NHBF Author: Rajani LaRocca

Rajani LaRocca was born in India, raised in Kentucky, and now lives in Massachusetts, where she practices medicine and writes award-winning books for young readers, including the Newbery Honor–winning novel in verse, Red, White, and Whole. She’s always been an omnivorous reader, and now she is an omnivorous writer of novels and picture books, fiction and nonfiction, in prose and poetry. A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Medical School, she lives outside Boston with her family.

This author is scheduled to appear at the NH Book Festival which will be held at the Capitol Center for the Arts & NHBF Festival Village on South Main Street in Concord, NH on October 2-3, 2026.

NHBF Author: Andrew Krivak

Andrew Krivak is an award-winning writer whose books include Mule Boy; The Bear, a National Endowment for the Arts Big Read selection; and the freestanding novels of the Dardan Trilogy: The Sojourn, a National Book Award finalist and winner of both the Chautauqua Prize and Dayton Literary Peace Prize; The Signal Flame, a Chautauqua Prize finalist; and Like the Appearance of Horses, a Library Journal “Best Book of the Year” and Indie Next List for Reading Groups selection. He is a discussion facilitator with the Family Connections Center, New Hampshire Department of Corrections, and visiting lecturer on English at Harvard University. He lives in Somerville, Massachusetts and Jaffrey, New Hampshire.

This author is scheduled to appear at the NH Book Festival which will be held at the Capitol Center for the Arts & NHBF Festival Village on South Main Street in Concord, NH on October 2-3, 2026. 

NHBF Author: Lee Kelly

Lee Kelly is the author of the acclaimed speculative fiction novels City of Savages, A Criminal Magic, and With Regrets. With Jennifer Thorne, she is also the co-author of The Antiquity Affair, The Starlets, My Fair Frauds, and The Midnight Show. Lee’s short fiction and essays have appeared in a variety of publications, and she holds her MFA degree from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. An entertainment lawyer by trade, Lee has practiced law in Los Angeles and New York. She lives with her husband and two children outside Philadelphia, where you’ll find them engaged in one adventure or another.

This author is scheduled to appear at the NH Book Festival which will be held at the Capitol Center for the Arts & NHBF Festival Village on South Main Street in Concord, NH on October 2-3, 2026.

Book of the Week (9/14/2026)

Noble Reckoning: An Emma Noble Thriller by Andrew Bridgeman (Mission Point Press, 2026)

A dead man sends Emma Noble a text: FIND NADIA.

Emma buried him only three weeks ago.

The message sends her searching for a teenage girl. Nadia knows the location of the terrorist behind the inauguration attacks. He evaded capture-vanished two years ago. And now, he's operational again.

But others are hunting the girl too. They need what's in her head. Whether she survives the interrogation isn't their concern. Somewhere in Florence, Nadia is running out of time.

Fired from the FBI, Emma has no badge and no backup.

And no idea there's a target on her back. -- Publisher's blurb

About the author:

Andrew Bridgeman is the internationally published author of the Emma Noble thriller series, with editions in Germany and Hungary. A former rugby player, jazz singer, and entrepreneur, he studied creative writing at Dickinson College and received a business degree from Washington University in St. Louis. Andrew lives in Ossipee, New Hampshire with his wife, Kathy. Beyond writing, his interests include hiking, music, and camping.

Join Andrew at Gibson's Bookstore on Tuesday, October 6, 2026 at 6:30 pm where he will be discussing his newest novel in the Emma Noble series!

NHBF Author: Meg Kearney

Meg Kearney’s ninth book, Cardiac Thrill—a heroic crown of sonnets—was published in fall 2025. Meg’s All Morning the Crows, winner of the Washington Prize, spent six months on SPD’s poetry bestseller list in 2021. Meg is also author of Home By Now, winner of the PEN New England Winship Award; an award-winning picture book; and three verse novels for teens. Her work has been featured in Best American Poetry and on Garrison Keillor’s “A Writer’s Almanac” and Ted Kooser’s “American Life in Poetry.” Meg is founding director of the Solstice MFA in Creative Writing Program at Lasell University.

This author is scheduled to appear at the NH Book Festival which will be held at the Capitol Center for the Arts & NHBF Festival Village on South Main Street in Concord, NH on October 2-3, 2026.

NHBF Author: Hester Kaplan

Hester Kaplan is an award-winning writer of story collections, novels, and the memoir/biography, Twice Born: Finding My Father in the Margins of Biography, published in 2025 and longlisted for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her story collection, The Edge of Marriage, received the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction and her work has been widely published and anthologized, including in The Best American Short Stories series. She is a recipient of two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship Awards and was named a Quarry Farm Fellow by the Center for Mark Twain Studies for Twice Born. With over 30 years of teaching experience, Hester runs workshops and writing retreats, and works with writers at all stages of development. Recent presentations and features include an essay in Electric Lit, a talk on memoir and biography at the 2025 Boston Book Festival, and an interview on NPR’s Here & Now. She lives in Providence, Rhode Island.

This author is scheduled to appear at the NH Book Festival which will be held at the Capitol Center for the Arts & NHBF Festival Village on South Main Street in Concord, NH on October 2-3, 2026.

NHBF Author: Carla Kaplan

Carla Kaplan is the Davis Distinguished Professor of American Literature at Northeastern University. She has held fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities, among others. She serves on the board of Biographers International Organization and is a Fellow of the Society of American Historians. The author of eight books—including Miss Anne in Harlem: The White Women of the Black Renaissance and Zora Neale Hurston: A Life in Letters, both New York Times Notable Books—she has also written for The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, Slate, and The Nation. Her latest book, Troublemaker: The Fierce, Unruly Life of Jessica Mitford, traces the British aristocrat-turned-American Communist and muckraker with fresh insight. Kaplan earned her PhD in English from Northwestern University and divides her time between Boston and Cape Cod.

This author is scheduled to appear at the NH Book Festival which will be held at the Capitol Center for the Arts & NHBF Festival Village on South Main Street in Concord, NH on October 2-3, 2026.