2026 Bookmarks Festival: Opening Keynote with John Green

Bookmarks is thrilled to present John Green as the opening keynote to our 21st Annual Festival of Books and Authors! He will be in conversation with Angie Thomas, author of The Hate U Give and coauthor of the collaborative novel Breakout.

John Green will discuss his adult fiction debut Hollywood, Ending, a novel about two rising stars on the set of an Andy Warhol biopic navigating the tensions between public and private life. There will be a Q&A featuring pre-submitted questions from the audience; please include any questions for John Green in your order form.

Tickets are $40 (plus taxes & fees) and include a pre-signed copy of Hollywood, Ending as well as admission to the event. There will not be a public signing or photo opportunity at this event.

This opening keynote with John Green is presented by the Schweddy Nerds book club and the Clark Foundation.

For more information about the Bookmarks Festival, check out our website and start planning your visit.

Have any questions? Check out our page and email [email protected] for further inquiries.

#1 bestselling author John Green makes his much-anticipated return to fiction with a behind-the-scenes Hollywood love story that brilliantly confronts the private cost of a public life.
For rising young actors Kai Laramie and Juniper Castillo, being cast in the buzzy biopic Andy Warhol Never Gets Old is the opportunity they’ve both been waiting for. They’re on the verge of breaking out, and maybe even falling in love. Soon, the movie is blowing up, and so are their lives—in exciting, but also terrifying, ways.
John Green artfully blends a behind-the-scenes Hollywood love story with an unflinching examination of the insatiable attention economy. Told through dual points of view, the novel follows Kai and Juniper from the first days on location to the movie’s premiere, brilliantly juxtaposing their story with the on-screen study of Warhol’s life at the dawn of celebrity culture.
Hollywood, Ending is a deeply observed novel about the tension between a public and a private life, and finding your safe someone to hold onto. Tender, heartbreaking, and shrewdly funny, this is a story as only John Green can tell it.

John Green is the award-winning, #1 bestselling author of books including Looking for Alaska, The Fault in Our Stars, Turtles All the Way Down, The Anthropocene Reviewed, and Everything Is Tuberculosis. With his brother, Hank, John has co-created many online video projects, including Vlogbrothers and the educational channel Crash Course. John's books have won many prizes, including an Audie Award, an Edgar Award, the Michael L. Printz Medal, and a Los Angeles Times Book Prize. John lives with his family in Indianapolis. You can visit him online at johngreenbooks.com.

Angie Thomas is the author of the award-winning, #1 New York Times bestselling Nic Blake and the Remarkables series, The Hate U Give, On the Come Up, and Concrete Rose as well as Find Your Voice: A Guided Journal for Writing Your Truth. She is also a coauthor of the bestselling collaborative novels Blackout, Whiteout, and Breakout. A former teen rapper who holds a BFA in creative writing, Angie divides her time between her native Mississippi, and Atlanta. You can find her online at angiethomas.com.

Wait Chapel is located on the campus of Wake Forest University. This venue seats approximately 2250 audience members in traditional tiered theatre-style seating. Areas for wheelchair users and their companions will be reserved.

Visitor parking can be found in Parking Lots A, P, and Q. The nearest accessible parking is in Parking Lots A and P as well as street parking on Wake Forest Rd. For more information see the Visitor Parking page of the WFU website. There are multiple accessible entrances. Wait Chapel is equipped with all gender (single user) restrooms.

Wake Forest University has no responsibility for the conduct of any program or activity offered by Bookmarks. Wake Forest functions only as a site for the event and will provide many of the services specified for the event such as facilities, food and house. The University assumes no responsibility for any damage, injury or loss to any person or property, from any cause whatsoever, except to the extent such liability results from the sole negligence of Wake Forest.