Friday, May 15 to Sunday, May 17
Santa Fe Community Convention Center • 201 W Marcy Street • Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501
2026 Festival Schedule
Friday, May 15
5:00—6:00 P.M.
Opening Night Reception
Please join us in the Convention Center courtyard for complimentary drinks at our pop-up bar hosted by Tumbleroot Brewery & Distillery. There will also be live music by Santa Fe folk favorites John Francis and the Poor Clares. Free to all.
6:30—8:oo P.M.
Isabel Wilkerson Presentation and Conversation with Jonah Willihnganz
Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Warmth of Other Suns and Caste, considered modern classics of narrative nonfiction
Saturday, May 16
7:30—8:30 A.M.
Roshi Joan Halifax – Morning Meditation and Author Talk
Buddhist teacher and social and environmental activist
9:00—10:00 A.M.
Carl Hiaasen in Conversation with Kathleen McCleery
Pulitzer Prize finalist and bestselling author of Fever Beach, Strip Tease, Bad Monkey, and other savagely funny novels about people behaving badly
11:00 A.M.—12:00 P.M.
Alison Bechdel in Conversation with Mira Jacob
Cartoonist and author of the bestselling graphic memoir Fun Home and the comic, quasi-autobiographical novel Spent
12:00—1:00 P.M.
Lunch Break
Bring your own lunch or visit three food trucks by the courtyard. Coffee and pastries are available from the Wolf & Mermaid pop-up at the entrance and the Odd Box Coffee cart in the courtyard. Live music by John Francis and the Poor Clares. Free to all.
1:00—2:00 P.M.
Jason De León in Conversation
with Hakim Bellamy
National Book Award–winning author of Soldiers and Kings, about his time spent embedded with smugglers guiding migrants across the U.S.–Mexico border
1:00—2:00 P.M.
PAGE-TO-SCREEN PANEL
One Story, Many Takes: How Do Books Get Adapted? with Kirk Ellis, DezBaa', Craig Johnson, and Danny Rubin
Emmy Award–winning screenwriter Kirk Ellis (John Adams) explores the ups, downs, ins, and outs of adapting books from print to screen with DezBaa' (Dark Winds), Craig Johnson (Longmire), and Danny Rubin (Groundhog Day)
2:30—3:30 P.M.
Priyanka Kumar in Conversation with Laura Paskus
Naturalist, filmmaker, and acclaimed author of Conversations with Birds and The Light Between Apple Trees
2:30—3:30 P.M.
Liz Moore in Conversation with Sarah Weinman
Bestselling author of the hit thriller The God of the Woods and the searing crime mystery Long Bright River
Also at 2:30—3:30 P.M.
Walk & Talk
Georgia O’Keeffe Museum
Walk to the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, where the museum librarian will share insights into O’Keeffe’s many and varied literary interests, and take a self-guided tour of the collection
Spirits Tasting
Sazón
Walk to nearby Sazón restaurant and join Chef Fernando Olea for an adventure into the spirits of Mexico with a flight of five mezcals, two sangrítas, and Olea’s famous moles
4:00—5:00 P.M.
Ada Limón in Conversation with Jake Skeets
Former U.S. poet laureate, National Book Critics Circle Award winner, and National Book Award finalist
4:00—5:00 P.M.
Kiese Laymon in Conversation with Mira Jacob
Bestselling novelist, essayist, and author of the poignantly honest and frequently comical memoir Heavy
Also at 4:00—5:00 P.M.
Tasting
Kakawa Chocolate Immersion
Kakawa Chocolate House owner Bonnie Bennett will share Colonial American and Mexican chocolate history and recipes while you sample some of the many offerings
Walk & Talk
Willa Cather’s Santa Fe
Explore Willa Cather’s Santa Fe and the inspiration behind her book Death Comes for the Archbishop with author, tour guide, and historian Garrett Peck.
5:00—6:00 P.M.
Saturday Night Reception
Please join us in the Convention Center courtyard for complimentary drinks at our pop-up bar hosted by Tumbleroot Brewery & Distillery. There will also be live music by Santa Fe folk favorites John Francis and the Poor Clares. Free to all.
6:30—8:00 P.M.
