The full Author’s Tent schedule, including authors and designated time slots, is available on the BBB website at booksbythebay.info.
Authors Julie Cantrell and Paul Sinor will be speaking at the festival. Cantrell is a USA Today and New York Times bestselling author. She writes both fiction and non-fiction and is best known for her debut novel, Into the Free.
Sinor is also an accomplished author, screenwriter, producer and retired US Army Lt. Col.. He has worked as a technical advisor on movies such as I Am Legend, the Transformers series, GI Joe: The Rise of the Cobra and more. Sinor will share his screenwriting expertise with BBB attendees through his “Screenwriting 101” workshop at the festival.
Attendees can also enjoy a variety of other family-friendly activities throughout the day, including performances by the African American Heritage Society Readers’ Ensemble, Pensacola High School’s Drama Club and a haiku slam hosted by Northwest Florida poet laureate, Asia Sampson.
Numerous literary exhibitors will also be set up at the event, offering attendees a chance to shop for new reads, book-lover merchandise and more. Some of this year’s exhibitors include publishers, authors, creators, artists and more. In addition to the literary fun, a number of local food trucks will be on-site dishing up tasty bites to fuel hungry bookworms.
“We also have a collaboration exhibit with Wide Angle Photo Club. We do this event with them called Picture Me a Story, where our writers will present them with different pieces of work that they will have to illustrate with their photography. That will be on display in the Bowden Building,” Dalhaus said.
BBB is a family-friendly event, and there a plenty of activities to keep kids entertained. The Children’s Activity Center, located in the Bowden Building, will offer a variety of engaging activities including arts and crafts, opportunities to read and listen to readings and an activity that teaches kids how to read and perform poetry. BBB has partnered with local nonprofit ReadyKids! to create a bookmark-making station for the children and their families to enjoy.
Whether you’re a bibliophile or a casual reader, BBB is a great opportunity to expand your literary horizons and find something new to read.
“I am so passionate about this organization and the people in it. It’s just a phenomenal organization. Everybody is so hard working, and everybody gives their all. It’s been very refreshing to be working alongside such a tremendous team of people,” Dalhaus said.
BBB runs from 10 am to 4 pm at Museum Plaza, located at 300 S. Tarragona St. in downtown Pensacola. For more information on the festival, visit booksbythebay.info.
To learn more about ECW, visit emeraldcoastwritersinc.org. Follow @BooksByTheBayFestival on Facebook for potential updates.