Schedule of Events
Bristol Book Fest offers a season-long series of events that invite readers, artists, scholars, and community members to engage deeply with literature and the ideas it inspires. From lectures and seminars to film screenings, performances, hands-on workshops, and community art exhibitions, each program explores the festival’s annual theme from a different perspective. Events take place at locations throughout Bristol and online, with many programs free and open to the public. We encourage you to browse the schedule below and join us for one, or many, of these enriching experiences.
Use this calendar or list below to learn more.
Also, visit our Sponsor,
Rogers Free Library.
Saturday Program of Speakers, Conversation Parlor, Panel
The Saturday program requires registration and has a $45 fee.
Keynote Address and Reception
The Keynote Address and Reception are free of charge, though registration is required.
Readers' Theater Performance
Open call to anyone 14 and older to play a part in a live Readers’ Theater, bringing sections of “Mrs. Dalloway” to life. No experience necessary.
Readers’ Theater Rehearsal
Open call to anyone 14 and older to play a part in a live Readers’ Theater, bringing sections of “Mrs. Dalloway” to life. No experience necessary.
Aurea Ensemble/The Alchemy of Music & Words
“Anthem” recalls the onset of the Great War. Inspired by Wilfred Owen’s poem “Anthem for Doomed Youth,” this performance weaves poems, diary entries, letters, and music from the era.
Tickets are $30.00.
Material Culture/Material Distress
RWU Dean of the School of Humanities, Arts and Education, Jeffrey Meriwether, will present a lecture focused on Septimus Warren Smith, the companion character to Clarissa Dalloway, and the experience of military service during the Great War.
Craft Night Paper Flower-Making
Make stunning flowers from book pages in a Clarissa Dalloway-inspired craft night with Jillian DeLong of Blanket Fort Creative.
Screening “The Hours”
Join a screening of the 2002 award winning film directed by Stephen Daldry and based on the 1999 Pulitzer Prize novel “The Hours” by Michael Cunningham. Katie Reaves hosts a screening and discussion of the film.
Winter Reading Seminar 6
Bristol Bookfest’s annual, weekly Winter Seminar Series at the Rogers Free Library will explore Mrs. Dalloway and Virginia Woolf’s novel writing style. Led by Steven Calvert, each session will include historical and contextual background, analytical insights, a deep dig into the text, and a question and answer period.
This week’s subject: “A Bloomsbury Salon”
Lecture: WWI British Poets and the Creation of Modernism
Dr. Mark Schenker presents a lecture on considering the rise of literary Modernism with special attention given to Virginia Woolf and “Mrs. Dalloway.”
Screening “Mrs. Dalloway”
Join a matinee screening of the 1997 film directed by Marleen Gorris and starring Vanessa Redgrave.
Community Art Exhibit
The Bristol Art Museum presents a “A Day in a Life,” an exhibition inspired by the themes of “Mrs. Dalloway.” Entries due by January 26 at 11:59 p.m. For more info, visit BAM’s website.
Winter Reading Seminar 5
Bristol Bookfest’s annual, weekly Winter Seminar Series at the Rogers Free Library will explore Mrs. Dalloway and Virginia Woolf’s novel writing style. Led by Steven Calvert, each session will include historical and contextual background, analytical insights, a deep dig into the text, and a question and answer period.
This week’s subject: Is Mrs. Dalloway a great book?
Bookmark Contest
Bristol BookFest announces its inaugural bookmark contests open now until March 15, 2026.
Winter Reading Seminar 4
Bristol Bookfest’s annual, weekly Winter Seminar Series at the Rogers Free Library will explore Mrs. Dalloway and Virginia Woolf’s novel writing style. Led by Steven Calvert, each session will include historical and contextual background, analytical insights, a deep dig into the text, and a question and answer period.
This week’s subject: The 4 Loves of Mrs. Dalloway—but are we supposed to love her back?
Winter Reading Seminar 3
Bristol Bookfest’s annual, weekly Winter Seminar Series at the Rogers Free Library will explore Mrs. Dalloway and Virginia Woolf’s novel writing style. Led by Steven Calvert, each session will include historical and contextual background, analytical insights, a deep dig into the text, and a question and answer period.
This week’s subject: HOW Virginia Woolf wrote: A novel filled with characters taken from life, including herself
Winter Reading Seminar 2
Bristol Bookfest’s annual, weekly Winter Seminar Series at the Rogers Free Library will explore Mrs. Dalloway and Virginia Woolf’s novel writing style. Led by Steven Calvert, each session will include historical and contextual background, analytical insights, a deep dig into the text, and a question and answer period.
This week’s subject: WHO Virginia Woolf was: A woman born to take center stage
Craft Night with The Cake Gallery
Learn from pastry expert Paul Sousa of The Cake Gallery how to make flower-inspired decorations to set atop cupcakes, cookies and cakes.
Winter Reading Seminar 1
Bristol Bookfest’s annual, weekly Winter Seminar Series at the Rogers Free Library will explore Mrs. Dalloway and Virginia Woolf’s novel writing style. Led by Steven Calvert, each session will include historical and contextual background, analytical insights, a deep dig into the text, and a question and answer period.
This week’s subject: WHAT Virginia Woolf wrote: writing style in the novels, beginning with that famous opening line in Mrs. Dalloway
Melville’s Seagoing Uncle, Nor’West John D’Wolf
…and his travelogue “Voyage to the North Pacific.” A presentation by Bristol writer DeWolf Fulton on this adventurous circumnavigation, including D’Wolf’s collision with a whale as it appears in Moby Dick.
This event at Linden Place is free and open to the public.
Whale Guitar 10-Year Celebration
Created by artists in the Ocean State, the guitar is inspired by Melville’s Moby-Dick as an Instrument of Change that makes waves about climate change. Join us in a rollicking all- ages concert of sea shanties to celebrate the Whale Guitar’s 10-year anniversary.
Readers’ Theatre of Moby-Dick // See the performance!
Come see a live readers’ theatre of a section of Moby-Dick, performed by the Bristol Theatre Company and the community.
Female Pirates: Myth and Reality
When we think about pirates, we tend to imagine men. However, there were some women who sailed under the Jolly Roger. This talk by Charlotte Carrington Farmer will explore the myth and reality about the lives of women onboard pirate ships during the golden age of sail. We will examine primary sources that illuminate their lives and challenge the traditional male-dominated narrative.
Charlotte Carrington Farmer is an Associate Professor of History, Roger Williams University.
Readers’ Theatre Rehearsal
Play a part in a live Readers’ Theatre!
For anyone 14 and older!
Join the Bristol Theatre Company and Rogers Free Library to bring a section of this novel to life.
Sign up HERE to be in the Cast. We will contact you with more info
Curtain Up!
Aurea Concert: Melville and the Great White Whale
This string ensemble’s concert features an exploration of the life and times of Herman Melville alongside Moby-Dick, Melville’s letters to Nathaniel Hawthorne, weaving in works of Beethoven and Webern, sea shanties, and harmonica improv.
Join us on Sunday March 10 from 4:00-5:30 at St. Michael’s Church. This is a ticketed event: $25 each.
"Why Read Moby-Dick" presented by Nathaniel Philbrick
The Herreshoff Marine Museum Lecture Series and Bristol BookFest present "Why Read Moby-Dick" presented by Nathaniel Philbrick, New York Times Best Selling Author, March 5, 2024