Ocean Vuong in Conversation with Rebecca Solnit
National Book Award finalist and bestselling author of On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous and The Emperor of Gladness
Sun, May 17, 2026
7:30—8:30 A.M.
Henry Shukman – Morning Meditation and Author Talk
Zen master, poet, and award-winning author of the memoir One Blade of Grass
9:00—10:15 a.m.
James McBride in Conversation with JJ Amaworo Wilson
National Book Award–winning author of The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, The Good Lord Bird, and the acclaimed memoir The Color of Water
10:30 a.m.—12:00 p.m.
FREE POETRY PANEL
Ensnaring the Moment: A Discussion with Leah Ollman, Rick Barot, Ama Codjoe
Acclaimed poets Rick Barot and Ama Codjoe join editor Leah Ollman to discuss the anthology Ensnaring the Moment, which features the work of more than one hundred legendary poets, from Elizabeth Bishop to W.S. Merwin
11:00 a.m.—12:00 P.M.
Colm Tóibín in Conversation with Scott Simon
Booker Prize finalist and bestselling author of Brooklyn, Nora Webster, Long Island, and other quietly exquisite novels
12:00—1:00 p.m.
Lunch Break
Bring your own lunch or visit three food trucks by the courtyard. Coffee and pastries are available from the Wolf & Mermaid pop-up at the entrance and the Odd Box Coffee cart in the courtyard. Live music by John Francis and Poor Clares. Free to all.
1:00—2:00 p.m.
ENVIRONMENTAL PANEL
Killing Us Slowly: A Conversation with Caroline Fraser, Mariah Blake, and Laura Paskus
The authors of Murderland and They Poisoned the World join environmental reporter Laura Paskus to examine how industrial pollution has harmed our health, the natural world, and may have shaped the minds of notorious serial killers.
1:00—2:00 p.m.
George Saunders in Conversation with Jonah Willihnganz
Booker Prize winner, National Book Award finalist, and author of Lincoln in the Bardo, Tenth of December, and the forthcoming novel Vigil
2:30—3:30 p.m.
Lauren Groff in Conversation with Marin Sardy
National Book Award finalist and New York Times bestselling author of Fates and Furies, Matrix, The Vaster Wilds, and the forthcoming story collection Brawler
2:30—3:30 p.m.
Wade Davis in conversation with Georgina Godwin
Anthropologist, ethnobotanist, filmmaker, and bestselling author of the cult classic The Serpent and the Rainbow
also at 2:30–3:30 P.M.
Walk & Talk
Georgia O’Keeffe Museum
Walk to the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, where the museum librarian will share insights into O’Keeffe’s many and varied literary interests and take a self-guided tour of the collection.
Walk & Talk
Downtown Santa Fe Wonder Walk
Wander through Santa Fe’s storied cityscape with Barbara Groth of the Nomadic School of Wonder and experience the art of sensory noticing—using the natural world as a creative muse.
4:00—5:00 p.m.
Brandon Hobson in Conversation with Deborah Jackson Taffa
National Book Award finalist and author of the novels Where the Dead Sit Talking, The Removed, and The Devil Is a Southpaw
4:00—5:00 p.m.
Rebecca Solnit
Writer, activist, and bestselling author of Orwell’s Roses, Men Explain Things to Me, and the memoir Recollections of My Nonexistence
also at 4:00–5:00 P.M.
spirits tasting
Spirits Tasting at the Los Poblanos Farm Shop Norte and Author Talk with Cheryl Alters Jamison
Raise a glass of botanical spirits with food expert and four-time James Beard Award-winning cookbook author Cheryl Alters Jamison at Los Poblanos Farm Shop Norte. Enjoy specialty gin tastings and small bites.
Walk & Talk
Willa Cather’s Santa Fe
Explore Willa Cather’s Santa Fe and the inspiration behind her book Death Comes for the Archbishop with author, tour guide, and historian Garrett Peck.
5:00—6:00 p.m.
Farewell Reception
Please join us in the Convention Center courtyard for complimentary drinks at our pop-up bar hosted by Tumbleroot Brewery & Distillery. There will also be live music by Santa Fe folk favorites John Francis and the Poor Clares. Free to all.
6:30—8:00 p.m.
Judy Blume in Conversation with Scott Simon
Legendary author of Forever, Tiger Eyes, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, and other books that got us through young adulthood