Recent News

Registration is open!

Register now for TBF 2021!

Learn More

Now a United Way Donor Designation Eligible Agency

Donate to Teen Book Fest through your company’s annual United Way Campaign. Donor Designation #3338.

Learn More

About TBF

Teens can sometimes be overlooked in libraries, with much attention, money, and resources given to children and adults. Somewhat caught in the middle of budgetary constraints, this is our opportunity to dedicate an event to teens, to encourage their reading, and to demonstrate their value to and within our communities. And…to have fun!

Connect

Connect and encourage interaction between teen readers, aspiring writers, and established, award-winning authors.

Promote

Support and celebrate recreational teen reading, and promote spreading the enjoyment of reading to others.

Educate

Entertain, educate, and enrich teens and other Festival participants.

Featured Authors

Sandhya Menon

Author of many books, including "When Dimple Met Rishi: Dimple and Rishi series (Book1)" and "From Twinkle, With Love".

Shaun David Hutchinson

Author of many books, including "A Complicated Love Story Set in Space " and "The State of Us".

Featured Books

The Cost of Knowing

Sixteen-year-old Alex Rufus is trying his best. He tries to be the best employee he can be at the local ice cream shop; the best boyfriend he can be to his amazing girlfriend, Talia; the best protector he can be over his little brother, Isaiah. But as much as Alex tries, he often comes up short. It’s hard to for him to be present when every time he touches an object...

By Brittney Morris
There's Something About Sweetie : Dimple and Rishi series (Book 2)

Ashish Patel didn’t know love could be so…sucky. After he’s dumped by his ex-girlfriend, his mojo goes AWOL. Even worse, his parents are annoyingly, smugly confident they could find him a better match. So, in a moment of weakness, Ash challenges them to set him up. The Patels insist that Ashish date an Indian-American girl—under contract. Per subclause 1(a), he’ll...

By Sandhya Menon
Maya and the Rising Dark: Maya and the Rising Dark series (Book 1)

Twelve-year-old Maya is the only one in her South Side Chicago neighborhood who witnesses weird occurrences like werehyenas stalking the streets at night and a scary man made of shadows plaguing her dreams. Her friends try to find an explanation—perhaps a ghost uprising or a lunchroom experiment gone awry. But to Maya, it sounds like something from one of Papa’s...

By Rena Barron
Our Wendy

Peter has lived in the Kielder forest for six years now. Scarred by the secrets of his cruel and buried past, he has stolen and survived with the boys around him for as long as he wants to remember. His most treasured possession is what creates his fantasy: the beloved story of Peter and Wendy. In his head, he has it all. He lives the life of the very fairytale...

By Kathryn Rider

2500 Expected Teens for 2021

Some people claim that teens don’t read! TBF proves them all wrong. Come experience what authors have started calling the Rock Concert of Teen Lit!

200 Volunteers

TBF could not happen without hundreds of volunteers helping to make the day run smoothly. Each year we rely on the energy of over 200 teen and 100 adult volunteers. We have to come call this TBF...

35 Awesome Author Attendees

We have authors coming in from all over the world! TBF has gone international!

16 Years in the Making

And still FREE to attend!

I had a wonderful time. It was truly inspiring to find myself in the company of so many fantastic readers, writers, and librarians; to feel so welcomed and well-cared for. It seems like so much work but also enormously rewarding to be working together toward a common, fantastic goal that does so much to support reading in the region.

‐ Cathleen Davitt Bell