Schedule
Get excited for these events all over town!
Check back frequently, as the schedule will be updated often.
Download a map and schedule here.
Thursday, September 12
3:00 pm
Venue
Buffalo Street Books
Storytellers Bag Workshop
with Yvonne Wakim Dennis, Cherokee/Sand Hill/Syrian
In partnership with OJI:SDA' Sustainable Indigenous Futures
5:00 pm
Venue
Buffalo Street Books
Robin Bernstein
Freeman's Challenge: The Murder That Shook America's Original Prison for Profit
In conversation with Karen Jaime
6:00 pm
Venue
Autumn Leaves
Katie Tastrom
A People's Guide to Abolition and Disability Justice
This book illuminates the way the State uses disability and its power to disable to incarcerate multiply marginalized disabled people, especially those who are queer, trans, Black, or Indigenous.
Friday, September 13
Venue
Marc Leathers Park
301 S Geneva St
10:30 am
TCPL Baby & Toddler Story Time Outside
4:30 pm
Venue
Buffalo Street Books
Booksellers on Bookselling with Danny Caine
How To Resist Amazon and Why, How to Protect Bookstores and Why
Rachel Crawford (Akimbo Books), Hillary Smith (Black Walnut Books), & Lisa Swayze (Buffalo Street Books) join Danny to discuss the state of bookselling today.
6:00 pm
Venue
Buffalo Street Books
Jonathan Lethem
in Conversation with Eleanor Henderson
The Collapsing Frontier, Feral Detective, Brooklyn Crime Novel
Lethem will read, answer questions from author Eleanor Henderson, and take audience questions.
7:00 - 11:00 pm
Venue
The Downstairs
Floetic Friday w/ Nia Nunn & Gladira Velazquez + DJ ha-MEEN
Hang out with the cool kids at The Downstairs Bar, share and listen to others read and reflect on the relationship with writing and words.
8:00 pm
Venue
Autumn Leaves
Kenneth Wishnia
From Sun to Sun
The author will read from his latest book, described as a "highly unconventional crime novel that presents two parallel stories separated by twenty-five centuries."
8:30 pm
Venue
Cinemapolis
The Movie is Better Than the Book
The Godfather
Saturday, September 14
11:00-6:00
Venue
Ithaca Commons
Book Fair
All day free event with booths from indie bookstores, publishers, and local authors.
11:00 am
Venue
Buffalo Street Books
The Editor is IN With Leslie Daniels
Free book fest edition of this popular workshop co-sponsored by Story House Ithaca and Buffalo Street Books.
12:00 - 2:00 pm
Venue
The Commons Book Fair
100 Things to Do in Ithaca Before You Die
Meet author Amanda Jaros Champion at the Buffalo Street Books table to pick up your signed copies of her new book about Ithaca.
12:00 - 4:00 pm
Venue
Ithaca Print Commons
Drop In Journal Making
Check out the Ithaca Print Commons to make your own journal with Risograph printed covers! Open to all ages, $10 fee can be paid at the studio.
1:00 pm
Venue
Buffalo Street Books
Debbie Urbanski
in Conversation with Aaron Arm
After World
2:30 pm
Venue
Buffalo Street Books
Alexandra Kleeman
in Conversation with Chris Holmes
Something New Under the Sun
2:30 pm
Venue
Autumn Leaves
Jim Feast
in Conversation with Jonathan Lethem
Karl Marx, Private Eye
3:30 pm
Venue
Bernie Milton Stage, Ithaca Commons
Storytelling
with Jaime Warburton
A Story House Ithaca event
4:00 pm
Venue
Buffalo Street Books
What’s the Deal with Queer Romance?
Susi Dumond, Timothy Janovsky, and Steven Salvatore in Conversation with John Jacobson
Looking for a Sign, You Had Me at Happy Hour, The Boyfriend Subscription
4:30 pm
Venue
Bernie Milton Stage, Ithaca Commons
Jonathan Lethem
in Conversation with Jim Feast
Feral Detective, Brooklyn Crime Novel
5:00 pm
Venue
Buffalo Street Books
Margaret Killjoy
in Conversation with Elizabeth Sandifer
The Sapling Cage
6:00 pm
Venue
Buffalo Street Books
Jeff Iavannone
Book Talk & Ithaca Queer Lit Walking Tour
The Faggots and Their Friends Between Revolutions
Start out at Buffalo Street Books to learn more about this iconic queer book from the 1970s, then continue on a guided tour of Ithaca’s queer literary landmarks, including the original Lavender Hill commune house.
6:30 pm
Venue
CAP Artspace at the Tompkins Center for History & Culture
Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich
From Cornell Class of 1991 to Award-Winning Children’s Author
Questions and Conversation led by her daughter, Adedayo Perkovich, Cornell Class of 2025.
7:00 pm
Venue
Autumn Leaves
Antonia Carcelén-Estrada
Zapatista Stories for Dreaming An-Other World
8:30 pm
Venue
Cinemapolis
The Movie is Better Than the Book
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Sunday, September 15
11:00-6:00
Venue
Ithaca Commons
Book Fair
All day free event with booths from indie bookstores, publishers, and local authors.
11:00 am
Venue
Bernie Milton Stage, Ithaca Commons
Drag Story Hour
Tilia Cordata & Coraline Chardonnay bring their sparkles and charms to story time for the kiddos.
11:00 am
Venue
Buffalo Street Books
YA Authors Tell All
with Kalynn Bayron, Gray Bulla, and Steven Salvatore
Sleep Like Death, The Ghost of You, No Perfect Places
12:00 pm
Venue
Bernie Milton Stage, Ithaca Commons
Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich
Makeda Makes a Birthday Treat, Makeda Makes a Home for Subway
Rhuday-Perkovich will read from her early readers starring Makeda, an exuberant 7-year-old.
1:00 pm
Venue
Bernie Milton Stage, Ithaca Commons
Sing Me a Story! Read Me a Song!
with John Simon & Cal Walker
In partnership with Children’s Reading Connection.
2:00 pm
Venue
Bernie Milton Stage, Ithaca Commons
GW Carver Gardens Project
In partnership with the Learning Farm and Children’s Reading Connection
3:00 pm
Venue
Buffalo Street Books
A Panel of Poets
with Jamaica Baldwin, nicole v. basta, and Dan Rosenberg
Bone Language, the next field over, Bassinet
4:00 pm
Venue
Bernie Milton Stage, Ithaca Commons
Mayor & Friends Read Aloud
With Mayor Robert Cantelmo & friends
The Mayor will read some inspirational stories for kids, with some help from some of his friends.
5:00 pm
Venue
The Downstairs
Read Aloud for Grownups
with Jennifer Savran-Kelly & friends
Sit back and let your imagination loose as local literati read to you while you sip a relaxing drink.
5:00 pm
Venue
The Kitchen Theatre
Playwrights’ Jam
with Lesley Greene & AJ Sage
…
5:00 pm
Venue
Autumn Leaves
Kevin A. Young
Abolishing Fossil Fuels: Lessons from Movements That Won
8:30 pm
Venue
Cinemapolis
The Movie is Better Than the Book
The Shining