In April, Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association (PNBA) will hold its 2026 Spring Pop-up in Edmonds, Washington. Booksellers can expect information on new titles from authors and publisher reps. Experts will lead educational sessions.
All events take place at Edmonds’ Plaza Room, the Edmonds Library, and PNBA member co-host Edmonds Bookshop. A preliminary schedule and registration information can be found at https://www.pnba.org/spring-pop-up.html.
The 2026 Spring Pop-Up will take place April 14 and 15, 2026.
Holding an event in 2026 of interest to independent bookstores, authors, and publishers? Submit your news to Book Publishers Northwest News via our contact form: https://bookpublishersnw.com/contact/
We also welcome information on publishing in the Pacific Northwest.
The Seattle Art Book Fair (SABF) returns May 10 and 11, 2025, to Washington Hall. This free festival features artists and their books, book design, and independent publishing. This year’s fair will include more than 85 exhibitors, classes and presentations, and book-inspired art on display.
SABF defines art books, also known as artist books, as creations which use the medium of publishing or manufacturing a book as an artistic practice. Volumes seen at SABF can be handmade, offset-printed, letterpressed, photocopied, screen printed, or risographed.
The event celebrates creativity on many levels, with artists and their books using narrative, poetry, photography, and illustration to convey their message. Talks, activities, and installations from members of the arts community will take place throughout the weekend. A “launch party” will be held on Friday, May 9. To learn more, check SABF’s website at https://www.seattleartbookfair.org/ (home page of website shown below).
SABF is held at Washington Hall, 153 14th Avenue, in Seattle.
Book Publishers Northwest News is an indie news site devoted to the publishing scene in the Pacific Northwest. We welcome story suggestions! Use the contact form on the website https://bookpublishersnw.com/contact/.
Bainbridge Island Museum of Art’s (BIMA) popular DogEar Festival returns to the island on April 4-6, 2025. Celebrating all things related to the unique art forms of Artists’ Books and printmaking, this immersive three-day event brings together artists, community, curators, scholars, and creatives for lectures, hands-on printmaking, a whimsical Edible Book “Chompetition,” a pop-up print market, a concert with the Bushwick Book Club, and more.
Alongside this year’s festival, BIMA’s current Artists’ Books exhibition, Power of the Presses, examines the creative potency of printing as a hallowed art form.
Events at DogEar include a lecture on Lushootseed alphabet. Power of the Presses offers more events at the museum before and after DogEar Festival.
DogEar festivalgoers can try hands-on art projects, enjoy live music, learn more about bookmaking as an art, and take home broadsides, posters, and zines by talented regional artists and printmakers.
The DogEar Festival is held at BIMA, located at 550 Winslow Way E, Bainbridge Island, WA. The festival starts at 5 pm to 8 pm on Friday, April 4, and runs 10 am to 5 pm on Saturday and Sunday, April 5 and 6. DogEar offers a variety of activities for all ages. With the exception of the concert on Friday night, all activities, exhibitions, and presentations are free. Learn more at www.biartmuseum.org/events/dogear-festival-2025/.
Visitors can print their own memorabilia or visit Saint Rita’s traveling bookstore during the DogEar Festival.
Start marking the calendar with conferences and book fairs of interest to indie authors and publishers.
IBPA Publishing University: This year’s three-day conference will take place May 15–17, 2025 at the Intercontinental Saint Paul Riverfront in Saint Paul, MN. It will feature hands-on sessions, workshops, and other educational opportunities for independent, hybrid, and author publishers, as well as university and association presses. The Independent Book Publishers Association is in the process of finalizing the schedule. To find out more, check https://www.publishinguniversity.org/.
U.S. Book Show: Formerly known as Book Expo America (BEA), this conference takes place in May 2025. No details posted yet on the website but sign up for further information at https://usbookshow.com/.
Looking to sell books at book fairs? Connect with readers? Here’s a few ideas for the Pacific Northwest:
Get Lit! Festival, April 10-13, 2025; Spokane, Washington. The state’s “longest-running annual literary festival” (as per organizers) offers four days of readings, writing workshops, craft classes, panel discussions, literary happy hours, virtual events, and a book fair. Find more information at https://inside.ewu.edu/getlit/.
Worldcon 2025, August 13-17, 2025; Seattle, Washington. A giant international science fiction and fantasy convention that shifts cities every year, Worldcon is coming to Seattle. Applications for dealer tables and for author participation in panels are currently being accepted at https://seattlein2025.org/.
We’ll be adding information on other book festivals and conferences as these become available. Staging an event of interest to indie authors and publishers? Send us the information at bpnwnews at aol.com.
Literary Arts is celebrating a decade of producing a successful book festival in Portland, OR. This year’s Portland Book Festival, presented by Wells Fargo, returns Saturday, November 2 to ten stages at six partner venues in downtown Portland’s south Park Blocks. More than 100 authors and interviewers, drop-in writing workshops, pop-up readings, a book fair, and local food trucks return for this 10th annual celebration of books and stories.
Tickets range from $5 to $18 for a general pass. Some author readings require additional tickets. Veterans and youth passes are available for free. Some passes also include a $5 voucher for purchase of books.
Literary Arts offers readers an exclusive peek of the Portland Book Fair on the evening of November 1 including complimentary drinks and hors d’oeuvres. Supporters get early access to the many book sellers and vendors. The Readers Night is an all ages welcome event. The event takes place from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm at the Portland Art Museum’s Mark Building. Tickets are $75.
Seattle City of Literature started a calendar in February “to celebrate the people and organizations that make Seattle a UNESCO designated City of Literature.” Organizations are encouraged to contribute information on “all literary adjacent events open to the public — readings, workshops, open mics, comics classes, discussions, lectures, youth programs, book clubs, residency deadlines, festivals, talks, plays — anything you might dream up that’s “literary” in the loosest sense,” according to the announcement.
Seattle City of Literature aims to email a biweekly digest of all the literary events listed to their subscribers.
“The calendar will also serve as an important way to benchmark the health of our literary community and track all of the events that are happening every year,” said José L. Montero, President of the Board, Seattle City of Literature.
The UNESCO Cities of Literature network of 53 cities represents 6 continents and 39 countries, and a combined population of over 26 million. Seattle received its designation in 2017.
Map of the current Cities of Literature from the UNESCO press kit about the program.
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