Bookmarks

Our Mission

Our Mission: Bookmarks is a literary arts non-profit that cultivates community by bringing people of all ages together with books and authors who educate, inspire, challenge, and entertain. Our Vision: We imagine a community where the power of the book brings forth connection and belonging for every person.

Bookmarks began as a literary arts nonprofit in 2004. Over the last 17 years, Bookmarks has worked to connect people with books and authors through an annual Festival of Books and Authors, year-round events, and outreach programs including Authors In Schools and Book Build.

Bookmarks has brought over 850 authors, illustrators, and storytellers to Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Authors come from around the region, country, and the world. Bookmarks has hosted winners of the Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, National Book Critics Circle Award, American Book Award, National Medal of the Arts, Lincoln Medal, Presidential Medal of Freedom, Coretta Scott King Award, Newberry Award, and a United States Poet Laureate. Bookmarks authors have written more than 1,500 New York Times, national, and international bestsellers, and have spent more than 47 years on The New York Times bestseller list.

Under careful staff and board guidance, Bookmarks has grown from an annual book festival to a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organzation and a vibrant bookstore and gathering space. Now with sixteen staff members, Bookmarks reaches tens of thousands of local students annually and reaches over 25,000 people through the Festival of Books & Authors.

At Bookmarks, we believe in the power of books and written word. Our team is passionate about igniting the love of reading by connecting our community with books and authors.