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The National HBCU Book Festival on a sunlit college campus lawn, with white vendor tents full of books, attendees browsing and reading outdoors, and a panel discussion on a covered stage in front of a historic columned building

September 2027 | Atlanta, Georgia

National HBCU
Book Festival™

Our Stories Live Here.

One Festival. Multiple Historic Campuses. One National Stage for HBCU Literature.

A national literary and cultural experience celebrating the authors, books, ideas, scholarship, history and stories connected to Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

Join the movementGet festival updatesExplore the vision

Presented by The Crystal Stair Group Inc.

Be first on the road to Atlanta

Get festival updates as Chapter One takes shape.

The Vision

This Is More Than
A Book Festival.

The National HBCU Book Festival™ is envisioned as a national literary and cultural experience celebrating the authors, books, ideas, scholarship, history and stories connected to Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

In September 2027, we envision bringing authors, readers, students, alumni, educators, publishers, thought leaders, families and literary professionals from across the country to Atlanta.

Rather than placing the festival inside one traditional event venue, our vision is to create a literary journey rooted in the historic Atlanta University Center community.

“The campuses don't simply become places where programming happens. The place itself becomes part of the story.”
Why the AUC

Why Atlanta.
Why the AUC.

The Atlanta University Center community represents generations of Black scholarship, leadership, innovation, activism, creativity and intellectual achievement. It offers something a conventional festival venue cannot:

History. Legacy. Culture. Place.

A national literary experience rooted in this historic community creates opportunities for student and alumni engagement, literary scholarship, author discovery, cultural preservation, national tourism and meaningful collaboration.

01

History

02

Legacy

03

Literature

04

Future

The multi-campus experience described here reflects the festival vision and is not a finalized agreement with individual institutions.

The Festival Journey

Four Chapters.
One Story.

Proposed signature experiences designed to create a literary journey through the historic AUC community.

Our History Lives Here

I

Proposed location: Morris Brown College

Who Will Save Our Stories? We Will.

Black history, oral storytelling, archives, cultural memory, preservation and the responsibility to protect the stories that brought us here.

Our Voices Live Here

II

Proposed location: Spelman College

Black Women Write the World

A multigenerational panel of Black women authors, scholars, poets, journalists and storytellers whose words continue to shape culture.

Our Power Lives Here

III

Proposed location: Morehouse College

The Open Book

An Intimate Conversation with a Literary Icon

The festival's signature headliner experience, The Open Book brings a celebrated author to the stage for an engaging live interview before a festival audience. Through candid conversation, the featured author will share the stories behind their work, their journey, their ideas, and the experiences that have shaped their voice — followed by an opportunity for audience engagement.

Our Future Lives Here

IV

Proposed location: Clark Atlanta University

The JETT Stage

The Black Experience. Our Ideas. Our Voices.

Justice • Education • Technology • Travel. A short-form ideas and storytelling platform for the Black experience through four powerful lenses.

Proposed programming concepts are subject to institutional partnership and approval.

A platform for ideas

The JETT
Stage

The Black Experience. Our Ideas. Our Voices.

  • JJustice
  • EEducation
  • TTechnology
  • TTravel

The JETT Stage is envisioned as a platform for bold ideas, scholarship, lived experiences and storytelling centered on the Black experience — bringing together authors, scholars, innovators, educators, students, cultural leaders and emerging voices to explore ideas worth carrying forward.

Our Authors Deserve
To Be Discovered.

Our students deserve to see themselves as the next generation of writers and thinkers.

Our institutions deserve recognition for their literary contributions.

Our scholarship deserves a larger audience.

Our history deserves to be preserved.

Our stories deserve to reach generations we may never meet.

HBCUs have educated generations of writers, scholars, thinkers, educators, activists and cultural leaders. Yet HBCU authorship, contemporary books, emerging writers, scholarship and literary history remain dispersed.

The National HBCU Book Festival™ seeks to create a national platform capable of bringing these stories together.

