We rely on the support of more than 900 dedicated volunteers to host the annual Texas Book Festival. Join our team and help make the Festival possible—a community celebration that is free and open to all.
Volunteer opportunities are available November 7–9, 2025. Benefits include:
- A TBF Volunteer T Shirt
- Being a part of the TBF team
- Choosing times and venues that work best for you
- Helping to facilitate Festival programming
- Connecting with your favorite authors
- Spreading the joy of reading and all things books!!
Unless otherwise stated, Volunteers must be at least 13 years old, and volunteers under the age of 18 must be accompanied by an adult. Here is a list of volunteer assignments with more specific age requirements:
- Author Greenroom (20+)
- Author Guides (20+)
- Capitol Monitors (18+)
- Lit Crawl (21+)
- Festival Parties (21+)
- Central Presbyterian Church (18+)
- First Baptist Church (18+)
- First United Methodist Church (18+)
- State Theatre (18+)
Read More About our Volunteer Opportunities
The Texas Book Festival holds a large amount of author sessions in tents set up along Congress Ave. and on 11th Street in front of the State Capitol. Duties in these tents can include:
- Assist with crowd hospitality and attendee way-finding
- Maintain traffic flow in and out of the tent and for book signings
- Assist speakers and panelists
- Assist with set-up for presentations
| Roles in 2024 Tents |
|---|
| C-SPAN |
| Central Market Cooking Tent |
| Info Tent |
| Kirkus Reviews Tent |
| Leamos Tent |
| Poetry Tent |
| Texas Tent |
| Volunteer Check In Tent |
Help run our event spaces! These volunteer opportunities are centered around festival events outside of traditional programming. These roles are vital to festival function, whether your assisting after hours with late night programs, or helping set up signs before the festival begins. Duties in these jobs may include
- Help tear down and clean up after the festival has ended
- Helping maintain our author greenroom
- Escorting authors around festival grounds
- Taking session counts after hours at Lit Crawl
- Checking people in at TBF parties
- Help set up signage around the Capitol the day before the festival
| Roles in 2024 events |
|---|
| Author Greenroom (20+) |
| Author Guides (20+) |
| Lit Crawl (21+) |
| Logistics/Clean Up/ Parking |
| Signage Set Up |
| Festival Parties (21+) |
In addition to programming, TBF has multiple opportunities for shopping over the course of the weekend. Attendees can purchase featured author books in the BookPeople sales tents, or check out vendors in the exhibitor marketplace. After each author session, signings will take place in our book signing tent. Duties for volunteers in these venues may include
- Help maintain traffic flow, establishing lines for author signings
- Greet attendees as they enter the sales or signing tents
- Help attendees find the book(s) they are looking for, and, if you can, monitor traffic flow and monitor exits for loss prevention
- Prepare author signing areas
- Assist with the unpacking of books on Friday night and repacking of books on Sunday night
- Assist facilitating the Festival Friends signing line
- Help prepare books to be signed/inscribed as directed by VCC
| roles in 2024 sales & signing |
|---|
| BookPeople Kids Book Sales |
| BookPeople Main Book Sales |
| Concessions/Exhibitors |
| Main Book Signing Tent |
| TBF Store |
Help volunteer in our Children’s and Young Adult tents! These tents will host programming for children, middle grade students, and young adults, and our Camp TTBF and Children’s activity tents will hold activities for teens and kids. Duties for volunteers in these tents may include:
- Assist with setup and teardown of table materials, chairs, and signage
- Assist with quieting the crowd
- Greet authors/illustrators/other presenters
- Help transition from one session to the next
- Escort authors to other areas of the Festival
- Monitor children in attendance
- Help programming partners lead activities
- Straightening chairs and carpet squares in the tent between authors
| roles in 2024 children & ya |
|---|
| Camp TTBF Tent |
| Children’s Activity Tent |
| Children’s Read Me a Story Tent |
| Next Chapter Middle Grade Tent |
| YA HQ Tent |
Outside of our tents, the Texas Book Festival holds author sessions in several venues around downtown Austin. These venues tend to be larger in size and often have larger crowds. Duties in these tents can include:
- Assist with crowd hospitality and attendee way-finding
- Maintain traffic flow in and out of the tent and for book signings
- Assist speakers and panelists
- Assist with set-up for presentations
- Helping visitors locate restrooms and trash cans
- Helping clean up between sessions and at end of the day
- Assisting Festival Friends Pass holders with seating
- Assisting with checking in attendees during ticketed sessions
| roles in 2024 offsite venues |
|---|
| Capitol Monitors (18+) |
| Central Presbyterian Church (18+) |
| The Contemporary |
| First Baptist Church (18+) |
| First United Methodist Church (18+) |
| Stateside Theatre (18+) |
To Select Shifts:
- Enter your contact information in the form below
- Select the day that you’d like to volunteer (you can select multiple days!)
- A drop down will display with all available jobs for each day selected
- Select the job that you’d like to volunteer for
- Once you’ve selected the job or jobs you’d like to register for, shift times will display below. If no shifts are displayed, then all volunteer slots are full! Please make sure to only select shifts you are able to work – your submission is a commitment to volunteer.
Volunteer Sign Up Form
🚨 Your form submission is a commitment to volunteer. Please only sign up for shifts you are able to work and do not sign up for overlapping shifts. If you need to cancel or change your shifts after registering, please contact [email protected].