Plan your 2026 festival experience! Scroll down to check out all of the sessions!
The heart of the festival is the many sessions broken up throughout the day where participants can choose the panels, activities, author talks, performances, etc. that they would like to experience!
- 9:00 AM: Doors open, registrations, book sales, scavenger hunt
- 9:30 AM: Doors Open for Keynote
- 9:35 AM: Welcome, ARC giveaway
- 9:45 AM: Author Introduction & Keynote Introduction
- 10:00 AM: Susan Dennard, Keynote
- 11:10 AM: Breakout Session 1
- 12:00 PM: Breakout Session 2
- 12:50 PM: Breakout Session 3
- 1:40 PM: Breakout Session 4
- 2:30 PM: Author Alley Book Signing – Cafeteria
- 3:30 PM: Closing Time
Keynote
Every festival includes a keynote author. For 2026 our keynote will be Susan Dennard, the award-winning, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Executioners Three, the Luminaries trilogy, and the Witchlands series!
Breakout 1
| Room 1 | Room 2 | Room 3 | Room 4 | Room 5 |
| Artistic Workshop Making Comics with Mark Crilley | PanelDiscussion Main Character Energy | Panel Discussion Down a Rabbit Hole: The Merit of Research | Panel Discussion Love is in the Air | Writing Workshop From Fanfiction to Best Seller with Natalie D. Richards |
Breakout 2
| Room 1 | Room 2 | Room 3 | Room 4 | Room 5 |
| Panel Discussion Visual Storytelling in Comics, Zines, and Memoir | Panel Discussion Braving the Elements | Writing Workshop 101 on Traditional Publishing with Meriam Metoui | Artistic Workshop Collage Workshop: Visual Poetry | Panel Discussion The Importance of Place: Why Setting Matters in Storytelling |
Breakout 3
| Room 1 | Room 2 | Room 3 | Room 4 | Room 5 | Room 6 |
| Artistic Workshop Creating Characters with Scoot McMahon | Panel Discussion A Shake of Suspense, A Chill of Thrill, and A Dash of Mystery: A Recipe for Page-Turners! | Writing Workshop Zine-Making Workshop with Jesse Callans | Writing Workshop Romance Writing: A Workshop with Paul Coccia | Panel Discussion Slice of Life: The Reality of Fiction | Community Read The Executioners Three by Susan Dennard |
Breakout 4
| Room 1 | Room 2 | Room 3 | Room 4 | Room 5 |
| Panel Discussion When Magic and Fantasy are Reality | Writing Workshop Writing Trauma | Writing Workshop The Reader Writes Back: Letters to Authors and Characters with Kelcey Ervick | Panel Discussion Here’s Your Seat at the Table | Board Games With Scoot & Crilley |
Lunch
Free Lunch for all! We didn’t take any pictures of people eating, that would be weird 🙂
Book Selling
Authors Alley
The festival closes with Authors Alley when participants have the opportunity to get their book(s) signed by the authors!