The New Orleans Book Festival at Tulane is leveling up again. Organizers are stretching both the lineup and the campus footprint for March 12-15, pulling in marquee authors and spinning Sunday into a dedicated Family Day. The free, four-day festival will pack Tulane’s uptown campus with panels, readings, food and kid-focused programming.
In a news release, Tulane University said the fifth annual festival will bring together more than 100 nationally bestselling and critically acclaimed authors and will be co-chaired by Walter Isaacson and Cheryl Landrieu. The release notes that the event remains free and open to the public, with the complete schedule and speaker list posted on the festival website, according to Tulane University.
Opening Night Brings the Heavy Hitters
Opening-night programming is set to assemble a high-profile crew. Walter Isaacson, documentary powerhouse Ken Burns, writer and scholar Clint Smith and Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Annette Gordon-Reed are all on the bill, with The Atlantic editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg moderating the kickoff. That on-stage lineup and the collaboration with The Atlantic were laid out in coverage by NOLA.com.
Family Day Slides to Sunday
Organizers are also reshuffling the schedule so that Family Day now lands on March 15, giving children’s programming a full day to itself instead of squeezing it into the main slate. The festival says Sunday will feature readings, performances, hands-on crafts and a free Scholastic book distribution. New Orleans Saints head coach Kellen Moore and his wife, Julie, will serve as honorary co-chairs, and the festival confirms that Fox 8 host Kelsey Davis will emcee Family Day, according to the family-day page at Book Fest at Tulane.
Bigger Campus Footprint, New Venues
To handle the growth, organizers say the festival footprint is expanding across campus. A tent on Tulane’s quad will host live music on Friday and Saturday, and Devlin Fieldhouse will serve as the largest indoor venue for author conversations and marquee events. Cheryl Landrieu framed the upgrades as a way to deepen community ties, saying that new larger spaces and additional programming will give people more chances to connect, according to reporting by NOLA.com.
Rising Crowds Push the Festival to Grow
The buildout is not happening in a vacuum. Organizers point to fast-rising attendance as the push behind the expansion. Last year’s festival was estimated at 18,000 attendees, an increase of roughly 20 percent from the prior year, a jump festival staff say helped drive the larger footprint and extra programming. That attendance figure appears in local coverage and festival recaps, including reporting from Here New Orleans.
How to Get In
The New Orleans Book Festival at Tulane remains free to attend, though individual sessions and book signings are first-come, first-served, and some ticketed events may require an early arrival to secure a seat. For registration details, the full schedule and session information, visit the festival website at Book Fest at Tulane. An overview of the 2026 author lineup and festival plans is also available from Tulane University.
