In keeping with the Ashland Theatre’s mission to “deliver a deeper level of engagement through events that entertain, educate, inspire, and are welcoming to all” we are thrilled to announce the 2^nd Annual Ashland Book Festival on May 5 and 6, 2023.

Read Broadly, the Festival theme, features White House journalist for the New York Times and political analyst for CNN, Maggie Haberman and #1 New York Times bestselling author, Jeannette Walls

Maggie Haberman is a journalist who joined The New York Times in 2015 and was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2018 for reporting on the investigations into Donald Trump’s, and his advisers’, connections to Russia. She has twice been a member of a team that was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize, in 2021 for reporting on the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus, and in 2022 for coverage related to the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol. Before joining The New York Times as a campaign correspondent, she worked as a political reporter at Politico, from 2010 to 2015. She previously worked at The New York Post and The New York Daily News.  Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America was released on October 4, 2022, and was a New York Times #1 bestseller. 

Regular ticket prices include a signed copy of Confidence Man. Student tickets are available.

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Jeannette Walls graduated from Barnard College and was a journalist in New York. Her memoir, The Glass Castle, has been a New York Times bestseller for more than eight years. She is also the author of the instant New York Times bestsellers The Silver Star and Half Broke Horses, which was named one of the ten best books of 2009 by the editors of The New York Times Book Review. Walls lives in rural Virginia with her husband, the writer John Taylor.

Adult ticket prices include a signed copy of Hang the Moon. Student tickets are available.

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Ashland Theatre is partnering with Fountain Bookstore, a staple of the Richmond region, for this Festival.  Moderators for each night to be announced soon.

 The Inaugural Festival in 2022 featured bestselling and award-winning authors Zetta Elliott, Adriana Trigiani, and David Baldacci. The Festival welcomed over 400 patrons over the two days.

Clark Mercer, Chair of the Ashland Theatre Foundation, on today’s exciting announcement: “This year’s book festival will be one to remember! Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Maggie Haberman’s coverage of the Presidency over the past several years is simply remarkable, and Jeannette Walls is a Virginian and a mainstay on the New York Times Bestseller List. We are blessed to have these talented authors join us for our second annual Ashland Book Festival.”