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The annual Rochester Children and Teens Book Festival’s theme this year is “Feed Your Imagination: Read!”
The festival, presented by Rochester Area Children’s Writers and Illustrators, aims to promote literacy among children in the Rochester community. This year’s event will be the 29th annual festival, featuring award-winning authors and illustrators from the Rochester area and beyond. It will take place on Nov. 7 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Previously called the Rochester Children’s Book Festival, the event was renamed in 2025 to reflect a push to include teenagers. This year’s festival continues in that effort.
“After the success of last year’s addition of teen and YA authors, we are excited to continue to welcome the tweens and teens of Rochester with more panels and activities, while still maintaining all the programming for the younger ages that has made the festival so beloved by (the) Rochester area and beyond,” says co-chair Susannah Buhrman-Deever.
In addition to the main event, RCTBF’s Festival-to-Go program continues its mission by visiting Rochester city schools. Each October, volunteers from Rochester Area Children’s Writers and Illustrators give presentations to school children designed to spark interest in reading and writing. The program has donated books to over 20 schools.
Newbery Medal winner Linda Sue Park, Printz Honor winner Julie Berry and RCTBF founder Vivian Vande Velde are expected to be present at the festival.
The event features presentations by over 50 authors and illustrators with student ASL interpreters from Rochester Institute of Technology and RIT’s National Technical Institute for the Deaf. It also will include arts and crafts, face painting, and food trucks. The festival’s on-site vendor, Lift Bridge Book Shop, will sell signed books.
Admission to the event, held at the R. Thomas Flynn Campus Center at Monroe Community College, is free. Attendees will have access to free parking in Lot M.
More information about this year’s event and Festival-to-Go is available here.
Aiko Levick, a student at Rochester Institute of Technology, is a member of the Oasis Project’s third cohort.
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