Everything you need to know about the Times Festival of Reading

There are lots of changes to the Tampa Bay Times Festival of Reading in its 30th year.

It returns as an in-person event after two years as a virtual festival. It moves to a different venue, the Palladium in St. Petersburg, and offers a streamlined schedule of 14 authors on one stage throughout the day. And, for the first time, the festival will be a ticketed event, with ticket proceeds benefiting the Times Journalism Fund.

Here are the details.

The festival will take place from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Nov. 12 at the Palladium, 253 Fifth Ave. N, St. Petersburg.

Tickets are $25 general admission, which admits you to all author talks throughout the day in the Palladium’s Hough Hall and to the sales and signing area in the Side Door. In addition to admission, $50 VIP tickets include reserved seating, a 15% discount on book sales at the festival, and admission and drink tickets for a morning coffee hour from 8 to 9 a.m. and a happy hour from 6 to 7 p.m., both in the Side Door. Tickets are available at mytbtickets.com.

St. Petersburg independent bookstore Tombolo Books will be selling festival authors’ books on site and facilitating book signings. You may bring a maximum of two books you already own for signing. Dennis Lehane’s “Small Mercies” will be published in April, so copies are not yet available, but Tombolo can preorder the book for festival attendees.

There will be a one-hour break at noon for lunch, and food trucks will be selling their wares on the Palladium grounds.

Parking is limited in the Palladium lot, but there is some street parking in the surrounding area and ample parking at the Museum of the American Arts and Crafts Movement parking garage at 350 Third St. N, one block south of the Palladium. The parking fee there is $1 per hour.

Find author bios and information at tampabay.com/expos/festival-of-reading.