Lee County Library System will be bringing in more than two dozen authors for the 26th annual Southwest Florida Reading Festival this March. Authors for all ages are coming to Fort Myers to showcase their books and meet fans from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, March 1, 2025. The free event will be held on the beautiful outdoor campus of the Fort Myers Regional Library, located at 2450 First St. downtown. The Southwest Florida Reading Festival is a time-honored tradition in the community, with attendees coming back year after year to hear author presentations and have their books signed. This outdoor celebration gives fans the opportunity to meet and greet a diverse lineup of bestsellingauthors, participate in arts and crafts and discover the latest books and digital resources offered by the library. There will also be food truck vendors, storytelling programs, youth writing award presentations and a free book given away for every child and teen attending the event. “The Lee County Library System is honored to share the power of reading with the community, and this year’s authors won’t disappoint!” states Melissa Baker, Festival Coordinator.
The lineup of award-winning talent includes a mix of authors from all genres, from crime thrillers and mysteries to cozy fiction and romance. Youth authors will feature teen fantasy, thrillers and rom coms, along with picture books, easy readers, chapter books and nonfiction. These are just a few of the highly anticipated writers that will be a part of the event:
Reed Farrel Coleman is The New York Times bestselling author of over 30 novels, including six in the Jesse Stone series for the estate of the late Robert B. Parker. He is a four-time recipient of the Shamus Award for Best P.I. Novel of the Year and a four-time Edgar Award nominee in three different categories. He has also received the Authors on the Air Book of the Year Award, the Scribe, Audie, Macavity, Barry and Anthony Awards.
Lisa Genova is a Harvard educated neuroscientist and The New York Times bestselling author of numerous books, including Still Alice which was adapted into an Oscar–winning film starring Julianne Moore, Alec Baldwin and Kristen Stewart. Her TED talks on Alzheimer’s disease and memory have been viewed over eleven million times.
Jean Kwok is the award-winning, New York Times and international bestselling author of The Leftover Woman, Searching for Sylvie Lee, Girl in Translation and Mambo in Chinatown. Her work has been published in more than 20 countries and taught in schools across the world. All of her novels are in development for film and television.
Returning festival author and fan favorite Debbie Macomber is a #1 New York Times bestselling author and one of today’s most popular writers with more than 200 million copies of her books in print worldwide. Macomber’s novels have spent more than 1,000 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list, with 15 hitting the #1 spot. Celebrated as “the official storyteller of Christmas,” Macomber’s annual Christmas books are beloved and six have been crafted into original Hallmark Channel movies.
Renée Ahdieh is the #1 New York Times and internationally bestselling young adult author of The Wrath & the Dawn series, the Flame in the Mist series and The Beautiful quartet. Emilio Sloth’s Modern Manners is her debut children’s picture book.
Molly Idle is the Caldecott Honor- winning creator of the picture book Flora and the Flamingo and a flock of books featuring Flora and her Feathered Friends. She is also the author and illustrator of the mermaid tales Pearl and Coral. Her most recent picture books are Witch Hazel and I Don’t Care.
Megan McDonald is the creator of the widely popular and award- winning Judy Moody and Stink series for older readers. She is also the author of three Sisters Club stories, two books about Ant and Honey Bee and many other books for children, including her brand- new series for young readers, The Fairy Door Diaries.
The full list of authors can be viewed on the festival’s website http://www.ReadFest.org or by downloading the festival’s mobile app “SWFL Reads” at the App Store or Google Play. Anyone with the app already downloaded from last year will need to perform a software update to see the newly loaded content.
Attendees who want more exclusive access to meet and mingle with this year’s festival authors can do so at An Evening with the Authors, a fundraising dinner scheduled to take place at the waterfront Burroughs Home and Gardens on the evening of Friday, February 28. Tickets will be available by mid-November on the festival website.
The Lee County Library System has 13 branches to serve Lee County residents. Library programs are always free and open to the public. For more information about other library services and programs offered, visit http://www.leelibrary.net or call (239) 479-4636.
