12-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times Announces Lineup for the 30th Annual Festival of Books
The Los Angeles Times today revealed the lineup for the 30th annual Festival of Books, taking place April 26-27 at the University of Southern California. The weekend festival will bring together more than 550 writers, experts and storytellers, and hundreds of exhibitors on the university campus.
Participants scheduled to appear include Stacey Abrams, Hannah Berner, Big Sean, Blippi, Matt Bomer, Hannah Brown, Roy Choi, Jon M. Chu, Marcia Clark, Tom Colicchio, Robert Crais, Jason De León, Paige DeSorbo, Maureen Dowd, Griffin Dunne, Percival Everett, Josh Gad, Amanda Gorman, Max Greenfield, Jasmine Guillory, Chelsea Handler, E.A. Hanks, Mamrie Hart, Robyn Hitchcock, Mellody Hobson, Ibram X. Kendi, Rachel Khong, Kristen Kish, TJ Klune, Amanda Knox, Rachel Kushner, Jonathan Lethem, Joanna 'JoJo' Levesque, Jon Lovett, Ivan McCombs, Jim O'Heir, Patrick Renna, Raegan Revord, Krysten Ritter, Veronica Roth, Paul Scheer, Amy L. Schneider, V.E. Schwab, Harry Shum Jr., Jenny Slate, Tika Sumpter, Christina Tosi, Amor Towles, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Wilmer Valderrama, Bruce Vilanch, Gretchen Whitmer, Brooke Williamson, Rebecca Yarros and many more.
The weekend festival will feature:
To kick off the literary weekend, on the evening of Friday, April 25, The Times will host the 45th annual Book Prizes at USC's Bovard Auditorium. The ceremony will honor award-winning author Pico Iyer with the Robert Kirsch Award for lifetime achievement, Amanda Gorman with the Innovator's Award and Emily Witt with the Christopher Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical Prose. The Book Prizes recognize 61 exceptional works in 13 categories, including achievement in audiobook production, presented by Audible. The complete list of finalists and further information, including ticket packages, is available at
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. Tickets for the Ideas Exchange with Amanda Gorman are on sale now; tickets for the conversation with Rebecca Yarros will go on sale Friday, March 14. Individual conversation tickets will be available April 20. Festival news and updates are available on the event website and Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok profiles (#bookfest).
