The Gilded Page in Tarpon Springs, Florida has gathered close to a dozen locally-based authors are headed to sponge town. Credit: Photo via thegildedpagebookstore/Facebook
Indie bookstores are in a new gilded age, and the local shops are the center of attention on Indie Bookstore Day, which happens on the last Saturday of April. There are a bunch of ‘em in the Bay area, and many celebrate the holiday this weekend.

Tombolo Books (St. Pete) welcomes Rob Sanders, author of a new picture book “Book Comes Home: A Banned Book’s Journey!,” while Tampa gets in on the action with the Oxford Exchange Book Fair next Thursday, May 1 with more than 60 local authors.

Most exciting is the first annual Tarpon Springs Book Festival happening Saturday on Court Street. The Gilded Page has gathered close to a dozen locally-based authors are headed to sponge town where readers can soak up talks from the likes of Sarah Penner (“London Seance Society,” “The Amalfi Curse”), Craig Pittman (“Welcome To Florida”), Eliza Knight (“Can’t We Be Friends,” pictured) and more.

There’s no cover for the 2025 Tarpon Springs Book Festival on Saturday, April 26 in downtown Tarpon Springs.

Related

Readers are invited to submit their own events to Creative Loafing Tampa Bay’s things to do calendar.

Subscribe to Creative Loafing newsletters.

Follow us: Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | BlueSky

This article appears in Apr 24-30, 2025.

Read his 2016 intro letter and disclosures from 2022 and 2021. Ray Roa started freelancing for Creative Loafing Tampa in January 2011 and was hired as music editor in August 2016. He became Editor-In-Chief...