By Sophia Mastice
For HDMedia
Several well-known authors including Goosebumps creator R.L. Stine will be featured at the 2026 West Virginia Book Festival, which returns to Charleston in October. This year’s festival will also feature bestselling authors Margot Lee Shetterly, Craig Johnson, Kate Quinn and Rosalie Haizlett.
The festival will be Oct. 24 at the Charleston Coliseum & Convention Center. Event highlights include two writing workshops, two additional author presentations and four children’s programs. The festival’s marketplace, used book sale and children’s word play will be in the Convention Center’s Grand Hall.
The festival, in its 23rd year, is sponsored by the Charleston Gazette-Mail, the Kanawha County Public Library, the Library Foundation of Kanawha County and the West Virginia Humanities Council.
The Festival began in 2001 and has been held annually since then, except for 2013 and 2014 because of funding problems and 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some authors that have been featured in the past are fantasy writer R.F Kuang, in 2023, and current Vice President JD Vance, in 2016.
About the authors
The following authors are scheduled to speak at the festival. They’ll make their presentations at the Little Theatre unless otherwise noted:
9 a.m.: Rosalie Haizlett is a West Virginia-based author and illustrator of books including “Watercolor in Nature and Tiny Worlds of the Appalachian Mountains.” Haizlett will discuss her book and artwork. Haizlett will present in Rooms 204-205 at the Convention Center.
10 a.m.: Kate Quinn is a New York Times and USA Today best-selling author known for her works of historical fiction. Her novel “The Alice Network” was selected by actress Reece Witherspoon for her book club in 2017. Quinn will discuss her latest book “The Astral Library.”
Noon: Margo Lee Shetterly is the best-selling author of “Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race“ which was made into the 2016 film “Hidden Figures.”
2 p.m.: Craig Johnson, who is originally from Huntington, is a New York Times best-selling author. He has written many books, and his “Walt Longmire Mystery” Series became the basis for the Netflix series, “Longmire.”
4 p.m.: R.L. Stine is the author of the best-selling horror series “Goosebumps.“ The fictional series centers around the child or teenage protagonists’ encounters with the paranormal or occult. The series has sold more than 400 million books and been translated into 35 languages.
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