Fall for the Book festival celebrates its 25th year this fall

This October, Fall for the Book celebrates their 25th anniversary. The last two-and-a-half decades have brought many changes to Northern Virginia’s oldest book festival, but talented and storied headliners have remained a steadfast part of the festivities. This year is no different.

Atmospheric scientist Katharine Hayhoe will deliver the Beck Environmental Lecture as a festival preview event on Wednesday, October 4, on George Mason University’s Fairfax Campus. She is the author of Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World. Named one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People, Hayhoe has been working in the field for more than 20 years. The Beck Lecture is sponsored by Robert and Lucy Beck.

Award-winning author Nick Hornby will be in conversation with Mason professor Stephen Goodwin at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, October 13, at the Stacy C. Sherwood Community Center in Fairfax. From About a Boy to the cult-classic High Fidelity, Hornby’s books and screenplays have thrilled readers and movie-goers for more than 25 years. Hornby’s career has spanned genres with his trademark blend of humor and unsentimental emotion. His newest book is Dickens and Prince: A Particular Kind of Genius. This event is sponsored by the Fairfax Library Foundation.

Booker Prize-winning author Marlon James will close out the festival on Saturday, October 14, at 7 p.m. on Mason’s Fairfax Campus. James has won high praise for his Dark Star Trilogy, which Entertainment Weekly describes as “drenched in African myth and folklore.” The first book, Black Leopard, Red Wolf was a finalist for the National Book Award and was named one of TIME’s 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time. Now James is back with the second installment, Moon Witch, Spider King, which flips the story on its head, retelling it from the Moon Witch’s perspective—a tale that’s “part adventure tale, part chronicle of an indomitable woman who bows to no man.” This event is sponsored by the George Mason Friends.

The festival will also feature book club favorite W. Bruce Cameron, author of Love, Clancy: Diary a Good Dog and A Dog’s Purpose, and the sixth annual Institute for Immigration Research New American Voices Award Ceremony.

Fall for the Book events are free and open to the public, thanks to the generous support of sponsors including the Mason, Fairfax County Public Library, the Fairfax Library Foundation, and the City of Fairfax. 

The full festival schedule, which runs October 11-14, will be available soon. Visit fallforthebook.org for details.