Author Showcase and Book Festival [for Women Authors]

Are you a reader? Then you’re a leader! So join us for our third annual Author Showcase and Book Festival for Women Writers on June 1 as we celebrate the words, the wisdom, and the leadership of women and other underrepresented communities from the First Coast. Their words are leading us to a new future where diversity and critical thinking are celebrated.

At a time where the words of women, BIPOC, and LGBQTIA communities are literally being suppressed— we are offering the community an opportunity to meet face-to-face with a diverse group of authors, listen to their words, and celebrate their work.

Our featured author is Jacksonville star Jennifer Chase, who recently published her book of love letters to Jacksonville. She's an author, poet, songwriter, musician, playwright, and professor, and we can't wait to hear her read, accompanied by a special muscial guest, cellist Holly DeCardenas. We will also hear from our partners Casey and Kati from Rebel Readers Florida and get a special presentation of readers from our latest Anthology edition, "And Justice for All"—including an interactive poetry reading. More speakers TBA!

We’re delighted to support the River City Readers literary campaign sponsred by Mayor Donna Deegan, so our focus this year is on literacy and leadership. We’ll have a children’s reading room, a rotation of authors reading from 11-3, a book-making workshop by Hope McMath, a book illustration art workshop with our Zora Neale Hurston Fellows Teresa Cook and Emily Mitchell, a Young and Published Panel featuring our young authors, and much, much more.

Register to get free tickets for our raffle and giveaways on the hour. Sponsors FemmeFire Books will donate some fab books, and, the authors will each provide one copy of their books for the raffle. We're also grateful to our sponsors Root Realty, with more sponsors TBA!

We’ll be meeting in the CoRK Art Studios, you'll have a chance to meet some of the artists, too! PLUS, FOOD TRUCKS! Compass Eatery and Foodie Stop have already commmitted, and we are working on more. Meet us afterwards for a beer at Bold City Brewery!

We hope you’ll join us for a day of community, ideas, art, and literacy—because readers are leaders, and we need more great women leaders, changing the thinking of our world!

Learn more about the Florida Freedom to Read project HERE.

Learn more about the issue of banned books from Pen America HERE.

Learn more about gender imbalance in publishing here:

"Since the conception of " Amy King and Sarah Clark, VIDA's board of directors, wrote in a blog post, "one of the most common excuses leveled at our numbers has been that fewer women submit work, or, more brazenly, that women submit less marketable work. Now, it’s becoming clear that women and nonbinary people may “drop out” rather than attempt to fight a losing battle for justice, or to have to be in the company of men who abused them, or know their gatekeepers are more likely to side with their abuser in order to themselves benefit from these unbalanced power dynamics."

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Cork Art Studios, 2689 Rosselle Street, Jacksonville, United States