East Texas Book and Writing Related Events, Conferences, Conventions, Festivals, Bashes, Etc.
Here are some resources recommended by our members. If you have a favorite that isn’t on this list, please use our contact form to share it with us. We will be glad to list anything that would benefit our members. Also, if you discover any broken links, please let us know.
Please Note – These sites are not officially endorsed nor have they been thoroughly researched by ETWG. Please do your own research to determine whether or not a particular resource is right for you or if an event is still being held before you head off to it.
January:
- The International Pulpwood Queen and Timber Guy Book Club Girlfriend Weekend –Virtual.
- Pop-Up Art Show, Cafe U in Mineola every 3rd Saturday. Cafeumineola@gmail.com.
- 3rd Annual East Texas Spoken word Contest, Tyler.
- Fifth Annual Diverse Literary Voices of Texas, TBA
February
March
- Women’s History Month
- Dallas Literary Festival.
- A & A Spring Craft Market, A & A Academy, Mineola. Facebook A & A Academy, aaacademy903@gmail.com, 903-539-1270
- March 16 Freedom of Information Day
- 84th Annual Dogwood Festival at Palestine, Texas. The Dogwood Festival is the longest running dogwood festival in the state of Texas and is held in the charming Historic Downtown and Old Town district of Palestine, Texas. The Festival kicks off the first of three weekends of the Dogwood Celebration with locals and guests celebrating the season of beautiful Dogwood blooms of East Texas. Live music, art, specialty products, food vendors, kids activities and more will fill the city the third weekend in March!!
- Cherokee Craft & Trade Fair, Jacksonville. kimfelt94@icloud.com, 903-268-1598.
- Teen Book Con, TBA
- Tyler Berry Farm Spring Festival, Tyler, tylerberryfarm@gmail.com, 903-526-4440.
April
- National Poetry Month
- E.A.R., “Drop Everything and Read” Month
- April 2: International Children’s Book Day
- Beall Poetry Festival
- Children’s Book Week, and
- National Library Week, TBA
- Bishop Dunne Literary Festival,
- Shakespeare’s birthday, April 23 annually, World Book Day
- Vintage Vibes Spring Flea Market, Lufkin. Heritageantiquesmall@gmail.com, 936-632-0110
- Cedar Creek Lake Festival, Cedar Creek Brewery, Seven Points, 903-432-2337
- ETX Market 2023, downtown Longview. Meeting in the Fall. Will announce dates in April.
- Terrell Jubilee, Terrell, terrelljubilee.com
- North Texas Teen Book Festival, Irving
- Heritage Antique Mall, 9-4 on the corner of 1st and Burke.heritageantiquesmall@gmail.com
- The Rockport Fulton Book Festival. http://www.rfbookfestival.com
- Last Saturday of April, annually – Independent Booksellers Day,
- April 30: Children’s Book Day.
- Avalon Faire (for fantasy writers, maybe, as vendors) Kilgore, TX
May
- Texas Writers Month
- Children’s Book Week
- Texas Institute of Letters Annual Meeting
- Nonfiction Writers Conference – Virtual — https://nonfictionwritersconference.com
- Oklahoma Writers Federation Inc. (OWFI) – Oklahoma City, OK — https://www.owfi.org
- 11th Annual Piney Woods Wine Festival@ Picker’s Pavilion at Blackberry Square 205 Cannery Row Lindale, Texas Live music, arts & crafts vendors, food vendors … and wine! details
June
- LGBTQ Books Month
- June 13: Boas & Tiaras Afternoon Tea & Fresh Fiction Awards, Allen, TBA
- Texas Blueberry Festival @ Nacogdoches, Texas is the only state-sanctioned blueberry festival in Texas, this delicious annual event attracts more than 19,000 people to downtown Nacogdoches on the second Saturday in June. Stay for the week or weekend and fill your calendar with a smorgasbord of activities. Visitors will enjoy live music, blueberry picking, auto exhibits, shopping and restaurant specials that will entertain and delight people of all ages! details
