The Unbound Book Festival 2023 keynote speakers!

We are so excited that the Unbound Book Festival has announced that next year's keynote speakers at the festival will be Ross Gay and Patrick Rosal!

Ross and Pat are two of the most acclaimed and exciting poets of their generation. They are also best friends.

They will be appearing together - sans moderator - at the Missouri Theatre on Friday, April 21, to kick off next year's festival. It's safe to say that this will be an Unbound keynote like no other. Ross and Pat will bring their extraordinary talents to the stage for an evening of joy, delight, poetry, music, wisdom, and friendship (and maybe some basketball.)

Pat came to the very first Unbound Book Festival back 2016 and redefined for many who saw him what a poetry reading could look like. Ross’s first book of essays, The Book of Delights, has been a bestseller in the store since it came out in 2019, and we are also having a grand old time selling his new collection of essays, Inciting Joy. If you’ve read either of Ross’s books, you may remember that he writes quite a lot about his friend Pat.

Yes, it’s this Pat.

We have loads of Ross’s and Pat’s books for sale in the shop, so you have a chance to read their work before they come to Columbia in April next year. Come in and stock up, and then keep watching for information on tickets early in the new year!