Promoting literacy throughout Northeast Florida

We hope you’re easing into Summer and finding a good book to read on the beach! We’ve been hard at work as we gear up for the 25th YEAR of the Amelia Island Book Festival! We had a great time at our Scholarship and Short Story Contest Award Ceremony on May 31st!

Be sure to read below about author registration for our Authors in School program and 2026 Book Festival, with new updates to our Membership program!

Blue & White Minimalist Winter Travel Moodboard Poster

Congratulations Students!

We had a great time celebrating our Scholarship and Short Story Contest Award Ceremony! Big CONGRATS to all of the student published authors and our THREE Scholarship winners! This year we had 84 submissions for the Short Story Contest, and the top 30 stories were chosen to be published. We are honored to have granted $10,000 in Scholarships to three Nassau County seniors. The Short Story winners and honorable mentions also won cash prizes!

Thank you to the AEL Family Foundation and all of our donors for making these opportunities possible. Thank you to Wildlight Elementary for hosting us. Thank you Susan Eason Photography for capturing photos of the ceremony! Thank you so much to all of the families, faculty and administration that came out to join us. Teachers, THANK YOU for encouraging your students to participate in our contest. We truly believe in the power of literacy and the doors it can open for a young adult’s future!

Thank you for another great year!

Congratulations to our Scholarship Winners!

Amanda Badiali

Fernandina Beach High School

$5,000 AEL Family Foundation Scholarship

Ivy Bradley

Fernandina Beach High School

$3,000 Amelia Island Book Festival Scholarship

Chloe Roby

Yulee High School

$2,000 Amelia Island Book Festival Scholarship

Shopping for a cause is our sweet spot! Join us on Saturday, June 28th at J.McLaughlin, located in the Harris Teeter shopping plaza. From 12pm-4pm, 15% of all sales will be donated towards the Amelia Island Book Festival! Let’s shop, sip and cheers to literarcy!

Become a Book Festival Member!

We are excited to offer more membership tiers, along with new benefits!

Member benefits include gaining early access to ticketed events, recognition on our website and everyone’s favorite, special AIBF swag! Membership plans will be updated and available on the website on July 15th.

Your Membership gift is a direct donation to the Amelia Island Book Festival and helps us provide books to the students of Nassau County *through our Authors in Schools program*, fund Scholarships and publish student authors! Join us today as we advocate for literacy! Memberships are valid from July 2025 through June 2026.

Mark your calendars – our annual Book Festival will be

February 28th, 2026

If you’re interested in participating as an exhibiting Author in our 2026 Book Festival, registration will open on July 1st! The Book Festival is an opportunity for authors to engage with readers in an up-close and personal way, and to showcase and sell their books. There will be multiple activities, panel discussions, a Kid Zone and more throughout the day! Our 2025 Book Festival was such a great success for our community with over 1000 attendees, we’d love for you to join us!

Applications can be submitted on our website.

We are pleased to share that our Authors in School program has been confirmed for next year on February 27th, 2026. If you’re interested in participating in our AIS program, applications open on JULY 1st!

Mark your calendars! Applications can be submitted on our website.

Happy 25th Anniversary to us!

As we come into the 25th year of the Amelia Island Book Festival, we are taking the time to reflect on all that we’ve accomplished! And as a board, we are enjoying going through the archives and seeing all of the authors we’ve hosted on our island over the years. It is so interesting to see the history of the Book Festival and all of the work that has gone into making Amelia Island such a special book-loving community! We look forward to sharing more with you!