{"id":272707,"date":"2026-04-17T15:12:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T15:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/272707\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T15:12:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T15:12:09","slug":"31st-annual-los-angeles-times-festival-of-books-opens-at-usc-with-star-studded-lineup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/272707\/","title":{"rendered":"31st Annual Los Angeles Times Festival of Books opens at USC with star-studded lineup"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/gettyimages-2147994329.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-v-7d0efd03=\"\"\/> article <\/p>\n<p data-v-7d0efd03=\"\">People take photos of the front entrance sign during the LA Times Book Festival at USC campus on Sunday, April 21, 2024 in Los Angeles, CA. (Michael Blackshire \/ Los Angeles Times via Getty Images) <\/p>\n<p data-v-871f4c88=\"\">LOS ANGELES &#8211; The<a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/events\/festival-of-books\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"> Los Angeles Times Festival of Books<\/a> returns to the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxla.com\/tag\/education\/usc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"> USC<\/a> campus this weekend, transforming the university into the nation&#8217;s largest literary gathering.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-871f4c88=\"\">The event brings together a massive collection of authors, celebrities, and exhibitors for a two-day celebration of storytelling.<\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"KTTV\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-871f4c88=\"\">What we know:<\/p>\n<p data-v-871f4c88=\"\">The festival features more than 550 storytellers and 350 exhibitors spread across eight outdoor stages.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-871f4c88=\"\">Programming includes the Ideas Exchange series, where Lionel Richie will discuss his memoir &#8220;Truly&#8221; on Sunday.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-871f4c88=\"\">Other notable appearances include Sarah Jessica Parker discussing the novel &#8220;The Radiant Dark&#8221; on Saturday and Larry David discussing the making of &#8220;Curb Your Enthusiasm&#8221; on Sunday.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-871f4c88=\"\">PREVIOUS COVERAGE: <a class=\"WlydOe\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foxla.com\/news\/la-times-festival-of-books-2026-lineup-announcement\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">LA Times Festival of Books 2026: Lionel Richie, Sarah Jessica Parker to headline<\/a><\/p>\n<p data-v-871f4c88=\"\">Admission to the grounds is free, though &#8220;Friend of the Festival&#8221; packages are available for those seeking reserved seating and parking.<\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"KTTV\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-871f4c88=\"\">What they&#8217;re saying:<\/p>\n<p data-v-871f4c88=\"\">Organizers have highlighted the evolution of the festival with the addition of the Audiobook and Podcast Stage presented by Spotify.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-871f4c88=\"\">This new addition features industry voices like Times writer Christopher Goffard and novelist Shelby Van Pelt.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-871f4c88=\"\">Additionally, the Times Food Stage will offer a unique culinary experience, including a demonstration by Cassandra Peterson (Elvira) from her &#8220;Cookbook From Hell.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"KTTV\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-871f4c88=\"\">What&#8217;s next:<\/p>\n<p data-v-871f4c88=\"\">Following the Friday night awards ceremony, where 61 works will be recognized across 13 categories, the festival will run through Sunday evening.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-871f4c88=\"\">Beyond literature, attendees can look forward to film and television previews, such as a look at Hulu\u2019s &#8220;Rivals&#8221; accompanied by a discussion with the show&#8217;s producer and cast.<\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"KTTV\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-871f4c88=\"\">What you can do:<\/p>\n<p data-v-871f4c88=\"\">While general admission is free, attendees are encouraged to visit the official festival website to browse the full schedule of nearly 100 panels.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-871f4c88=\"\">Those interested in guaranteed access to specific discussions or on-campus parking should look into purchasing &#8220;Friend of the Festival&#8221; packages before arriving at the USC campus.<\/p>\n<p class=\"group-source-paragraph\" data-v-4fbf7207=\"\">The Source: This report is based on information provided by Los Angeles Times festival organizers and the University of Southern California.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxla.com\/tag\/us\/ca\/los-angeles-county\/los-angeles\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-871f4c88=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Los Angeles<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"article People take photos of the front entrance sign during the LA Times Book Festival at USC campus&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":272708,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[1184,48,52,51,47,137,50,49,100,1181],"class_list":["post-272707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-ca","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-county","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-news","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272707\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/272708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}