2026 Keynote:
Terry Tempest Williams

7:30 P.M. FRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2026
Missouri Theatre, 203 S. Ninth St., Columbia, MO

It is our absolute pleasure to announce that next year's keynote speaker is
Terry Tempest Williams.

Williams is the author of the environmental literature classics Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place; An Unspoken Hunger: Stories from the Field; Desert Quartet; Leap; Red: Passion and Patience in the Desert; The Open Space of Democracy; Finding Beauty in a Broken World; When Women Were Birds; Erosion: Essays of Undoing; and The Hour of Land: A Personal Topography of America’s National Parks.

Her latest book is The Glorians: Visitations from the Holy Ordinary, which hit bookstores on March 3. Kirkus described it as “an impassioned defense of interconnectedness.” The Glorians was named on the New York Times Book Review’s list of The Nonfiction Everyone Will Be Talking About in 2026, and Book Riot included the book on its list of 5 of the Most Anticipated New Nonfiction Book Releases of 2026.

The event is free to attend as always, but we do ask that you reserve a ticket.

If your plans change last-minute, please come to the Missouri Theatre, and we’ll likely be able to seat you without a reserved ticket. Books will be available for purchase at the event.