The Starke County Public Library has announced the date and the opening of author applications for their 2026 Beyond the Book Festival.
This will be the library’s 4th annual Beyond the Book Festival, and will be held on Saturday, September 12th from 9am to 3pm Central Time at the Henry F. Schricker Library in Knox. Applications are currently open for published authors in the area to join the event.
Nichol Chaja, Starke County Public Library’s Business Office Coordinator and the Event Coordinator for Beyond the Book, shared details about the upcoming festival, stating, “This will be the 4th year for the Beyond the Book Festival. It is a one-day event held by the Starke County Public Library; we host over 40 authors and they all come in, they meet with the public, they have their books on hand for sale. They will also be signing their books; sometimes we do panel discussions, sometimes we do Q&As, sometimes authors will actually have presentations of their new work, so it’s a fun day for everybody.”
The festival will also feature a variety of local vendors, and Chaja noted that the library will make a point to have books on hand from featured authors before the Beyond the Book Festival, so interested readers have a chance to explore authors’ books before the festival.
Chaja shared that anyone can apply to be a part of Beyond the Book, not just those who live in Starke County; though they do try to focus on local authors as much as possible.
She stated: “The book festival really is a celebration of literature, and especially local literature.”
Those interested in signing up to possibly be a featured author at the event can find the form online at scpls.org; under the Events menu.
