Nantucket Book Festival

Join us for the Nantucket Book Festival Discover A Weekend Of Literary Wonder.

The Nantucket Book Festival is an annual celebration of the literary arts that brings together authors, book lovers, and storytellers. For one exciting weekend each June, the island of Nantucket transforms into a book lover's paradise, featuring a captivating lineup of author readings, panel discussions, writing workshops, and book signings..

Festival Schedule

Sunday, June 16

Rob Benchley & Jim Patrick with John Stanton

10:00AM - 10:45AM, Atheneum Great Hall

Travel back to the way Nantucket was twenty-five years ago, as writer Jim Patrick and photographer Rob Benchley chronicled the scallop harvest in their beloved book Scallop Season. Scallop Season captures the hearty spirit of those who earn their living in the last surviving wild bay scallop fishery on the East Coast. Editor of Nantucket Today, John Stanton, will be on-hand to lead the conversation.

Christy Cashman with Jane Seymour

11:00AM - 11:45AM, Dreamland

Celebrate The Truth About Horses with the help of author, actress and producer Christy Cashman in conversation with multiple Emmy and Golden Globe winning actress Jane Seymour. The two will unpack the deeper themes of Christy's novel, the relationship between humans and horses, trauma, grief, magical realism, plus Jane's upcoming movie adaption of the book.

Safiya Sinclair with Mary Haft

12:00PM - 12:45PM, Dreamland

How to Say Babylon

Celebrated poet Safiya Sinclair’s new memoir, How to Say Babylon, is winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award in Autobiography, a finalist the Kirkus Prize, and is long-listed for the Women’s Prize in Non-Fiction. How to Say Babylon tells the story of Safiya’s upbringing under her strict Rastafarian father in Montego Bay, Jamaica. Her memoir will undoubtedly resonate with many Nantucketers who have roots in Jamaican culture and with all readers on a journey of reckoning with their own family story. Safiya will be joined in conversation with Co-Founder of the Nantucket Book Foundation and Board member, writer & producer, Mary Haft.

Festival Send-Off Celebration

2:00PM - 4PM, Cisco Brewers

Gather at Cisco Brewers on our final day of the Festival for great food, music, and conversation for readers and writers alike. Attendees may choose from delicious options for lunch, plus drinks by Cisco Brewers, Triple 8, and Nantucket Vineyards.

Shuttle available from the Visitors Services on Federal Street. No tickets required; pay for your own food and drinks.

Click here for register

Date: June 13 - 16, 2024