IF YOU’RE LOOKING FOR THE LITERARY NIGHT OF THE YEAR
Toni Morrison. Colson Whitehead. Walter Mosley. Maxine Hong Kingston.
These award winners are some of the most defining voices on how we have come to understand race, justice, and our relationships with one another.
And they have all joined us in Cleveland for the honor and presentation of the Anisfield Wolf Book Award as part of a celebratory ceremony that is always the literary night of the year.
Attend our annual signature ceremony at the Maltz Performing Arts Center on September 18 as this year’s Anisfield-Wolf Book Award Winners join the esteemed canon of America’s only juried book prize focusing on works that address racism and diversity.
There isn’t an evening like this anywhere else: international debut authors and literary powerhouses together in one room, reading and celebrating works that challenge and expand our connections to the world around us.
And thanks to the generosity of Edith Anisfield Wolf, the Cleveland philanthropist who established and funded this award, the evening is free and open to all.
Friday, Sept 18th
6:30 p.m.
Milton and Tamar Maltz Performing Arts Center
1855 Ansel Road, Cleveland, OH 44106
Tickets free but required. There will be a standby line at the venue. Reception, book sale, and author signing, following the ceremony. For tickets and additional information, visit Anisfield-Wolf.org.
GET UP CLOSE IN CONVERSATION with this year’s AWBA winning authors
At the City Club of Cleveland on September 18 and all day on September 19, we will host a series of intimate author events featuring readings and thought-provoking conversations featuring AWBA winners and contemporary thought leaders who are fundamentally shaping how we think about race relations and cultural diversity.
Friday, Sept 18th:
Doors at 11:15 a.m. / Lunch at 11:30 a.m. / Forum begins 12:00 p.m.
Sarah Aziza in Conversation with Nadeen Abusada
The City Club of Cleveland
Join the City Club as we hear from Sarah Aziza, the 2026 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award Winner in memoir, for a conversation on generational displacement, ancestral memories, and finding a way forward in ‘the land of the living.’ CityClub.org
Saturday, Sept 19:
Bench Ansfield in Conversation with DeRay Mckesson and Tara Raghuveer
11:00 a.m.
Ohio City Room at Market Garden
Bench Ansfield, 2026 Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards nonfiction winner for their book Born in Flames, joins civil rights activist and Campaign Zero Executive Director DeRay Mckesson and Director of the Tenant Union Federation Tara Raghuveer for a fireside chat on arson, insurance fraud, and tenant organizing in the Bronx and beyond. Tickets are free but required. Learn more at Anisfield-Wolf.org.
Sarah Aziza in Conversation with Philip Metres and Masrah Cleveland Al-Arabi
Noon
Jaja
Sarah Aziza, winner of the 2026 Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards memoir prize for The Hollow Half, will be joined by members of Cleveland Public Theatre’s Community Ensemble Masrah Cleveland Al-Arabi and three-time Arab American Book Award winner Philip Metres for a performance and conversation on Arabic, translation, and the politics of language. Tickets are free but required. Learn more at Anisfield-Wolf.org.
Carrie R. Moore in Conversation with Stevona Elem-Rogers
2:30 p.m.
The Foundry (Carriage House)
A conversation on writing Black romance, faith, and the American South will feature debut fiction writer Carrie R. Moore, winner of the 2026 Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards fiction prize for Make Your Way Homein dialogue with writer and cultural worker Stevona Elem-Rogers. Tickets are free but required. Learn more at Anisfield-Wolf.org.
Gbenga Adesina in Conversation with Ajanaé Dawkins at The Foundry
3:30 p.m.
The Foundry (Tank Room)
Debut poet Gbenga Adesina reads a selection of pieces from his prize-winning collection Death Does Not End at the Sea. Adesina is joined by poet, performer, and educator Ajanaé Dawkins for a conversation rooted in grief, migration, borders, faith and the power of the sea. Tickets are free but required. Learn more at Anisfield-Wolf.org.
IF YOU’RE A WRITER
For writers – novelists and novices; journalers and journalists – Cleveland is home to two of the literary world’s favorite, free craft conferences: Great Lakes African American Writers Conference and Literary Cleveland’s Inkubator.
Literary Cleveland’s Inkubator Writing Conference is the largest free writing conference in the country, providing workshops, craft talks, panel discussions, readings, and more to empower writers, celebrate literary excellence, and amplify diverse voices.
This year’s Inkubator is part of the yearlong statewide program Beloved: Ohio Celebrates Toni Morrison. The theme, “Freedom is a community,” comes from The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead and echoes Toni Morrison’s call: “If you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else.”
The ninth annual Great Lakes African American Writers Conference (GLAAWC) will take the form of a summit in Cleveland, Dayton and virtually, with three keynotes, book signings, a workshop, an award luncheon, and author-vendors who are self-published. The year’s conference theme, “Celebrating Our Labors,” will honor the work of African American writers, artists, scholars, and storytellers whose creativity, perseverance, vision, and legacy continue to shape our communities and our world.
IF YOU’RE A READER
For everyone looking for a deeper dive into some of their favorite authors, Book Fest partners are hosting readings and author talks through the month of September.
Cuyahoga County Public Library hosts author events all month, most notably Anisfield-Wolf Book Award winner Marlon James on Friday, September 11.
The William N. Skirball Writers Center Stage Series brings new and established authors and books to the Cuyahoga County community to inspire learning, conversation and a sense of fellowship. This year’s series kicks off September 14, with a conversation between Jesmyn Ward, Anisfield-Wolf Book Award winner and the only woman to receive two National Book Awards for fiction.
On September 16, Cleveland Public Library’s At the Table series welcomes National Book Award-winning historian Dr. Ibram X. Kendi for a conversation about his new book, Chain of Ideas: The Origins of Our Authoritarian Age.
If you’re looking for family-friendly events:
This year’s Cleveland Book Fest features a suite of family-friendly programming. On September 10, inspired by the work of Nell Irvin Painter, Lake Erie Ink will host an intergenerational storytelling event. Teens, adults, & families welcome. Come together to talk, create, and explore the stories that shape us. The event will celebrate the places we come from, the places we live, and the stories that connect us.
Cleveland Public Library welcomes award-winning author, publisher, and editor Andrea Davis Pinkney to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Campus on September 17 from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. for a special celebration of Toni Morrison. This featured event highlights Pinkney’s children’s book And She Was Loved: Toni Morrison’s Life in Stories, a poetic and artistic tribute to Morrison’s life and legacy.
Then, on September 20, join the Rust Belt Humanities Lab and Literary Cleveland for a free book giveaway at the West Side Market. From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., there will be a books and comics giveaway inside the market. Then, at 1 p.m., Tessa Hulls, the creator of Feeding Ghosts, which won the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, Pulitzer Prize, Eisner Award, and National Books Critics Circle Award, will be on site for a book signing. The first 25 guests in attendance will receive a complimentary copy of Hulls’ book.
See the full schedule of events and learn more at clevelandbookfest.com.