Authors and panelists representing the School of Liberal Arts — as faculty, alumni, and partners — participated in today's most important conversations.
This page is being updated as videos become available.
The complete 2026 Bookfest schedule can be found on the Bookfest website.
Thursday, March 12, 2026
America at 250: Opening Night with The Atlantic
5:00 PM, McAlister Auditorium
Walter Isaacson Faculty / Book Fest Chair Panelist
Friday, March 13, 2026
A Wealth of Humor: A Conversation with Simon Rich, Writer for SNL & The New Yorker
11:00 AM, ROTC
Mike Sacks Alumni Moderator
The State of the Nation Project: In Books
12:00 PM, ROTC
Douglas Harris Gary “Hoov” Hoover Faculty Panelist
America 250: Can Government Help? From Founding Ideals to Civic Reality
1:00 PM, Marshall Family Commons
Gary “Hoov” Hoover Faculty Panelist
Climate Reality: What Science, History & Cities Must Face
1:00 PM, Stibbs
Nathaniel Rich Faculty Moderator
It Doesn’t Have to Hurt: Your Smart Guide to a Pain-Free Life
2:30 PM, Fogelman Arena
Walter Isaacson Faculty / Book Fest Chair Moderator
Beyond the Blue Dog: Wendy Rodrigue Magnus on Legacy, Leadership & Reinvention
4:00 PM, Marshall Family Commons
Wendy Rodrigue Magnus Alumni Panelists
Passing It On: The Art of John T. Scott
4:00 PM, Diboll Gallery
Freddi Williams Evans TGHC Fellow Panelist
When Societal Bonds Collapse: Moral Complexity in Fiction
4:00 PM, Kendall Cram
Nathaniel Rich Faculty Moderator
Saturday, March 14, 2026
The Stories We Tell: Reclaiming Identity through Memoir & Personal Essay
11:00 AM, Diboll Gallery
Thomas Beller Faculty Panelist
David Weill Alumni Panelist
When a Cookbook Becomes a Book: Rescuing Recipes, Preserving Stories
11:00 AM, Stibbs
Golan Moskowitz Faculty Moderator
The Greatest Sentence Ever Written: A Conversation with Walter Isaacson
11:30 AM, McAlister Auditorium
Walter Isaacson Faculty Panelist
Balancing Craft & Community: Restaurants with a Purpose
1:00 PM, Marshall Family Commons
Kelly Jaques Alumni Panelist
Instant Classics: New Memoirs from Molly Jong-Fast + Susan Orlean
1:00 PM, Kendall Cram
Thomas Beller Faculty Moderator
Live from New Orleans: A Conversation with The New Yorker’s Susan Morrison About Her Biography ‘Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live’
3:00 PM, Stibbs
Mike Sacks Alumni Moderator
Who We Are: Stories That Shape a Nation
4:00 PM
McAlister Auditorium
Viet Thanh Nguyen CBB Author Panelist