5th Annual Children’s Fairyland Book Festival

Saturday, June 18, 2022, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m

This year, the festival features 25 Bay Area beloved and emerging children’s book authors and illustrators. Throughout the day-long festival, six high-profile authors and illustrators will give special 25-minute book presentations and live art demonstrations at Fairyland’s Emerald City Stage, with opportunities for audience members to ask the presenters about their craft. At the Merry Meadow, books will be for sale by the Collective Oakland and can be signed by the featured authors during scheduled meet-and-greet times. Author meet-and-greets will happen in five time slots with five to six authors tabling at a time. Young Bay Area writers ages 8-12 from Fairyland’s Youth Writer’s Workshop will share a special reading at the Youth Author Table in the afternoon. This festival celebrates children’s literature and weaves together a community of diverse Bay Area book lovers: young readers meet the makers behind the stories and authors at last meet the readers they inspire.

Headlining authors include:

Mac Barnett, creator and host of the popular “Mac's Book Club Show” on Instagram, New York Times bestseller and multiple award-winning author of stories for children, including his latest titles “The First Cat in Space Ate Pizza” and “The Great Zapfino”

JaNay Brown-Wood, multiple award-winning children’s author, poet, educator and scholar, with books including, “Miguel's Community Garden” and “Imani’s Moon”

Joanna Ho, New York Times bestseller and multiple award-winning author of children’s picture books, including “Eyes that Kiss in the Corners” and “Eyes That Speak to the Stars”

Nina LaCour, Michael L. Printz Award winner for best young adult literature in 2017 and debuting her first children’s picture book, “Mama and Mommy and Me in the Middle”

C.V. Monterrubio, author and illustrator of “Do Whales Poop/​Las Ballenas Hacen Popo?”

Wednesday Kirwan, author and illustrator of multiple picture books including “Baby Bug”

Other featured authors and illustrators: John Casselberry • Madeline Connor • Angela Dalton • Cindy Derby (2021 Caldecott Honor for “Outside In”) • Hayley Diep • Meg Fleming • Alia Gabres • Michael Genhart (2022 Pura Belpre Award for “May Your Life Be Deliciosa”) • Jill Guerra • Felicia Hoshino • Illustoria• Nancy Johnson James • Dawood Marion • Constance Moore • Christina Newhard • Jane Park (2015-2016 Asian Pacific American Librarians Association’s Asian Pacific American Award for “Juna’s Jar”) • Keely Parrack • Lea Redmond • Nadia Salomon • Victoria Sanchez • Simone Shin • Emma Bland Smith • Meera Sriram (2021 South Asia Book Award for “A Gift for Amma”) • Meredith Steiner • Maggie Tokuda Hall (2021 Poppy Award, Young Adult for “Squad”) • Justine Villanueva

The fifth annual Children’s Fairyland Book Festival is sponsored by Stanford Children’s Health. Festival attendance is free with park admission. Tickets are $15 for guests age 1-100 and include event attendance and park entrance for the day. Purchase tickets in advance by visiting www.fairyland.org/tickets.