The Savannah Book Festival is an annual event, free and open to the public, in celebration of the written word and its role in improving the human experience. Our mission is to promote reading, writing and civil conversation. Since the first Savannah Book Festival in 2008, SBF has presented an array of nationally-acclaimed authors to crowds of book-loving attendees through our ticketed Headline Addresses and our free Festival Saturday.

Our four-day Festival takes place over the course of a sunny Presidents' Day Weekend, against the backdrop of stunning historic buildings, cascading Spanish moss, and blooming Azaleas. Each year, over 9,000 people join us for three ticketed Headliner Address events and for our free Festival Saturday, which features over 30 authors appearing at unique venues around three historic squares in Downtown Savannah.
 
Festival Saturday presentations take place in museums, churches, and theaters in and around the historic Telfair, Wright, and Chippewa Squares in the heart of Downtown Savannah. Our lineup of nationally-recognized authors from wide-ranging genres give 30-minute solo presentations on their creative process, followed by a Q&A and book signing.

The Ruth Ware will give the Opening Address. Jeannette Walls will provide the Keynote, and David Grann, Barnes & Noble's Author of the Year will deliver the Closing Address. Headliner Addresses are ticketed events presented in the Historic Trustees Theater in Downtown Savannah.

Schedule of Events

February 15, 2024

6:30 PM - Opening Address with Ruth Ware at Trustees Theater

Zero Days: Hired by companies to break into buildings and hack security systems, Jack and her husband, Gabe, are the best penetration specialists in the business. But after a routine assignment goes horribly wrong, Jack arrives home to find her husband dead. To add to her despair, the police are closing in on their suspect—her.

Suddenly on the run and quickly running out of options, Jack must decide who she can trust as she circles closer to the real killer in this unputdownable and heart-pounding mystery from an author whose “propulsive prose keeps readers on the hook and refuses to let anyone off until all has been revealed” (Shelf Awareness).

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February 16, 2024

6:00 p.m. - Keynote Address with Jeannette Walls at Trustees Theater

Hang the Moon: Sallie Kincaid is the daughter of the biggest man in a small town, the charismatic Duke Kincaid. Born at the turn of the 20th century into a life of comfort and privilege, Sallie remembers little about her mother who died in a violent argument with the Duke. By the time she is just eight years old, the Duke has remarried and had a son, Eddie. While Sallie is her father's daughter, sharp-witted and resourceful, Eddie is his mother's son, timid and cerebral. When Sallie tries to teach young Eddie to be more like their father, her daredevil coaching leads to an accident, and Sallie is cast out.

Nine years later, she returns, determined to reclaim her place in the family. That's a lot more complicated than Sallie expected, and she enters a world of conflict and lawlessness. Sallie confronts the secrets and scandals that hide in the shadows of the Big House, navigates the factions in the family and town, and finally comes into her own as a bold, sometimes reckless bootlegger.

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February 17, 2024

9:00am-5:55pm:

Calling all readers, writers, and book-lovers! 30+ authors will give free 30-minute presentations in multiple unique venues in historic Downtown Savannah. Authors will discuss their creative processes and their life as a writer, followed by a Q&A and book signing. Food trucks will provide delicious refreshments between presentations.
2024 Saturday Schedule PDF
Cost: Free

February 18, 2024

2:00 PM - Closing Address with David Grann at Trustees Theater

The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder: On January 28, 1742, a ramshackle vessel of patched-together wood and cloth washed up on the coast of Brazil. Inside were thirty emaciated men, barely alive, and they had an extraordinary tale to tell. They were survivors of His Majesty's Ship the Wager, a British vessel that had left England in 1740 on a secret mission during an imperial war with Spain. While the Wager had been chasing a Spanish treasure-filled galleon known as “the prize of all the oceans,” it had wrecked on a desolate island off the coast of Patagonia. The men, after being marooned for months and facing starvation, built the flimsy craft and sailed for more than a hundred days, traversing 2500 miles of storm-wracked seas. They were greeted as heroes.

But then … six months later, another, even more decrepit craft landed on the coast of Chile. This boat contained just three castaways, and they had a very different story to tell. The thirty sailors who landed in Brazil were not heroes – they were mutineers. The first group responded with countercharges of their own, of a tyrannical and murderous captain and his henchmen. It became clear that while stranded on the island the crew had fallen into anarchy, with warring factions fighting for dominion over the barren wilderness. As accusations of treachery and murder flew, the Admiralty convened a court martial to determine who was telling the truth. The stakes were life-and-death—for whomever the court found guilty could hang.

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Date: February 15-18, 2024

Location: Various Venues in Savannah, GA 31401

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