Enoch Pratt Free Library Children's Stage features interactive programs for the whole family, with popular local and nationally known authors of books for children and teens.
Enoch Pratt Free Library Children's Stage
Sign up for the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts e-newsletter to keep up-to-date on Baltimore Book Festival announcements.
Stage: Bicentennial Plaza, next to the Baltimore Visitor Center, 401 Light Street, Baltimore, MD 21202
Friday, September 22
Curtis Blues
Curtis Blues is an educational entertainer whose interactive shows introduce all ages to the history of American music. Mr. Blues' shows include bringing fascinating instruments into the audience for a close look, as well as leading the group in songs and dance to the music. Appropriate for all ages.
Event Details
National Aquarium presents: Jennifer Keats Curtis
Hear award-winning children’s author Jennifer Keats Curtis read Turtles in My Sandbox, a selection from the National Aquarium and Pratt Library’s Read to Reef Book Club, based upon the real-life terrapin head-start program. You’ll learn about how young children are working to protect the Maryland state reptile in this session which concludes with an interactive touch-and-talk with turtle artifacts and an Aquarium educator.
Event Details
HIDDEN Voices Project
Share your secrets anonymously with HIDDEN Voices: Illuminating Baltimore Secrets. The coalition of Baltimore City groups is collecting secrets citywide to better understand our fellow Baltimoreans.
Event Details
Creating with Writers in Baltimore Schools and Pique Collective
Flex your creativity! Pique Collective performs music as young writers respond to the sounds under the direction of a Writers in Baltimore schools teaching artist.
Event Details
Saturday, September 23
Story Time with Eiyana
Join Eiyana Favers, the Enoch Pratt Free Library’s early literacy specialist, for an interactive, culinary-themed story time.
Event Details
Susanna Reich, Stand Up and Sing!: Pete Seeger, Folk Music, and the Path to Justice, and Gary Golio, Strange Fruit: Billie Holiday and the Power of a Protest Song
Susanna Reich, award-winning author of both fiction and nonfiction books, and Gary Golio, acclaimed picture book author and New York Times bestseller, perform from their latest books.
Event Details
Javaka Steptoe, Radiant Child
The Randolph Caldecott Medal and the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award winner, Javaka Steptoe, shares from Radiant Child.
Event Details
Jared Reck, A Short History of the Girl Next Door, in conversation with Matthew Winner: Live Podcast of All The Wonders
Join us for a live recording of All The Wonders podcast with Jared Reck hosted by Matthew Winner. Jared Reck teaches 8th grade Language Arts, where he has been reading awesome books and writing alongside his students for the past twelve years. A Short History of the Girl Next Door is a fiercely funny and heart-wrenching novel about love, longing, and what happens when life as you know it changes in an instant.
Event Details
Hena Khan, Amina’s Voice
Hena Khan is a Pakistani-American who was born and raised in Maryland. She enjoys writing about her culture as well as all sorts of other subjects, from spies to space travel. Amina’s Voice brings to life the joys and challenges of a young Pakistani American and highlights the many ways in which one girl’s voice can help bring a diverse community together to love and support each other.
Event Details
Adam Gidwitz, The Inquisitor’s Tale
Baltimore-born award-winning, best-selling children's author Adam Gidwitz shares from his Newbery Honor Book and winner of the Sydney Taylor Book Award, The Inquisitor’s Tale.
Event Details
Sunday, September 24
Whose Book Is It Anyway?: Isabel Bandeira, Meg Eden, L.V. Pires, Michelle Ray, and Sharon Huss Roat
Face off against five wily YA authors and win a signed book! Can you spot which book excerpts are real and which are clever fakes? Don't miss this lineup: Isabel Bandeira, Dramatically Ever After, Meg Eden, Post-High School Reality Quest, L.V. Pires, Extension, Michelle Ray, Much Ado About Something, Sharon Huss Roat, How to Disappear. Moderator: Kathy MacMillan, Sword and Verse.
Event Details
Ronald L. Smith, The Mesmerist, Renée Watson, Piecing Me Together and Carole Boston Weatherford, Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library, moderated by Matthew Winner
Ronald L. Smith, 2016 Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Author Award, Renée Watson, NAACP Image Award nominee and team member of We Need Diverse Books, and Carole Boston Weatherford, award-winning New York Times bestselling author, discuss their new books with Matthew Winner of the All The Wonders podcast.
Event Details
YA/Adult Genre Crossover Panel: Meg Eden, Post-High School Reality Quest, Tracy Gold, Hollow Tree, Kathy MacMillan, Sword and Verse, CP Patrick, The Truth About Awiti, Nikki Richard, Pretty Things and Laura Shovan, The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary
Want to know about the writing process and writing for different audiences? Join us for a group of Maryland authors in conversation about their books and experiences writing for young adults and adults.
Event Details
Jason Reynolds, Patina in conversation with Deborah Taylor
Jason Reynolds, New York Times bestselling author, NAACP Image Award Winner, and the recipient of multiple Coretta Scott King honors, talks about his books with Deborah Taylor, school and student services coordinator at the Enoch Pratt Free Library.
Event Details
View Full Bookfest Schedule
