CALS announces lineup for 2022 Six Bridges Book Festival

The Central Arkansas Library System (CALS) announced Wednesday (Aug. 17) the 2022 Six Bridges Book Festival roster and several additional highlights.

The 19th annual Festival runs October 20-30, featuring more than 60 bestselling and emerging authors in sessions, panels, and special events. This year the Festival will be a combination of virtual and in-person events. Most of the Festival is free, but some events require registration. Participants can access full details at this link.

Six Bridges Book Festival brings authors from around the country and abroad, hailing from 23 states as well as Canada, England, and France. The group represents a wide variety of genres, from graphic novels to true crime, and professions from brigadier general to monk. They include New York Times bestsellers, a Guinness World Record holder, and a Grammy nominee.

“After two years of a mostly virtual Festival, we’ve worked hard to fashion a hybrid event that provides scope, depth, and a ton of fun,” said Festival Coordinator Brad Mooy. He also unveiled the 2022 Festival artwork, created by Phillip Rex Huddleston. The Festival also unveiled a newly redesigned website.

AUTHORS
The 2022 roster includes the previously announced John Waters and Kim Wehle, and the newly announced Ann Patchett, These Precious Days; Kimberla Lawson Roby, Sister Friends Forever; Chris Pavone, Two Nights in Lisbon; Lan Samantha Chang, The Family Chao; Sam Quinones, The Least of Us; Jorge Conrtreas, The Genome Defense; Brooks Blevins, A History of the Ozarks, Vol. 3: The Ozarkers; John A. Kirk, Winthrop Rockefeller: From New Yorker to Arkansawer, 1912-1956; John Hornor Jacobs who will speak about this year’s Classic in Context selection, Stephen King’s The Shining (October 30).

ARTISTS
An art exhibition, Oliver Jeffers: 15 Years of Picturing Books, will be on view at Hillary Rodham Clinton Children’s Library & Learning Center beginning October 20, running through December 29. The exhibition, recently featured at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, features more the 80 pieces of the world-renowned author and illustrator who has sold more than 14 million copies of his work. This exhibition was organized by the National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature in Abilene, Texas, and originally debuted in June 2018 for the 7th Annual Children’s Art and Literacy Festival.

IN-PERSON
Two thirds of this year’s Festival events will be in-person, including Festival favorites Little Readers Rock at Children’s Library & Learning Center (October 22), in partnership with the Junior League of Little Rock, and Pub or Perish at The Library Kitchen + Lounge (October 21), sponsored by the Arkansas Times. The Festival will once again bring authors to area schools with Writers in the Schools (WITS) October 21, 27, and 28, sponsored by Wright, Lindsey & Jennings LLP.

Other events include a rooftop party on the first night of the event at the Main Library (October 20) and the new Six Bridges Market at the River Market pavilions (October 29).

TICKETED EVENTS
Ticketed events include False Negative: An Evening with John Waters (October 22, $30-35); George Michael Reborn, a tribute concert (October 29, $25), in conjunction with George Michael: A Life by James Gavin, and two food-oriented programs, Evolving American South Cooking Workshop: Vishwesh Bhatt (October 29, $15) and Fall Charcuterie Design Workshop: Lauren Thompson (October 29, $15).