We are thrilled to exclusively reveal the 2025 author line-up for the 14th annual Nantucket Book Festival taking place June 12 to 15. Featured authors at this year’s Festival include two time Pulitzer Prize winner and investigative journalist Bob Woodward; Hughes-Rogers Professor of African American Studies at Princeton University and National Book Award Winner for Nonfiction Imani Perry;#1 New York Times best-selling author Carl Hiaasen whose novel Bad Monkey was adapted into a series on Apple TV starring Vince Vaughn; Pulitzer Prize winner Geraldine Brooks, author of Memorial Days, a memoir of marriage and loss; critically acclaimed poet and best-selling author of the anticipated novel, The Emperor of Gladness, Ocean Vuong; Professor Jennifer Finney Boylan, author of Cleavage and She’s Not There, the first best-selling work by a transgender American; and Wally Lamb, the two time Oprah’s Book Club author of I Know This Much is True and the upcoming novel, The River is Waiting.
Pulitzer Prize winning authors and critically acclaimed writers will headline the 2025 slate of authors for the 14th annual Nantucket Book Festival taking place June 12 to 15. Featured authors at this year’s festival include two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and investigative journalist Bob Woodward; Imani Perry, the Hughes-Rogers Professor of African American Studies at Princeton University and National Book Award Winner for Nonfiction; #1 New York Times best-selling author Carl Hiaasen, whose novel Bad Monkey was adapted into a series on Apple TV starring Vince Vaughn; Pulitzer Prize winner Geraldine Brooks, author of Memorial Days, a memoir of marriage and loss; Ocean Vuong, a critically acclaimed poet and best-selling author of the anticipated novel The Emperor of Gladness; Professor Jennifer Finney Boylan, author of Cleavage and She’s Not There, the first best-selling work by a transgender American; and Wally Lamb, the two time Oprah’s Book Club author of I Know This Much is True and the upcoming novel, The River is Waiting.
Additional authors who will present June 12 – 15 are Meenakshi Ahamed, Richard Cary, Billy Costa and Jenny Johnson, Kim Coleman Foote, Lisa Genova, Patti Callahan Henry, Alice Hoffman, Molly Jong-Fast, Patrick Radden Keefe, Ann Leary, Betsy Lerner, Victor Luckerson, and Jason Reynolds, the award winning and best-selling author of more than a dozen books for young adults and middle graders and past Nantucket Book Foundation “Visiting Author in Schools.” The stellar list continues with Adam Ross, Loretta J. Ross, Chris Sheppard, Wright Thompson, Dawn Tripp, Jonathan Waterman, Nantucket summer resident Suzy Welch, author of 10-10-10: A Life-Transforming Idea, and Becoming You: The Proven Method for Crafting Your Authentic Life and Career, and the “Read with Jenna” author of Black Cake, Charmaine Wilkerson.
The Nantucket Book Festival Committee works tirelessly to bring diverse voices to Nantucket Island for this popular annual event—voices that capture the full human experience and celebrate the transformative power of literature. The full roster of renowned authors represents a vast array of subjects and genres, from literary fiction, to poetry, to memoir, to self-help.
The Nantucket Book Festival, now in its 14th year, has established itself as a major summer destination for booklovers with impressive and eclectic line-ups of award-winning authors. The four-day festival will offer author readings, panel discussions and social events in an informal atmosphere that encourages conversations between writers and readers. Most Nantucket Book Festival events are free and held within walking distance of the ferries.
Need to catch up on your reading before you hear these fabulous authors speak? You can find all the books in Mitchell’s Book Corner on Main Street, Nantucket, featured in the MBC official 2025 Nantucket Book Festival display or on the shelves at Nantucket Bookworks or in the Nantucket Atheneum. Not on island? Each book cover displayed on the Mitchell’s Book Store website is linked to a page where you can purchase it.
Full event schedule and tickets for the Author Dinner on Friday, June 13 will be available soon at nantucketbookfestival.org. On July 31, The Blue Bistro Bash featuring author Elin Hilderbrand will be held to benefit the Book Festival. Her fans and Elin herself declare The Blue Bistro as Elin’s favorite novel. With that as inspiration, this night of fun at the Nantucket Hotel & Resort begins with a “Read the Runway” Fashion Show featuring looks and books, a Live Auction with some of Elin’s favorite things and items from the story, a conversation with Elin and Tim Ehrenberg of Tim Talks Books, a book signing, and cocktails and light bites inspired by The Blue Bistro. The evening ends with music and dancing. Attendees are encouraged to wear the color blue to celebrate the them: they will be able to boast that they just lived in an Elin Hilderbrand novel! This event has sold out every year, so don’t wait to get your tickets.
The Nantucket Book Festival operates under the Nantucket Book Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded to celebrate and promote the joys and rewards of reading and writing. The organization seeks to present an annual quality program that honors national, regional, and local authors and the rich culture of the written word, ideas, and the imagination. The Nantucket Book Foundation runs literacy programs and author events year-round, working together with island educators, organizations and businesses to celebrate the enduring power of books to teach, transport and connect us to one another.