A day at the Utah Readers Fest feels like stepping into a living, breathing celebration of stories, community, and creativity. From the moment you arrive, you’re surrounded by authors, book lovers, and families exploring booths filled with books, books, and more books!

Mingle with Utah authors in an atmosphere that is warm, accessible, and distinctly Utah: local voices with a shared love of reading. Readers will leave feeling energized, connected, and inspired to dive into your next great book!

“I must judge for myself, but how can I judge, how can any man judge, unless his mind has been opened and enlarged by reading?” ― John Adams

Utah Readers Fest’s purpose is to highlight and strengthen the Utah literary ecosystem, be it authors, small presses, libraries, and/or arts organizations.

To this end, the Utah Readers Fest Anthology requires a meaningful connection to Utah, and is open to Utah authors. As stated by Utah author Wallace Stegner, “The West is not a place; it is a state of mind.”

If enough strong submissions support, a percentage of the anthology will be allocated to student authors. This is a deliberate choice to not only support Utah authors, but to enhance the Utah author ecosystem. The anthology will be launched at the Utah Readers Fest!

Why? Here are Some Famous Utah Authors …

Edward Abbey: “A man’s duty is to find his duty and then do it.”

Orson Scott Card: “We are not what we do once in a while. We are what we do consistently.”

Bernard DeVoto: “The West has always been a place where the future could be made.”

Richard Paul Evans: “Sometimes the smallest things we do have the greatest power to change a life.”

Terry Tempest Williams: “What we do now matters.”