LBF News & Happenings - Children's, teen, YA programs & activities; Volunteer opps still available

Festival preview: children's, teen, YA programs, panels and activities

The Louisiana Book Festival presents an exciting variety of activities and book programs for young readers this year, including award-winning authors and illustrators discussing their featured books, musical performances, appearances by storybook characters, face painting, balloon artists, and book-related crafts.

Headlining the 2026 festival’s youth programming on Saturday, October 31 will be the all-ages panel discussion “Little Books, Big Lives: Picture Book Biographies” featuring Frank Murphy, Charnaie Gordon, and Anastasia Magloire Williams (Heroic Heart: An Illustrated Biography of Joe Delaney) Carlotta Wells Lanier and Lisa Frazier Page (Carlotta's Special Dress: How a Walk to School Changed Civil Rights History), Jason Peterson (Blues With a Butter Knife: The Unstoppable Music of CeDell Davis), and Artie Bennett (The Tenth Man: A Miracle of Jewish Faith and Friendship in New Orleans).

A panel for middle-grade readers on Realistic Fiction, and Sci-Fi, Romance, Suspense, and Fantasy panels within the Young Adult genre will also be on the program schedule.

Included among the festival’s lineup of more than 25 celebrated children’s, middle-grade, and young adult authors are, Andrea Beatriz Arango, Pamela Courtney, Callie Dean, Johnette Downing, Leslie Helakowski, Kirk Reedstrom, Misako Rocks!, T.L. Simpson, and others.

For the first time, all winning authors from the latest Louisiana Readers’ Choice awards will be in attendance, including Tadgh Bentley (One Chicken Nugget) Frank Murphy, Charnaie Gordon, and Anastasia Magloire Williams (Heroic Heart: An Illustrated Biography of Joe Delaney); Kelly J. Baptist (Eb & Flow); Deya Muniz (The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich); along with teen honor book selection author Nicki Pau Preto (Bonesmith).

Activities for tween and teen readers include plenty of games and arts and crafts. The papermaking tent, balloon artists, and face painting return this year. Halloween costume contests for both children (1:00 p.m.) and teens (3:00 p.m.) are also scheduled. The East Baton Rouge Parish Library and Kids Orchestra conducts their popular “Books & Music” program at 3:15 p.m., and costumed book characters in attendance will be Elephant and Piggie from the Mo Willems children’s series.

Times and locations of authors’ appearances and book signing times at the festival on October 31 can be found on the individual author pages on the book festival's website.

The 2026 Louisiana Book Festival takes place Saturday, October 31, in downtown Baton Rouge's historic Capitol Park area. Visit louisianabookfestival.org for the full schedule.

Volunteer opportunities still available! Sign up, get the t-shirt!

There are still plenty of volunteer opportunities available at the Louisiana Book Festival on Saturday, October 31. We'll need hundreds of volunteers in a variety of capacities, including escorting authors, bookselling, concessions, programs, transportation, and more.

We're seeking volunteers from all over the state, especially from Baton Rouge and surrounding areas, including employees of local businesses; librarians; high school, undergraduate and graduate students; Louisiana writers; and book lovers in general! Volunteers must be sixteen (16) years of age or older, and we're happy to welcome groups of friends, family, or organizations who wish to volunteer together.

Volunteers registered by next Monday, October 5 are guaranteed to receive a free 2026 Louisiana Book Festival T-shirt, which features this year's artwork by Louisiana artist and author Malaika Favorite. Visit our site to learn more about available volunteer positions or to sign up or email us at lbfvolunteer@state.lib.la.us with any questions.

Recently confirmed authors and titles to be featured at LBF 2026

Over 230 featured authors and presenters have been confirmed for the 2026 Louisiana Book Festival, and we’ll regularly highlight some of them here. Check out the full list of featured authors and books at LouisianaBookFestival.org.