The highly anticipated BAM! Festival, the annual celebration of books, art, and music, will return to the Mandel Public Library of West Palm Beach on April 13, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
This free, family-friendly festival features a diverse lineup of activities throughout the day, including author readings, writing workshops, illustrator demonstrations, competitions, and more. A highlight is the engaging one-hour workshops and panels facilitated by authors and illustrators. These interactive sessions cater to various age groups and interests, ranging from the Illustrator Smackdown, where authors and illustrators engage in live-action drawing competitions, to workshops addressing contemporary themes such as mental health and social justice. The BAM! Festival Flash Fiction Challenge is a free writing contest where the winner works with author Stephen Kozan to write, edit, and publish their own book.
This year’s guest authors and presenters include: Aaron Aceves, David Arnold, Germán Blanco, Henry Cole, Christina Diaz Gonzalez, C.G. Esperanza, Bob Forbes, Lamar Giles, Vashti Harrison, Maria Ingrande Mora, George M. Johnson, Danielle Joseph, Daniel José Older, Karen Kilpatrick, Stephen Kozan, Megan Lacera, Jorge Lacera, Jamiel Law, Racquel Marie, Carmen Oliver, Kerry O’Malley Cerra, James Ponti, Jill Ross Nadler, Eliot Schrefer, Neal Shusterman, Ana Siqueira, Stacy Stokes, Nic Stone, Chris Tebbetts, Jenna Voris, Tyler Whitesides, Brittany N. Williams, and Sherri Winston.
BAM! Festival is a nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering children’s literacy and community engagement. Since its inception in 2011, the festival has served more than 166,000 local youth and donated more than 3,500 books.
For more information and a complete BAM! Festival schedule, visit bamwpb.org.