- 38th Annual Tomato Fest @ Jacksonville, Texas. For one week in June, Jacksonville becomes Tomatoville! Five blocks of Vendors, Food, Farmer’s Market, Fried Green Tomatoes, Tomato Eating Contest (celebrity and kids), Tomato Peeling Contest (peel a tomato with your teeth), Tomato Packing Contest, Salsa Contest, Best Homegrown Contest, Live Entertainment, Talent Show, Car Show, Motorcycle Show, Soccer Tournament, Tennis Tournament, History Display, Top Tomato Poster Contest and much more. details
July
- Texas Shakespeare Festival, Kilgore
- WLT Summer Writing Workshop
- Poetry Society of Texas Annual Conference, Fort Worth
- Texas Storytelling Conference, Dallas
August
- Literacy Texas Annual Conference, Irving, TBA
- Delightfully Dirty in Dallas, TBA
- Texas Sports Hall of Fame Book Festival, Waco, TBA
- Tulisoma Book Fair, Dallas, TBA
- North Texas Book Festival, Denton, TBA
September
- Sept. 15–Oct. 15 Hispanic Heritage Month
- East Texas State Fair @ Tyler, Texas details
- Brenham BookFest, TBA
- Langdon ReviewWeekend, Granbury, TBA
- FenCon XVII, TBA
- Lubbock Book Festival, TBA
- Banned Books Week
October
- National Book Month
- LGBTQ History Month
- National Friends of Libraries Week (late October annually)
- Teen Read Week (third week of October annually)
- October 7, 2023 – Longview Wine Festival 2022 Benefitting the East Texas Alzheimer’s Alliance Longview Arboretum Financial contributions and attendance at our event are essential to maintaining our programs and help us to provide caregiver resources. Bring your friends, family, and neighbors (and lawn chairs) to taste various wines from all over Texas and the United States and come see why folks have so much fun! details
- October 18-21, 2023, East Texas Yamboree @ Gilmer, Texas A huge event, since 1935! Livestock show, queen’s gala, coronation, tater trot, photography contests, fiddlers contest, parade, car show and more! details
- October 26-28, 2023, National Black Book Festival,
- October 20-21, 2023, Will Rogers Medallion Awards, Fort Worth,
- North Texas SCBWI Fall Conference, TBD
- Mid Cities Teen Book Fest, North Richland Hills, TBD
- Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference, TBD
- Waco WordFest, TBD
- Buns and Roses Romance Tea for Literacy, Richardson, TBD
- Dallas-Fort Worth Writers Conference, Hurst, TBD
- Writers in the Field, Mansfield, TBD
- Writers League of Texas Meet-up in Tyler, Texas on October 28, 2:00-4:00. https//writersleague.org.
November
- Native American Heritage Month
- National Novel Writing Month
- University Press Week
- Dobie Dichos, Oakville, TBA
- Children’s Book Week, TBA
- League of Romance Writers Fall Conference, TBA
- The Author Encounter Indie Author Day,TBA
- Readers & ‘ritas, Allen, TBA
- Shop Small: Small Business Saturday
December
- December 10 – East Texas Book Bash @ Canton
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For Book and Art Festivals, APRIL COKER has this advice:
“If you haven’t joined the groups East Texas Vendors and East Texas Friends and Events on Facebook, you should check them out, and check them frequently for opportunities to sell your books and other items. Here’s what I found:
- Bergfeld Park in Tyler has events every month.
- Pittsburg has Bleu Hen Events every second Saturday.
- The Piney Woods Market has an event in Rusk February 5.
- Kilgore Artwalk in Kilgore on February 12.
- The Villa Tyler has Ladies Night Out February 25.
- East Texas Auto & Cycle Show, Tyler, March 19.
- Wine and Chocolate in Greenville, April 2.
- The Delta County Fair in Cooper April 9.
- The Southeast Texas Bigfoot Conference will be held in Mineola April 30.
You’ll have to search for their posts on Facebook or Google the event for details. Happy selling!”
Thanks, April!
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From Renee’ La Viness:
I am the founder/organizer of Meet the Publishers!in March, and I am one of the founding organizers and a presenter for Read.Write.Share.in April. I have a more extensive list of area conferences at my website: https://www.reneelaviness.com/links.html.