Bay Area Book Festival

Family Day

Saturday May 31, 2025, 11 am – 5pm, Berkeley Public Library

More notable names you'll see at our May 31 Family Day

Social media, isolation, belonging and identity: those are just a few factors impacting teenagers’ mental health across the world. This year’s Family Day programs and authors include an impactful panel discussion focused on teen mental health in diverse communities with Carolina Ixta, (Shut Up, This is Serious) Rex Ogle, (When We Ride) J.R. Rice, (Broken Pencils), and Clare Osongco (Midnights With You). This discussion will resonate with both teens and adults, offering insight into the universal experience of finding one’s way through the maze of mental health, family, and identity. 

This year, you’ll also find panels on body autonomy, graphic novels, romance and love stories, resistance and healing, and much more to assist you in keeping grounded in community and entertained through our current times. 

Program Highlights

Huda Fahmy, National Book Award finalist in Young People’s Literature for the graphic novel Huda F Cares? Her new novel, Huda F Wants to Know?, is its funny and poignant sequel.

Zetta Elliott, with The Oracle’s Door, the prequel to her bestselling 
Dragons in a Bag series.

Wahab Algarmi, writer, comic artist, and author of Almost Sunset.

Annie Barrows, author of the Ivy + Bean series, which has sold over 8 million copies and been adapted into a popular Netflix Original Film series. Her new book, Stella and Marigold, is the first in an acclaimed and hilarious new series about two sisters. 

Katryn Bury, author of the critically acclaimed Drew Leclair mysteries, with her latest novel, We Are Not Alone, about the unlikely friendship between a recent cancer survivor and a popular girl at school as they join forces to uncover the truth about alien life in honor of a best friend’s final wishes.

Gene Luen Yang, New York Times bestselling and award-winning author and cartoonist whose latest graphic novel, Dragon Hoops, turns the spotlight on his own life, his family, and the Oakland high school where he teaches.

Social Justice Children’s Book Fair

New this year: Family Day is being co-presented in partnership with the Social Justice Children's Book Fair!

For the past eight years, the Social Justice Children’s Book Fair has gathered independent children’s book creators, publishers, and advocates at its annual event in the East Bay. The Oakland-based fair and organization uplifts books that embody the spirit of authentic, independent, and under-represented voices in children’s literature. SJCBF is also building a movement–one that not only defies book bans but works towards a larger vision: to see a world where independent children’s book creators have the support to conceive, develop, distribute, and champion a diversity of social justice-centered stories that children, families, teachers, librarians, and book lovers need as we build a society where we can all thrive.

The Bay Area has always been a hub and a catalyst of literary movements–local, national and global. For the past decade the Bay Area Book Festival has been the place to discover and celebrate these movements up-close and personal. Through this year’s partnership with SJCBF, we collectively seek to spotlight the exciting creativity and innovation that continues to thrive in the world of children’s literature. Come for fun, cute, clever, and silly. Come for awe, awakenings, and all the feelings. And come for what Rudine Sims Bishop refers to as mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors: A space for our children to see themselves, gain insight and empathy into the experiences of others, and a chance to walk between worlds.