Virginia Festival of the Book announces 2019 speaker lineup

The Virginia Festival of the Book announced Monday the lineup of speakers for the 2019 Festival, including more than 250 authors, illustrators, and publishing professionals.

Highlights of the Festival, which will be held March 20-24, 2019, include:

• Elliot Ackerman, author of Waiting for Eden, and a past finalist for the National Book Award
• Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, author of Friday Black, a National Book Foundation “5 Under 35” honoree, and a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle’s John Leonard Award for Best First Book
• Laurie Halse Anderson,* a two-time National Book Award finalist and author of SHOUT (forthcoming)
• Raymond Arsenault, one of the nation’s leading civil rights historians and author of Arthur Ashe: A Life, the first comprehensive, authoritative biography of the American icon
• David W. Blight, author of Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedoms, featured as a “Top 10 Book of the Year” for 2018 in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Time
• Tressie McMillan Cottom, author of Lower Ed: The Troubling Rise of For-Profit Colleges in the New Economy and the forthcoming Thick, a Bustle pick for “Books Coming Out In 2019 That Will Make The Perfect Book Club Picks”
• Esi Edugyan, author of Washington Black featured as a “Top 10 Book of the Year” for 2018 in the New York Times, Washington Post, Time, and Entertainment Weekly; recipient ofthe Anisfield-Wolf Book Award and the Scotiabank Giller Prize
• Barbara Ehrenreich,* author of Natural Causes: An Epidemic of Wellness, the Certainty of Dying, and Killing Ourselves to Live Longer and speaker for the Read & Lead Lunch
• Jarrett Krosoczka,* author of Hey, Kiddo, a finalist for the 2018 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, and the 2019 Carol Troxell Reader in the Festival
• Beth Macy, author of Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company That Addicted America, an instant New York Times bestseller that gives voice to the devastating opioid crisis in America
• Brian Noyes, author of Red Truck Bakery Cookbook: Gold-Standard Recipes from America’s Favorite Rural Bakery, described by Garden & Gun as “nostalgic and forward-thinking at the same time”
• Jason Reynolds,* a two-time Walter Dean Myers Award winner and Newbery Award, Printz Award, and National Book Award honoree, and author of Lu, the fourth book in the bestselling Track series
• V.E. Schwab, author of Vengeful, winner of the 2018 Goodreads Choice Award for Science Fiction
• Lisa See,* author of The Island of Sea Women (forthcoming) and speaker for the Literary Luncheon
• Don Winslow,* author of The Border (forthcoming) and speaker for the Crime Wave Brunch

The list of 2019 speakers is available at VaBook.org and searchable by genre (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, children/youth, and crime fiction). The complete 2019 Festival schedule, including times and locations for Festival programs, will be announced on January 14, 2019. *Connotes previously announced speaker.

The Virginia Festival of the Book is proud of its record of accessibility, affordability, and inclusivity. However, while nearly all Festival programs are free and open to the public without reservations, some will require tickets. Tickets for the Read & Lead Lunch with Barbara Ehrenreich, the Literary Lunch with Lisa See, and the Crime Wave Brunch with Don Winslow are currently available at VaBook.org.