Des Moines Book Festival

Beaverdale Books News Release

March 17, 2025

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (Des Moines):

Hundreds of Authors and Readers of All Ages Expected

2025 DSM Book Festival Features Something for Everyone

Readers and book lovers in central Iowa will enjoy an outstanding array of authors that will be appearing at the DSM Book Festival on Saturday, March 22. Festival hours will be from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The free, fun-filled event, presented by Beaverdale Books and Beaverdale Neighborhood Association, will be held at the Franklin Event Center, located at 4801 Franklin Avenue in Des Moines. In addition to author programs, panels, workshops, and children’s activities, the event will offer attendees the opportunity to have their books signed, visit with writers, illustrators, and publishers, while mingling with fellow book lovers. Find the full schedule at: DSM Book Festival.  The event is free and there is free parking available.  Six food trucks will be on site, so attendees are encouraged to spend the day!  

Four headlining presentations will be offered in the venue’s large theater, including:

• Fiction writer Claire Lombardo,presented by Prairie Meadows
• Historian Alexis Coe,presented by State Historical Society of Iowa
• Award-winning Hanif Abdurraqib,presented by Beaverdale Books
• Bestselling author C.J. Box. Presented as part of the. AViD Author Series

There will be more than two dozen panel discussions throughout the day.  Tim Johnston, author of the 2025 All Iowa Reads title, Distant Sons, will be in conversation with Ted Wheeler, the author of this year’s Omaha Reads book.  DMACC will sponsor a conversation with Iowa Writers Workshop authors, Ada Zhang, Claire Lombardo, Carmen Maria Machado, and Lan Samantha Chang.  Bankers Trust will host Julie Gammack and several members of the Iowa Writers Collective. Readers of every genre may discover a new author or connect with a favorite topic—from romance to westerns, local history to sustainability, fiction and nonfiction, children’s and young adult.  The DSM Book Festival has it all!

Families are encouraged to attend.  There will be a Kids Zone hosted by the Des Moines Public Library featuring kid-friendly activities, author storytimes, and appearances by costume characters, including Rosie Reader and Star Wars figures.  More than 70 Festival Authors will have their books available for purchase at exhibit tables in the venue’s East Gym, along with book-related merchants and nonprofit organizations. Here is a map showing the various activity locations. 

END

For more information:

Jan Danielson Kaiser 

Events & Marketing Coordinator

beaverdalebooksevents@gmail.com

515.279.5400 store

515-491-4791 mobile

Jan Danielson Kaiser    

(she/her)

Marketing & Events Coordinator

Beaverdale Books

2629 Beaver Avenue

Des Moines, IA 50310

515-279-5400 store

515-491-4791 cell

      Saturday, March 22, 2025