House of Vans takes over The Mohawk for four days of epic music

The biggest literary event in Texas is coming up again, and readers now have a quick taste of who's going to visiting Austin to attend. The Texas Book Festival, on the calendar for November 14 and 15 downtown, has shared an "early look" at 18 authors who will be presenting at the 2026 festival, which is free to attend.

Guests can expect a schedule of more than 200 author panels, book signings, and activities at the festival, a press release says. Some headliner sessions will require a ticket to attend, but an exhibitor marketplace will anchor the event and make it easy for anyone to engage even if they don't plan ahead.

The 18 artists in the preview are:

• Elizabeth Acevedo, Anger Is Only a Shadow (Young adult fiction)
• Isabel Cañas, The House of Gardenias (Young adult fiction)
• Hernan Diaz, Ply (Adult fiction)
• Kate DiCamillo, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane: Deluxe Collector's Edition (Children’s middle-grade fiction)
• Dave Eggers, Contrapposto (Adult fiction)
• Xochitl Gonzalez, Last Night in Brooklyn (Adult fiction)
• Andrew Sean Greer, Villa Coco (Adult fiction)
• Jasmine Guillory, It's Only Dancing (Young adult fiction)
• John Kanell, Preppy Kitchen Everyday Baking: Because It's Always Time for Dessert (Cookbook)
• Patrick Radden Keefe, London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family's Search for Truth (Adult nonfiction)
• Lyla Sage, Free Falling (Adult fiction)
• Dan Santat, Sashimi and the Field Trip of Doom (Children’s middle-grade fiction)
• Maggie Smith, A Suit or a Suitcase (Adult poetry)
• Aiden Thomas, Cemetery Boys: Espiritu (Young adult fiction)
• Mychal Threets, I'm So Happy You're Here: A Celebration of Library Joy (Children’s picture book, fiction)
• Renée Watson, Everything New Again (Young adult fiction)
• Martha Wells, Platform Decay (Adult fiction)
• Colson Whitehead, Cool Machine (Adult fiction)

All the above authors are notable for the best-selling books and awards. To choose a few standouts, Mychal Threets, a librarian and mental health advocate who is beloved on social media, is the host of the Reading Rainbow reboot; Colson Whitehead is one of the most highly awarded writers on the list, with two Pulitzer Prize for Fiction wins (The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys); Kate DiCamillo has written two practically canonized children's works, Because of Winn-Dixie and The Tale of Despereaux, and John Kanell is well-known for his detailed but calming online cooking community that has amassed more than 9 million follwers.

The first Texas Book Festival was held in 1996. The event has since grown not just to platform authors but to donate more than $3.7 million to public libraries in Texas and schedule year-round programming. This year, the festival launched its own literary fiction imprint and prizes to help more Texas books come to fruition.