Kingsport Book Fair returns to Meadowview Convention Center
The Kingsport Book Fair – the region’s largest book fair – returns next week with thousands and thousands of books, audiobooks, music CDs, movies and vinyl records to choose from.
The book fair will take place February 28 – March 2 at the Meadowview Conference Resort and Convention Center. The event is coordinated and sponsored by Friends of the Library, the Literacy Council of Kingsport and the Sullivan County Imagination Library Board.
As with previous years, the event will have a special preview sale on February 27 from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. with an admission of $10. Returning this year is the special academic preview sale, also on February 29 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Admission is $5, and a valid faculty/staff/student ID is requested, but not required for entry.
Regular Book Fair hours are 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 12:45 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday. No admission fee is charged throughout the entire weekend. No pets allowed, please.
The Book Fair will offer thousands of books for sale, along with a good selection of audiobooks, music CDs, DVDs and vinyl record albums. All of the items in the book fair have been donated for the sale over the past year and were individually priced and sorted by volunteers into one of more than 30 categories.
Major credit cards will be accepted on purchases of at least $25. Sales under $25 are cash only. The half-price sale begins at 4 p.m. on Saturday, while the $10 bag sale begins at opening on Sunday. Most donated items are priced from 25 cents to $5, based on age, condition, and popularity.
With many families downsizing, donations have been plentiful and diverse for the 2025 Book Fair collection. Additionally, this year a significant number of donations have come from the Kingsport Public Library collection as it prepares to relocate to the Fort Henry Mall during the renovation of the downtown library building.
Inventory for this year’s fair includes fiction, non-fiction, history, biography, children’s, religion, music, cookbooks, DIY, gardening, textbooks, vinyl, and art/coffee table books. The Regional Interest category will have books from the FoxFire series, Ron Rash, Adriana Trigiani, to cookbooks from local churches and civic groups.
Classic and contemporary books on WWII will be in the History/Biography category. Readers of romance will be especially happy with the depth of the paperback fiction donations, both classic and ‘almost new’ tales of happily-ever-after.
A category for Sports and Transportation will contain books on professional athletes, sports, fitness, automobiles, trains, and airplanes, while birders and other nature lovers will find gems in the Nature and Outdoors category. Cookbooks, gardening, and various DIY categories will be abundant and priced to sell. New for 2025 is a category for fitness and wellness.
Profits from the book fair go to support local literacy programs. Last year, the book fair had sales of more than $32,000.
For more information or to volunteer your time call 423-967-7135 or email kingsportbookfair@gmail.com.
