The New Orleans Book Festival at Tulane University announces full 2023 schedule

The second annual New Orleans Book Festival at Tulane University announced its full schedule and lineup for its 2023 event, which features over 130 renowned and rising authors participating in 78 panels, book signings, a culinary symposium, family day festivities and a musical performance. The three-day celebration of literature and culture takes place March 9-11 on Tulane University's uptown campus and is free and open to the public. Seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Click here to view the complete book festival schedule.

This one-of-a-kind book festival will have a distinct New Orleans flavor with live jazz music, cooking presentations and tastings from local chefs and some of the Crescent City’s most colorful authors and political figures. Lively author discussions, moderated conversations, panel discussions, book sales and at least one major plenary session featuring a leading author will highlight each day.

“The literary line-up, bookended by live jazz, cooking demonstrations from some of the country’s leading chefs and a Family Day for local kids, clearly mark this book festival as a Mardi Gras for the mind that could only happen in New Orleans.”

- President Michael A. Fitts

Among the national bestselling authors participating are Carl Bernstein, James Carville, Maureen Dowd, Bill Gates, Malcolm Gladwell, Eddie S. Glaude, Jr., Annette Gordon-Reed, Maggie Haberman, Nikole Hannah-Jones, Eric Holder, Michael Lewis, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, Jon Meacham, Imani Perry, David Rubenstein, Kara Swisher, Cleo Wade and Darren Walker. Click here for the complete set of authors.

“The literary line-up, bookended by live jazz, cooking demonstrations from some of the country’s leading chefs and a Family Day for local kids, clearly mark this book festival as a Mardi Gras for the mind that could only happen in New Orleans.” Tulane University President Michael A. Fitts said. “Tulane brings the best minds from the broadest range of fields together to solve problems. The New Orleans Book Festival at Tulane University will bring the best literary, culinary and musical minds together to celebrate the joy, beauty and wisdom of the written word.”

The festival will kick off on Thursday, March 9 with a star-studded lineup of three panels, beginning with a lunchtime session with David Rubenstein and Gary Ginsberg. The evening panels will take place in McAlister Auditorium and includes discussions with Eric Holder and Michelle Miller, followed by Bill Gates and festival co-chair Walter Isaacson. Thursday night’s sessions are free and open to the public. However, a ticket is required for entry. Click here to reserve a seat for the double session.

Friday will feature a culinary symposium led by a group of New Orleans’ top chefs, including Kevin Belton, Molly Kimball, Alon Shaya, Susan Spicer and Bryant Terry. The group will participate in roundtable discussions and food tastings.

Family Day will take place from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 11 and will feature children’s and family programming that includes 14 talented and award-winning local and national authors. Fox 8 anchor Kelsey Davis will serve as the emcee for the event. The book festival has partnered with Scholastic, the global children’s publishing, education and media company, for Family Day, which will include a free book giveaway. Family Day is open and accessible to all children of our community and their families. Click here for the Family Day authors.

The Preservation All-Stars will close the book festival with a musical celebration on Saturday afternoon with their famous New Orleans traditional jazz performance.

“We have been looking forward to our 2023 event since we closed out the inaugural book festival a year ago,” festival co-chair Cheryl Landrieu said. “We have purposely designed our offerings with many different genres to book lovers and festival goers of all ages. We’re especially excited about our 14 amazing and talented children’s authors and having Fox 8 anchor Kelsey Davis serve as our emcee. Our goal is to reach the next generation of aspiring writers and leave them with curiosity and a love for reading.”

“Our lineup for the 2023 book festival is filled with many leading authors from around the country, our great city and here on the Tulane campus, where we have a well-known group of acclaimed authors. I believe we have once again met our expectation of bringing a diverse group of prominent authors to our community, where we can all share the love of reading, enjoy three days of captivating discussions and celebrate literacy,” said Isaacson, the Leonard A. Lauder Professor of American History and Values in Tulane’s School of Liberal Arts. 

Author book signings will take place immediately following the conclusion of most panel sessions. Books from the participating authors will be available for purchase in the Barnes & Noble College Bookstore, located inside the LBC, each day from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and in the Hyatt Regency Festival Tent, located on Berger Family Lawn, on Friday, March 10 and Saturday, March 11 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

The official 2023 poster by New Orleans-based artist and bestselling author Alex Beard will be available for purchase in the LBC bookstore, the Alex Beard Studio (3926 Magazine St.) or online here.

All book festival events will take place on Tulane’s uptown campus, including the Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse, the Malkin Sacks Commons, the Lavin-Bernick Center for University Life, McAlister Auditorium, the Navy ROTC Building, the Goldring/Woldenberg Business Complex and the Berger Family Lawn.

For more information on the New Orleans Book Festival at Tulane University, please visit ​www.bookfest.Tulane.edu and follow along on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.