The Birth of a Book Festival

Around 2021, as Carroll County was emerging from the pandemic, a small group of local organizations began talking about bringing a large-scale literary event to the community.

"We wanted to do something that was similar to what the Library of Congress does or the Gaithersburg Book Festival," said Lisa Picker, Director of Communications for the Carroll County Public Library.

Five years later, that conversation has become the Carroll Book Festival, set for Saturday, September 19, 2026, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Carroll County Farm Museum, with free admission for all ages.

Nothing like it existed in Carroll County when the idea first came up, and the book festival idea sat for a few years before it became a formal project.

Everyone involved knew the scale of the lift. An event pulling in over 100 authors, multiple stages, and thousands of attendees does not get built in a few months.

"We quickly engaged some of our partners in the community and formed a committee,” Picker said. “We knew we would have a heavy lift and we would need a lot of partnership and support for it."

Picker says the committee comprises staff from the Carroll County Public Library, Park Books on Main, Penguin Random House, Carroll County Economic Development, Last Word Bookstore, and the "Two Sides to the Story" podcast.

Formal planning began in 2025. The committee calculated the math: 12 to 18 months of logistics, vendor coordination, and author outreach, all before a single ticket could be sold. The first move was to lock down a venue large enough to host it.

The Carroll County Farm Museum became that space. The festival will spread across multiple presentation areas on the property: a new pavilion, a gazebo, and stages inside tents. Two of those stages will each hold 300 people. Three smaller ones will hold 150.

The next challenge was one no committee meeting could solve on its own: getting publishers to send their authors to a brand-new festival.

Picker noted that Carroll County already has a reputation in the publishing world due to the local Penguin Random House distribution center and the area's track record of hosting author events through the library and local bookstores.

"Publishers know that Carroll County is a community of readers," Picker said. "It is a great place for them to send their authors because they're going to get engagement and attendance—oftentimes even more than what they would receive in places like New York City. They love to send their authors here, and we love to have them in our community."

That reputation became the leverage the committee needed. Over roughly seven months, organizers worked publisher by publisher, author by author, building out a lineup that would eventually top 100 names.

"It's a lot of work," Picker said. "It takes a lot to manage the logistics of an author tour, and you don't always know what will work out with the dates and your location."

The turning point came in January, when the committee began reaching out to Jodi Picoult's team. Picoult, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of "My Sister's Keeper" and more than two dozen other novels, had a new book, "Hollow Bones," coming out around the same time as the festival, and a tour to go with it.

"We started reaching out to Jodi and her team back in January, knowing that she would have a new release coming out around the same time as the festival," Picker said. "We were very lucky, and we were chosen as one of the exclusive sites that she would visit on her official tour."

A 300-ticket package, which includes Picoult's author talk, a signed copy of the book, and a professional photo meet-and-greet, sold out almost immediately.

Picoult anchors a lineup that includes plenty of other recognizable names. Rachel Renée Russell, author of the bestselling "Dork Diaries" middle-grade series, will appear with her daughter, Nikki Russell. Horror novelist Richard Chizmar, known for the "Chasing the Boogeyman" series and past collaborations with Stephen King, is also on the schedule. Also appearing: thriller writer Sarah Pekkanen, historical fiction authors Chanel Cleeton, Elizabeth Letts, Madeline Martin, and Laura Kamoie, and horror and fantasy writers Alma Katsu, Adam Cesare, and Leslye Penelope.

Roughly 50 of the more than 100 authors will speak on stage in panels, "in-conversation" pairings, and readings, including at the Children's Garden storytime stage. The committee has spent recent weeks grouping those authors by genre so similar sessions don't compete against each other.

"You wouldn't want to put two romance panels up against each other," Picker said. "It's all about how we are peppering the different themes and topics throughout the day, grouping folks who are similar or thematic for the programming, and then plugging them into the timelines of our stages."

The other roughly 50 authors will set up in the Author Village, a section of the vendor area where attendees can meet writers directly and buy their books. The full lineup, sorted by genre, is posted at carrollbookfestival.org/author.

Gates open at 9 a.m. for a ticketed character breakfast built to manage the morning crowd. Kids can get photos with costumed characters, including Bluey and Bingo, the Gruffalo, the Blue Crayon from "The Day the Crayons Quit," Corduroy, Peter Rabbit, and Quirky the Penguin, the library's own mascot.

"Families will be able to enter the book festival at 9:00 AM and take part in a special character breakfast," Picker said. "It will be a fantastic opportunity for kids to meet and have their photos taken with all of their favorite book characters in costume."

Beyond the stages, a Vendor Village will feature literary-themed artisans and local food trucks, along with activities such as balloon twisting and "mermaid hair" stations.

What started as a conversation in the early days is now weeks from opening its gates. The committee is finalizing author travel logistics, building stage backdrops and selfie stations, and releasing the final vendor and programming schedules to the public.

The festival is still looking for local business sponsors, and organizers are direct about where the money goes. "There is still time to commit to being a sponsor of the event," Picker said. "Any of the proceeds that come from the festival will go right back to literacy initiatives aimed at children in our community."

Images: via carrollbookfestival.org