A community event photograph showing St. Pete Reads! Lit Fest at the Carter G. Woodson African American Museum of Florida in St. Petersburg, Florida on Nov. 5, 2022. Captured in a medium outdoor portrait on a sunny day, a man with a dark beard sits on a green grass lawn, warmly embracing a smiling young girl in his lap. The man wears a light blue open unbuttoned shirt over a white graphic t-shirt and a dark smartwatch, while the child wears a bright yellow floral short-sleeved top with small hair ties, set under soft dappled tree shade with a blue blanket visible on the grass in the background.
St Pete Reads Lit Fest at the Woodson African American Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida on Nov. 5, 2022. Credit: cityofstpete / Flickr

Reading is lit. Especially in St. Petersburg next month. 

The annual St. Pete Reads! Lit Fest is back outside of the Woodson African American Museum’s sprawling Legacy Gardens on Nov. 7.

The family-friendly festival brings authors together for a day of book swaps, music by the Al Downing Jazz Association and violinist Mary Corbett of the Florida Orchestra, illustrators, workshops and storytelling from children’s writers across the country. 

This marks the fifth year for Lit Fest in St. Pete. The lineup includes children’s authors like Layesha Walton’s “Galaxy Girl,” Children’s Literature Legacy Award-winning author Carole Boston Weatherford “Black Hands: Builders of Our Nation” and award-winning illustrator Gregory Christie’s “Black Hands: Builders of Our Nation” and “Jazz Baby.”

Organized by Cultured Books Literacy Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to strengthening reading culture in South St. Pete, the no cover event runs from 11 a.m.- 4 p.m. Registration is encouraged.

“I don’t believe reading should feel like something we have to do. It should be something we discover, enjoy, and share,” founder Lorielle J. Hollaway said on the foundation’s website.

There’s no cover for the St. Pete Reads! Lit Fest on Saturday, Nov. 7 at the Woodson African American Museum.

St. Pete Reads! Lit Fest 2026

Time Sat., Nov. 7, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.

Location Woodson African American Museum of Florida, 2240 9th Ave S, St. Petersburg

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This article appears in Oct. 22 – 28, 2026.