Stay Past 4 p.m. at Lincoln's Book Festival on Nov. 14, When Nebraska Learns Its Next Statewide Read

On Saturday, Nov. 14, the Huskers are on the road at Rutgers. On a home-game Saturday in November, getting into City Campus can take real planning. This one belongs to the free Nebraska Celebration of Books, which fills the second floor of the University of Nebraska Union and Jackie Gaughan Multicultural Center at 1400 R St.

The festival saves its biggest moment for the end. The final event of the day announces the 2027 One Book One Nebraska selection, the book the whole state is invited to read next year. The program is in its 22nd year. Since there's no game traffic, it's a good year to show up at 10 a.m. and stay to the end.

A schedule that builds toward its final hour

The organizers say the 2026 program schedule was updated Sept. 1 and is still open to change. Every session runs 45 minutes. Here is how the day lays out as of now:

• 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Vendor market in the Multicultural Center's Unity Room, with booksellers, publishers, authors and nonprofits.
• 10 a.m. Nebraska Book Award roundtable in the Ubuntu Room, with fiction, children and teen, and cover, design and illustration winners.
• 11 a.m. "Making Nebraska Home" panel with editors and essayists from The Lives of Immigrants and Refugees: Tales of Migration, Hope, Grief, and Finding Home in Nebraska, from the University of Nebraska Press.
• Noon. A self-publishing panel in the Heritage Suite, plus a Quiet Book Club in the Mandala Lounge. Bring a book or buy one there, and read alongside other people.
• 1 p.m. Second Book Award roundtable, with the nonfiction and poetry winners.
• 2 p.m. Karen Russell's One Book One Nebraska author talk in Swanson Auditorium.
• 3:15 p.m. Awards open house and author signings in the Heritage Suite, with refreshments from the University of Nebraska Press.
• 4 p.m. Awards presentations in Swanson Auditorium, closing with the Jane Geske and Mildred Bennett awards and the 2027 One Book One Nebraska announcement.

The structure explains why the full day pays off. The authors you hear at the morning and early-afternoon roundtables come back for the 3:15 signings. At 4 p.m., each winner gets up to five minutes at the podium while receiving their award. Most of the day is a lead-in to that last hour.

The award list has a lot of local names

The 2026 Nebraska Book Awards are the 27th annual awards. They honor books published in 2025 that were written by Nebraska authors, illustrated by Nebraska artists, published by Nebraska publishers, or set in or about Nebraska. You'll recognize a lot of the publishers. Several are institutions most Lincoln and Omaha households have visited.

The full winners list also includes the Illustration Award for Jodi Adams's One Little Squiggle, illustrated by Polina Gortman, and the Poetry Award for Gene Fendt's Eternal Life and other poems. Honors went to Heather Dawn Torres's The Tractor Squad Saves the Day, Julie S. Paschold's Human Nature: Poetry, and Lin Marshall Brummels's The Last Yellow Rose: Poems.

The schedule says each roundtable features "a selection of" winners, so not every author on this list will be on a panel. To meet a particular author, your best chance is the 3:15 open house, where books by the award winners and the One Book One Nebraska picks will be for sale.

The 2 p.m. talk is set in a Nebraska town that never existed

Karen Russell's The Antidote: A Novel is the 2026 One Book One Nebraska selection. The One Book One Nebraska site calls it historical fiction set during the Dust Bowl in Uz, Nebraska, a fictional town. In its announcement of the pick, the Nebraska Library Commission placed the story in 1930s Nebraska and mentioned Black Sunday's dust storm and flooding on the Republican River. Humanities Nebraska lists the talk as running from 2 to 3 p.m. and part of the free, public festival.

Lincoln actually has two community reads this year. Lincoln City Libraries' 2026 One Book One Lincoln pick is Bruce Holsinger's Culpability, with its own set of events. On Nov. 14, the statewide book is The Antidote. Its successor gets named in Swanson Auditorium a couple of hours after Russell finishes.

Friday night moves to O Street

The weekend starts the night before. Literary Trivia Night, the pre-festival event built around Nebraska book and literary questions, is set for Friday, Nov. 13, at 5:30 p.m. at The Sitch, 1140 O St. In 2025, trivia was held at White Elm Brewing on Van Dorn Street. This year it's downtown, a few blocks from Saturday's sessions.

KLIN reported that The Sitch is an upscale cocktail bar and a sister concept to Dish. It was opened by Dish owner Rachel McGill and bar manager Sean Jones and held its grand opening in October 2024. The same KLIN story says the décor includes preserved Peony Park balls and the old Marz Bar "M" sign, and that the upstairs space that used to be Gravity's VIP area is now open to general admission. That's a lot of local history on the walls for a night of Nebraska book trivia.

Getting to the Union and staying all day

The Huskers are away, but downtown still has a crowd that Saturday. Pinnacle Bank Arena lists Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Live Glow-N-Fire for Nov. 14 and 15, with Saturday shows at 11:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. Getting to the festival by 10 a.m. puts you ahead of the late-morning show crowd.

UNL Parking and Transit Services posts these options for City Campus visitors:

1. 17th & R Garage, 300 N. 17th St. The visitor garage page lists it as open 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. year-round. Hourly parking costs $1.50, capped at $10 a day, and you pay by card. On the campus map, it's the closest visitor garage to the Union. Stadium Drive and 14th & Avery also have visitor garages.
2. Meters. UNL meters cost $1.50 an hour, or $1.75 in high-demand areas such as 13th & R. On Saturdays, meters are enforced from 7 a.m. to noon when the university is open for business.
3. StarTran. Route 49 runs on Saturdays and stops at R & 14th Street, Nebraska Union South. General Saturday service runs from 6:40 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., depending on the route, and the regular cash fare is $1.25. The Route 55 Downtown Trolley is on the weekday route list but not the Saturday list.

The $10 daily cap matters most if you plan to stay. If you park at 17th & R before the 10 a.m. roundtable and leave after the 2027 announcement, you'll pay the same as someone who stays two hours longer. Any visitor parked outside garages, meters or designated visitor areas needs a visitor permit, which UNL lists at $8 a day.

One of the festival's host sponsors is downtown, too. Francie & Finch Bookshop is at 130 S. 13th St., near 13th and O, and is owned by Leslie Huerta. Check the shop's posted hours before you plan a stop. The festival vendor market in the Unity Room runs until 3 p.m., leaving an hour before the 4 p.m. awards in Swanson Auditorium.

Lincoln is a community we're glad to know beyond its listings, and we'd love to hear which book gets named for 2027. If you have questions about Lincoln or the wider Omaha metro, contact a Good Life Group agent at Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate The Good Life Group.