Visibility.

Discovery.

Scholarship.

Ownership.

Preservation.

Legacy.

Proposed Festival Experiences

Discover
What's Coming.

The festival grounds are envisioned as a Homecoming — authors signing beneath colorful tents, HBCU institutions are represented lined along the walk, children reading in the shade, and generations of readers moving between them.

A festival vendor greeting a reader at a book table beneath a canopy printed with National HBCU Book Festival, banners and stacked books lining the walk, a columned campus hall rising behind
01

Author Marketplace

Meet authors and discover books from HBCU-connected voices across genres.

02

Author Conversations & Book Signings

Intimate and large-stage conversations with writers, scholars and thought leaders.

03

Publishers Row

Connecting authors and readers with publishers, university presses, independent presses and literary organizations.

04

HBCU Institutional Row

A national gathering place for participating HBCUs, libraries, archives, academic programs and alumni communities.

05

Children's Literature Village

Celebrating children's authors, young readers, illustrators, literacy and the next generation of storytellers.

06

Writing & Publishing Experiences

Practical conversations on writing, publishing, marketing and building sustainable literary careers.

07

Story Preservation

Archives, oral history, family stories, cultural memory and the preservation of Black history.

08

Student & Emerging Writers

Opportunities for HBCU students and emerging writers to learn, connect and be seen.

The Vision for September 2027

Hundreds

of authors and exhibitors

Thousands

of readers and visitors

Nationwide

HBCU representation

Multiple

historic campus experiences

One

national literary experience

Planning goals, not confirmed figures.

One weekend can begin something that lasts for generations.

Two generations preserving family letters, photographs and HBCU yearbooks together

Letters. Photographs. Yearbooks.
Oral histories. Family documents.

What Happens
To A Story When
No One Saves It?

The National HBCU Book Festival™ is not only about discovering the books being written today.

It is also about asking what happens to the stories that came before us—and what responsibility we have to protect the stories being created now.

Our long-term vision includes helping connect HBCU authorship, literary history, oral storytelling, scholarship, archives and cultural memory so that important stories remain discoverable for generations to come.

Who Will Save
Our Stories?

We Will.

Partnerships

Build This
With Us.

Creating a national stage for HBCU literature requires collaboration. We welcome conversations with HBCUs, libraries, archives, publishers, corporations, foundations, literary organizations, alumni communities, cultural institutions, educators, media organizations and community partners who believe in the importance of Black authorship and storytelling.

Institutional Partners
Literary & Publishing Partners
Corporate Partners
Libraries & Archives
Media Partners
Community Partners

Partnership Inquiry

HBCU Author Network

HBCU Authors,
We're Building
This For You.

The National HBCU Book Festival™ is building a national community of authors connected to Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

Traditionally published, independently published, faculty, alumni, student writer, children's author, scholar, poet or emerging storyteller — we want to know you exist.

An author signing a book at a festival table on a sunlit campus quad, with the National HBCU Book Festival invitation beside her

Join the HBCU Author Interest List

The first step toward a national HBCU author network.

Joining the interest list does not guarantee festival participation.

Presented By

The Crystal
Stair Group Inc.

The National HBCU Book Festival™ is presented by The Crystal Stair Group Inc., a nonprofit organization committed to advancing Black excellence through literacy, social justice, technology, community development, entrepreneurship and the arts.

The festival advances Crystal Stair's broader commitment to literacy, cultural preservation, education, storytelling and creating opportunities for future generations.

Learn more about Crystal StairSupport the mission

Stay Connected

Be Here For
Chapter One.

September 2027 will mark the beginning. Be among the first to receive announcements about authors, programming, partnerships, exhibitor opportunities, tickets, volunteer opportunities and the road to Atlanta.

September 2027 • Atlanta, Georgia

Our Stories
Live Here.

National HBCU Book Festival™

Presented by The Crystal Stair Group Inc.

Who Will Save Our Stories?

We Will.