Volunteers Needed for the Provincetown Book Festival

Volunteers are needed for the eighth Provincetown Book Festival, both at the Firehouse in advance of the Festival, and at the Festival itself, held at the Provincetown Library Friday evening, September 20, and all day Saturday, September 21, and Sunday, September 22.

In advance of the Festival, volunteers will distribute programs and sell T-shirts at the Firehouse near Provincetown Town Hall, starting August 28.  There are also volunteer opportunities to distribute posters and brochures around town and up-Cape before the Festival. On the Festival weekend, volunteers are needed at the Library to check in ticket-holders, sell T-shirts, and help set up and take down the outdoor book sale.

Sign up for as little as two hours, and you can be in the middle of an exciting literary event. Hobnob with bestselling authors. Get a free T-shirt and possibly other swag! For more information, or to sign up, email Leslie at [email protected]. If you would like to work together with a friend, be sure to sign up early when there are a lot of time slots available. There are also a few “special assignments,” working more closely with our guest authors who are new to Provincetown. If interested in a special assignment, contact Nan Cinnater at the Provincetown Library, [email protected].

The Provincetown Book Festival takes place at the Provincetown Library, 356 Commercial St. Events are entirely free and open to the public. “The Provincetown Book Festival is sponsored by the Provincetown Library, but it is also very much a community effort,” said Nan Cinnater, Provincetown Book Festival Director. “The Festival runs on book-loving and library-loving volunteers,” Cinnater said. “Come help out and have some fun.”

Authors Andre Dubus III, Michael Cunningham, Kelly Link, and Vinson Cunningham will appear along with many other distinguished guest authors at the Festival. For more news about the program and the authors, or to make reservations for these free events, go to the Festival website, provincetownbookfestival.org.

The Provincetown Book Festival opens on Friday night, September 20, with a reading and reception for the recipient of the Rose Dorothea Award, given annually by the Board of Library Trustees to a person with a strong connection to the Outer Cape who has made a significant contribution through the written word. The 2024 recipient is Heidi Jon Schmidt, author of  numerous novels, stories and essays.

ASL interpretation of Provincetown Book Festival events is available by request. Requests must be submitted to Nan Cinnater at [email protected] by September 6.

The Provincetown Book Festival is sponsored by, among others, the Provincetown Tourism Fund, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, and the Massachusetts Center for the Book.