What is a Book Festival Anyways?

Originally written for The Nugget, August 5th, 2025

What is a book festival, anyway? This seems like a question with a pretty straightforward answer, right? When most people think of a book festival, they might picture some vendor booths, stacks of books, and authors reading from their work and giving lectures that lean more than a little bit towards the stuffy and academic. Or maybe they think of something a bit more akin to a book club where you're left out of the fun if you're not familiar with the author or haven't read the book yet. That all sounds a little bit exclusionary or like a good invitation for an afternoon snooze. Sisters Festival of Books, taking place September 12-14, offers something much richer and more dynamic. Yes, hopefully you'll end the weekend with a few new books, but it's not really about finding your next read. In a time when we're often isolated behind screens and looking for connection, Sisters Festival of Books is, at its heart, about discovery - of ideas, voices, and community through storytelling.

You don't need to be a die-hard reader to get something out of it - or really a reader at all. You don't need to have read the books, or even know the names of the authors. The real appeal is hearing from people who've spent years thinking deeply about something - whether that's the housing crisis in Bend, the history of Portland's Shanghai Tunnels, the geology of rockhounding in the Pacific Northwest, or what it's like to work as a wildland firefighter. It's a chance to learn directly from someone who's immersed themselves in a subject, often for deeply personal reasons. These events aren't lectures - they're conversations that unfold in real time, and the tone is more TED Talk than university lecture.

Friday night, September 12, kicks off with a StorySLAM, a community storytelling event where ten people take the stage, one by one, to tell a five-minute, unscripted, true story on the theme "Under the Surface." Some stories are funny, some are painful, and many hit unexpected notes. What they all share is honesty. You never know who's going to be on stage - maybe someone you see in line at the coffee shop or sit next to at school board meetings - but for a few minutes, you're invited into their experience. It's an intimate and powerful way to get to know our own community.

Throughout Saturday and Sunday, the schedule is packed with author readings and discussions. Topics range widely, from memoir to historical fiction, poetry to science. You'll get to hear from many authors who are visiting from around the Western U.S., but there's also strong representation from Central Oregon itself. Sunday's Local Author Extravaganza, for example, spotlights work coming directly from our own community - giving readers a chance to engage with the literary and artistic voices rooted right here. The real draw is the conversation, the exchange of ideas, and the chance to have your curiosity sparked.

For those looking for something more hands on, there's a workshop series with topics ranging from Publishing 101 to Emotional Toolkits for Creatives. All workshops are designed to be welcoming, generative spaces, whether you're an experienced writer or someone who's just curious about starting a creative practice.

What ties the weekend together isn't just literature or books. Whether you're sitting in a room with an author who just cracked open a new part of the world for you, laughing (or crying) at a friend's StorySLAM tale, or discovering a local writer whose voice sticks with you long after the weekend ends - what you're really finding is a sense of community. It's the experience of sharing space with your neighbors, exchanging ideas, and listening to someone share something they've made or lived through.

The weekend is full of opportunities to learn something new, hear unexpected perspectives, and take part in something that feels both expansive and rooted in our community. That's what a book festival is.

For tickets, event details, and a weekend schedule visit sistersfob.org. The weekend is full of opportunities to learn something new, hear unexpected perspectives, and take part in something that feels both expansive and rooted in our community.