“Books are a way to talk to people,” said Kalela Williams, author and director of the Virginia Center for the Book. “Books are ideas. They're thoughts... People coming together to talk about these ideas and these concepts and how they relate to us as individual people — that's what excites me about the Virginia Festival of the Book.”

The Virginia Center for the Book — a department within Virginia Humanities — hosts the festival every March featuring author readings and panel discussions in and around downtown Charlottesville.

This year’s Festival of the Book takes place March 20-23 and includes 110 authors and 65 thought-provoking conversations. As always, with the exception of a few ticketed highlights, the majority of events are free. One change for 2025 is that attendees are asked to register in advance for events they plan to attend.

“Really, what's exciting to me about the festival,” said Williams, “is the way that it allows me to think bigger and think broader and think more deeply and think more imaginatively. It's just really thrilling.”

A self-described reader, history enthusiast and “cat mama,” Williams was introduced to libraries and used bookstores as a child.

“I have, from the time that I've been a young person, been a writer and been interested in the arts and how the arts intersect,” said Williams. “I'm also someone who thinks a lot about the world and about what's going on and about my place in it and what I can leave behind.”

Williams’ debut novel, “Tangleroot,” which was published in October 2024, tells the story of a teen girl who begrudgingly moves with her mother from Boston to a plantation in Central Virginia that was built by her enslaved ancestor. It’s here that she learns the history of past generations, uncovers present mysteries and discovers a life-changing family secret.

Along her path as a writer, Williams has been deeply inspired by her parents, grandparents and “people who I just never knew.”

“The resilience of them,” said Williams, “The resilience of my ancestry to bring me here and allow me to do what I do — honestly, it’s just something breathtaking when you think about that.”

The 2025 Virginia Festival of the Book takes place March 20-23. This year’s schedule and list of featured authors can be found on the festival website.

VPM is a sponsor of the Virginia Festival of the Book.