To say the San Antonio Book Festival 2025 was my Superbowl would be an apt description to capture the pure excitement I had while attending this event. From the fabulous author lineup, fun vendors, and delicious food trucks set against the majesty of the San Antonio Central Library. It was certainly an experience to behold.
San Antonio Book Festival 2025
The festival was held at the San Antonio Central Library with select author discussions housed in rooms within the Central Library as well as two event tents on the grounds. Additionally, they partnered with local independent bookstore Nowhere Books which provided the books of many of the authors participating in the author discussions and was where author signings occurred following the end of their discussion.
There was plenty of entertainment and good food to enjoy as there were a variety of food trucks and vendor booths providing wares to sell complete with a children’s activities center for the kiddos to play games and have a good time.
While parking for such events will always be a bit of a headache the event planners did excellent by partnering with local parking garages to allow festival goers options of where to park within close range of the event.
Furthermore, the event itself was well-organized and structured. They provided ample information regarding the lineup of authors in advance and the day of, bonus points for making the map available online as well as an information packet in person to accommodate different needs to be accessible to all festival goers.
Author Discussions
There were over 100 authors who participated in the San Antonio Book Festival with them being either local, regional, or national. The representation was diverse as there were a variety of BIPOC authors featured at this event. And while it was impossible to attend all the events I wanted to I chose to participate in the discussions of Ashley Winstead and May Cobb, Laila Lalami, and Stephen Graham Jones.
Ashley Winstead & May Cobb
I found this discussion delightful learning more about where mystery thriller authors find inspiration, the art of the plot twist, how they plan (or not) who the killer is, and whether they felt guilt over killing off characters which was a resounding no. This discussion was such fun and I left wanting to explore more works by these authors.
I’ve read Ashley Winstead’s first novel In My Dreams I Hold A Knife which was a pretty average read for me. However, I’m interested in her new release This Book Will Bury Me she read an excerpt and immediately grabbed my attention so I now have it on hold at the library waiting for it to become available.
The premise takes inspiration from real life chronicling Ashley’s obsession with the true crime case The Idaho University Murders following the untimely passing of her father. In the story, we’re following a young woman who also turns to true crime following her father’s death and the wild events that occur as she becomes an active participant in this community.
Additionally, I did pick up her other novel Midnight Is The Darkest Hour which follows Ruth as she protects her friend from a vicious accusation while uncovering shocking truths about her small-town community.
I’ve never read a book by May Cobb and have since picked up The Hunting Wives where bored housewife Sophie O’Neal becomes friends with a mysterious socialite and her clique and becomes entangled in their web and drawn into suspicion following the death of a teenage girl.
I also reserved her new release The Hollywood Assistant which follows an aspiring screenwriter Cassidy Foster as she finds herself drawn into the madness of Nate and Marisol Sterlings’ toxic marriage leading to her becoming a suspect for murder.
Laila Lalami
Next up was the discussion with Laila Lalami regarding her recent release The Dream Hotel. I recently started reading this book 
and after completing find it a brilliant piece of work and Lalami to be an amazingly talented writer for crafting such a powerful story. She shared during her talk her inspiration for the novel being how convenient we’ve become with tech allowing them permissions with our data that ultimately leads them to sell this information in ways that may lead to compromising complications. She also mentioned the heavy surveillance she experienced in Morocco to be another inspiration for this piece.
These influences were felt in this novel with the themes and concepts regarding technology, data collection, capitalism, freedom, and bias being explored beautifully.
Stephen Graham Jones
The final author discussion I attended was for Stephen Graham Jones and this was perhaps the most illuminating as he not only dove into his inspiration for his current release The Buffalo Hunter Hunter but provided context regarding his prior work as well. I enjoyed the social commentary that he peppered in throughout his discussion and his camaraderie and affection for his fans as he answered questions and had this beautiful rapport with the audience.
Though I’ve never read his work and his current release will be my first foray into his world I’m excited because he just seems like such a cool guy with insightful thoughts and I just know the social commentary is going to be fire!
So, The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is a vampire story following the events of a massacre contributing to the death of 217 Blackfeet dead and the series of events that transpire as told in interviews with a Blackfeet named Good Stab.
I had such a fabulous time at the 13th Annual San Antonio Book Festival 2025 as I spent the entire day listening to authors discuss their craft, buying books from new to me authors, eating delicious food, visiting the Central Library, and loading up on all the books and enjoy the South Texas sunshine.
If you’re in the area next year I highly recommend visiting the festival it was an awesome experience that I won’t forget. Til next time friends happy reading!
