We are partnering with Utah Humanities, Summit County Library, and Wasatch County Library to host a book festival during National Book Month! The love of books and reading will be celebrated as the community comes together to participate in activities and discussions that explore literary themes. This book celebration will take place from October 1-5, with events hosted at libraries in Wasatch and Summit Counties. The festivities will culminate in a 2-day celebration at the Park City Library on October 4-5, 2025, featuring activities and events for all ages.
Create Your Own Book Cover Contest
September 1-October 1 @ Park City Library
Calling all young artists! Do you love to draw, imagine new worlds, or put your own spin on a favorite story? Here’s your chance to shine! Get ready to design a book cover that pops with creativity in our special contest.
Starting in September, pick up your free book cover template at the library. You can use it to create a brand-new cover for a book you dream up yourself, or draw your unique interpretation of a cover for a book you already know and love. Let your imagination run wild!
We’ll have four age categories, so everyone has a chance to win:
- Ages 3-5
- Ages 6-8
- Ages 9-12
- Teens
Bring your finished masterpiece to the library by October 1st to enter. We can’t wait to see your incredible designs. Designs will be displayed at the library on October 4.
Pie Breakfast with Banned Books Reading
October 4, 9am @ Park City Library
Step up to the mic to share the lines of your favorite banned book while enjoying a piece of your favorite pie for breakfast. Dive into stories that challenged norms and sparked debate. It’s a great way to start a literature-inspired day, celebrating the power of words that some tried to silence.
History of the Book with the Rare Books Department at the University of Utah J. Willard Marriott Library
October 4, 10am @ Park City Library
Learn about unique one-of-a-kind hand-crafted books during the Book Festival with books that are truly works of art brought to us by The Book Arts Program at the University of Utah J. Willard Library, where letterpress printing, bookbinding, artists’ books, and typography are utilized to create beautiful masterworks.
Craft Extravaganza
October 4, 10am @ Park City Library
A fun and engaging family zone at the book festival, where kids and parents can get creative with book-themed crafts, eco-friendly art projects, and colorful activities for all ages.
Local Author Meet & Greet
October 4, 10am @ Park City Library
Local authors will be set up at tables around the Library’s second floor. Stop by to chat with them about their latest books, ask questions, learn about their writing process, and get a sneak peek at works in progress.
Intro to Zine Making
October 4, 10am @ Park City Library
Grid Zine Fest travels to Park City to teach us how to create our own zines. They will provide zine templates to allow for easy creation that will allow you to bring home a finished zine or inspiration to create your own! A small zine library will be available to browse.
What is a zine? It is a small, self-published, handmade magazine that is typically reproduced by photocopier. Think small maga-zine… zine!
Young Writers Workshop
October 4, 11am @ Park City Library
Exercise your creative writing muscles with author Becca Gardner.
Puppet Show
October 4, 12pm @ Park City Library
Come with a spirit of fun to this puppet theater performance by young, local puppeteers. The whole family will laugh at the antics of what happens when there’s a Moose on the Loose in the Library.
How To Graphic Novel with Doug Wagner
October 4, 1pm @ Park City Library
Ever wanted to know what goes into creating and publishing a graphic novel? Well, Doug Wagner, a comic book and graphic novel writer with over 20 years of professional experience, will be here to present the ins and outs of creating your own graphic novel. He will cover everything from story creation to finding your team to pitching to self-publishing. Doug has worked for companies such as Marvel Comics, DC Comics, Image Comics, Dark Horse Comics, and Blizzard Entertainment – just to name a few.
Author Kevin Fedarko Meet & Greet (For FOL Members)
October 4, 1pm @ Park City Library
Friends of the Library membership is invited to a private meet and greet with Kevin Fedarko before he speaks at 2pm. Enjoy hors d’oeuvres and mingle with fellow friends while having the chance to talk with the author one on one.
Memberships can be purchased online at: https://friends-of-the-park-city-library.square.site/.
Author Kevin Fedarko
October 4, 2pm @ Park City Library
Kevin Fedarko is a seasoned author and journalist renowned for his exploration of the American Southwest and his fervent advocacy for environmental conservation. He has been a staff writer at Time magazine, where he worked primarily on the foreign affairs desk, and a senior editor at Outside, where he covered outdoor adventure. His writing has appeared in National Geographic, the New York Times, and Esquire, among other publications. He and his wife, Annette Avery, owner of Bright Side Bookshop, live in Flagstaff, Arizona, where they spend as much of their free time as possible hiking in the Grand Canyon or in mountains just outside of town.
Kevin Fedarko, known for The Emerald Mile (2014), will be talking about his newest book: A Walk in the Park: The True Story of a Spectacular Misadventure in the Grand Canyon (2024).
Thank you to the Friends of the Park City Library for sponsoring this event. The Friends of the Park City Library is a non-profit volunteer group dedicated to supporting the Library. Becoming a member supports funding needs for the Friends of the Library and gives you VIP access to their book sales.
How to Get Your Book Published with Torrey House Press
October 5, 12pm @ Park City Library
Dreaming of publishing your book?
Join Torrey House Press for an inside look at the publishing process—plus expert tips to help bring your story to life!
About the Utah-based Torrey House Press: Torrey House Press publishes books at the intersection of the literary arts and environmental advocacy. THP authors explore the diversity of human experiences and relationships with place. THP books create conversations about issues that concern the American West, landscape, literature, and the future of our ever-changing planet, inspiring action toward a more just world.
Author Talk and Book Signing with Teow Lim Goh
October 5, 1pm @ Park City Library
Author Teow Lim Goh discusses her book Bitter Creek, a lyrical Chinese epic of the American West that confronts the devastating legacy of the 1885 Rock Springs Massacre. A Colorado-based writer, Goh is dedicated to recovering the lost and overlooked stories of Chinese immigrants in the American frontier. One of the characters in Bitter Creek even lived in Park City, adding a powerful local connection to her work.
About the book:
In September of 1885, the Chinese coal miners who were brought in as strikebreakers were ambushed and driven out of the town at gunpoint by white coal miners. Bitter Creek revisits this dark episode—known today as the Rock Springs Massacre—revealing the stories beneath this violent, decade-long culmination of labor struggles and racial hostilities in the Union Pacific Coal Mines.
Through the eyes of the struggling workers, their families, and the corporation working them to the bone, Teow Lim Goh creates an ode to buried history that blends epic tradition with modern composition and astonishing empathy to ask the question, “What turns ordinary people into monsters?”
Immigration on the Pages
October 5, 2pm @ Park City Library
Join us for a powerful and timely conversation exploring themes of immigration, identity, and belonging through literature.
Authors Teow Lim Goh, Kase Johnstun, and Yamile Saied Méndez will share how their work captures the immigrant experience across generations and borders.
Moderated by Spanish Services Librarian, Flor Santa Maria de la Parra, this panel delves into how stories can illuminate the complexities of displacement, cultural memory, and the search for home—on the page and beyond.
Book Signing with Dolly’s
October 5, 3pm @ Park City Library
Book lovers, take note!
Dolly’s Bookstore will be selling titles from our Sunday Book Festival speakers—don’t miss your chance to pick up signed* copies of:
- Bitter Creek by Teow Lim Goh
- Castaway by Kase Johnstun
- Tales from Cabin 23: The Visitors, Fury, and Where Are You From? by Yamile Saied Méndez
Celebrate these powerful voices and bring their stories home with you!