Harbor Springs Festival of the Book
A beautiful town, the best book festival ever, and I can't wait to go back next year
Hi readers,
Getting closer to my destination on Thursday, I marveled at the sparkling blue water of Lake Michigan and the breathtaking landscape driving through Petoskey on my way to Harbor Springs. I’ve never been to Michigan before, and I was excited to see one of the Great Lakes and even more excited to arrive in Harbor Springs—a small town of almost 1,300 year-round residents. Not only is the town filled with tourists during the summer, but in the winter, the area is packed with winter sports enthusiasts skiing, snowboarding, snowmobiling, and more.
I’ve been to many small towns and have never seen one as pretty as Harbor Springs. The quaint downtown area is home to local cafes and restaurants, shops and galleries, arts and entertainment centers, and I can only imagine how it sparkles during the holiday season. There is even a Little Free Library on Main Street, and as I was walking by, an older gentleman had a box full of books, and he was restocking it for the festival and weekend traffic. He told me he visits it daily to ensure it’s full of books, and on busy weekends, he makes sure plenty of children’s books are available. It’s important to him that children have books to read.
My favorite shop on Main Street is Between the Covers Bookstore (of course), owned by Katie Boeckl, who happens to be the Literary Director of the Festival of the Book—more on that in a bit. She bought the bookstore in 2013 from its retiring owner, moved it from its basement-level location to Main Street, and turned it into the bookstore of her dreams. Her vision was to have “a book store where customers would come in to talk about books just the same as they would to buy them. She hoped to take her enthusiasm for reading and the arts outside of the store, helping others find that connection, too.” You can read more about the bookstore, Boeckl, and the origins of the Festival in this Petoskey News article from 2015.
The Harbor Springs Festival of the Book began in 2016 and, in its ninth year, hosted forty-five authors such as J. Courtney Sullivan, Catherine Newman, Rainbow Rowell, Andrew J. Graff, Ben Guterson, and more. There are several locations with events happening throughout the downtown and harbor area, and as one author said, “It’s an embarrassment of riches.” One of the best things about the Festival, and there are so many, is children’s and teen book authors arrive a day early and visit schools in the area with events and readings designed to help kids cultivate the joy in reading with creative projects and workshops. Another “best” thing is the forty-five-page program listing everything an attendee needs to know about the Festival. There are author bios, grid schedules, maps showing all the festival event locations, and, best of all, descriptions of each event written by Katie Boeckl. Who wouldn’t want to go to an event when you read a description like this:
Characters Who Save Us
We know we’re not alone here when we say that—while we love a good protagonist—it’s often the sidekicks, understated best friends, found family members, wise creatures, voices from beyond, and even the more-than-meets-the-eye enemies who worm their way into our hearts. It can be a hard ask for the hero of the story to rely on other characters, but it is these others who often call forth the traits and reveal the truths that the title role needs. With their help, our main characters solve the mysteries, achieve their goals and—most importantly—discover who it is they want to be.
The above description is for a panel discussion with authors Darcie Little Badger, Amy Pease, and Anton Treuer about their books Sheine Lende, Northwoods, and Where Wolves Don’t Die, respectively. Had I not read that description, I wouldn’t have attended this session, but I am so glad I did. The authors had the audience laughing, and we learned so much about each of them and their books. The website has brochures for the previous year’s Festivals that you can check out here. I’m assuming the brochure from 2024 will be on the website before next year’s Festival.
I could go on and on about the Festival and each session I attended, but I’ll stick to a short summary of facts and fun things a reader might want to know before attending:
It is SO well organized, and the volunteers are friendly and helpful, ensuring that every question posed by attendees is answered.
The town welcomes all festival guests, and everyone makes you feel right at home.
The authors have their own “green room” where they have food and snacks, and they can prepare for their sessions and meet and interact with other authors. The authors said having an opportunity to meet other authors was really fun.
The Festival's first session on Friday morning is an overview by Literary Director Katie Boeckl. If you go to the Festival, don’t miss this session. She is funny and personable, the author of all the session descriptions, and by the time you leave her session, you are furiously trying to figure out how to go to all the sessions that she made sound so good.
Donors not only contribute funds to make the Festival what it is, they also host the authors in their homes while the author is in town. Author Ben Guterson remarked that his host took him out on his boat to show him the area and that he had a great time. He said he’d never been to an author event and felt so special and cared for.
On Friday and Saturday, there is a session called Book & Bag Readings, where you can listen to authors read from their books while eating lunch. So much fun!
There are evaluations for each session you attend. The organizers encourage festival goers to evaluate each session as that helps them plan for next year’s Festival and learn more about what worked and might not have worked so well. There is also an email evaluation that allows the festival goer to expand on their experience with any additional comments not specific to the sessions attended.
Each session allows for questions from the audience at the end (15 minutes), and authors stay and sign their books after their sessions. There is an “all presenter” signing and happy hour late Saturday afternoon, and drinks are available for purchase.
There have been very few author repeats, so each year is different, and you can go back year after year, as many festival goers do.
The fee to attend the Festival is $20.
Festival goers can attend additional ticketed events, but those sell out fast. This year’s events included a movie showing ($5) on Thursday night, a keynote presentation ($50, includes book) on Friday night, and a luncheon cooking presentation ($100, includes lunch & book) with a cookbook author on Friday and Sunday.
Between the Covers Bookstore runs a pop-up bookstore every day during the festival hours with books for sale, and the Festival also has its merchandise for sale. I didn’t buy any books since I’m an e-book reader, but I bought a three-pack of small “bookish” notebooks and three bookish stickers for my book cart. My most treasured keepsake from the Festival is the program.
The moderators of the events I attended were all in the “book” industry somehow (educators, booksellers, editors, publicists, etc.), and all were knowledgeable about the authors they were moderating. The questions were fun, specific to the genre, and not the “normal” type of questions one usually hears an author answer.
I’ve been to enough book festivals to know what works and what doesn’t for the festival goer, and I can honestly say there isn’t anything I’d change about this Festival to make it better. I can and will sing its praises to anyone who wants to know of a great book festival to attend.
One of my most favorite things to do when traveling to a new-to-me area is to drive around to see what I can see. Major roads, country roads, dirt roads—it doesn’t matter to me. I want to see everything, and Harbor Springs and the surrounding area have plenty to see. There was farmland with rows of corn and other produce growing, and then the landscape changed to grape vines and wineries. The fall colors were just starting; the leaves were changing, the hills had rows and rows of trees, and some hills had rows of giant Christmas-type trees. I drove north to Mackinaw City, saw the old Mackinac Point Lighthouse, walked the downtown area of Mackinaw City, and then drove across the big bridge to see what was on the other side. Heading out of town, I drove through the Upper Peninsula across to Wisconsin, down through Milwaukee and Chicago, so I could see something different from what I had seen on the way to the area.
The town of Harbor Springs has many beautiful, old, restored houses, and there must be building codes that require new homes built in the downtown area to also look like the “old, restored” houses. I took hundreds of pictures (I see my photography skills need improvement after looking at all the pics I took), drove hundreds of miles, and can’t wait to return next year. Harbor Springs, I adore you!
Thanks for tagging along on my trip. Thanks for being here and for reading. The Festival is a must-see if you are in the Harbor Springs area. If you want to visit the area, the Festival is a great time to see what a lovely area it is. You won’t be sorry!
omg how dreamy this sounds
You make me want to put it on my 2025 wish list.