Originally scheduled to be held outdoors at the John Brown Farm State Historic Site, rain in the forecast has forced the event to go indoors. All book festival activities will be held at the Lake Placid Middle-High School, John Brown Lives! Executive Director Martha Swan said on Friday, Aug. 18.

A free, day-long community event presented by John Brown Lives!, Lake Placid Public Library, The Bookstore Plus and numerous other partners, AFBF is now in its second year.

Regional author Kate Messner said that last year’s fest “was one of the most joyful events I’ve ever experienced, and I’m thrilled that the festival has become an annual event.”

“I can’t wait for our amazing local readers to meet this year’s authors and illustrators,” she added.

Other AFBF 2023 authors include: Sarah Albee, Jose Barreiro, Kalynn Bayron, Lesa-Cline Ransome, Loree Griffin Burns, Maxwell Eaton III, Debbi Michiko Florence, Amy Guglielmo, Angela Kunkel, Grace Lin, Emma Otheguy, Francesca Padilla, James Ransome, and Phil Stamper.

Find out more about AFBF 2023 authors at adirondackfamilybookfestival.wordpress.com/authors-illustrators.

The festival will begin at 9:30 a.m., giving everyone a chance to browse and visit authors stationed in the school, where The Bookstore Plus will be handling sales throughout the day.

At 10 a.m., Swan will be joined by festival author, advocate of Native community self-determination and Smithsonian Scholar Emeritus Jos Barreiro to formally open the festival with a welcome and land acknowledgment.

From 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., authors and illustrators will participate in panel discussions and workshops. Arts activities will be ongoing throughout the day, and young local writers who contributed to the Adirondack Center for Writing’s “Wild Words Teen Writing Anthology” will be staffing a table to talk about their writing, sign and sell copies of their anthology, and inspire other young readers. Communication boards will be available during the festival for individuals with communication differences with core words pertaining to the Adirondack Family Book Festival. These boards will provide communication access to picture symbols for minimally verbal people.

The Adirondack Family Book Festival is open to everyone, and all children who attend will be gifted a blank-page souvenir journal.