Festival of Books Volunteer Program

Thank you for your interest in volunteering for the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books.

This year's Festival of Books is going Virtual! This means that there won't be a role for volunteers in this year's Festival.  Here's the details of this year's event:

Join the Los Angeles Times, in partnership with USC, in celebrating 25 years of the Festival of Books, Stories & Ideas with 25 individual virtual events. Originally scheduled for April, the festival was postponed to October 3-4 due to public health concerns related to the coronavirus. The Times has continued to monitor the situation and, given ongoing guidance related to COVID-19, reimagined the festival as a community-wide gathering to be held online. 

Beginning on Sunday, Oct. 18, and continuing over the course of four weeks, The Times will celebrate storytelling with author panels, readings and other events. Over the years, festivalgoers have listened to Eric Carle read about a ravenous caterpillar; the late Congressman John Lewis discuss his lifelong work for racial equality; Julie Andrews reminisce about the Swiss Alps; Luis J. Rodriguez wax poetic about life in Los Angeles; Viet Thanh Nguyen expound reclaiming historical narratives; Padma Lakshmi dish on food and life; and gone home inspired. This year, the festival will make that kind of inspiration accessible from home. 

The programming schedule will be announced in mid-September. For details, go to latimes.com/FestivalofBooks and follow the festival on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (#bookfest).

The Times will continue to monitor public health and safety protocols, but at this time plans to hold next year's Festival of Books on the USC campus, April 17-18, 2021.

What about volunteering for 2021?

As we approach the Festival's April 17-18, 2021 dates, volunteer registration will be available on this page.  Depending on the current public health situation, we anticipate opening the 2021 Festival's volunteer registration by early to mid-February.  Return to this site at that time, or, to get notification via email, join the Festival of Books Volunteer Email Update list via the link at the bottom of this page.

For any other questions about volunteering for the festival of books, please email us at festivalofbooks@troutco.com

Thanks for your continued interest in volunteering for the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books.