The 2026 Children’s Book Festival is set for Friday, March 27 at the Ford Center for Performing Arts.
The first-grade authors are Sarah Frances Hardy and Steve Azar with One Mississippi.
The fifth-grade author is Lindsay Currie with The Mystery of Locked Rooms.
At 5:00 p.m. on Friday, March 27, there will be a book signing, followed by Thacker Mountain Jr., at the Powerhouse (413 S. 14th St.) for community members who cannot attend the presentation at the Ford Center. Thacker Mountain Jr. will begin at 6:00 p.m. Square Books Jr. will have each author’s books for sale at the event.
Please contact the Center’s associate director for programs, Afton Thomas, at amthoma4@olemiss.edu or by phone at 662-915-3363 with questions about the festival or for assistance with a disability.
About the Children’s Book Festival
The goal of the Children’s Book Festival is to give each child a book of their own, which they will read along with classmates and their teacher during the school year. The Children’s Book Festival serves more than 1,200 area first-graders and fifth-graders from schools in Lafayette County and Oxford. Committees made up of local school librarians, teachers, and representatives from the Lafayette County Literacy Council (sponsor of the first grade), Junior Auxiliary (sponsor of the fifth grade), and Square Books, Jr. choose the book each year. The Conference then invites those authors to present programs to each grade.
The Children’s Book Festival is underwritten by the Elaine Hoffman Scott Memorial Fund.
Continuing Education Units for Teachers
Continuing Education Units (CEUs) for teachers are offered for the Conference for the Book through the University of Mississippi’s Division of Outreach and Continuing Education.
Please address any questions about the CEU process to the Division of Outreach and Continuing Education at 662-915-7283.
The form should be returned to the following address:
The UM Division of Outreach and Continuing Education
Attn: Mary Leach
PO Box 1848
University, MS 38677
Artwork by Charlie Buckley, Soybean Neon
