About the Greater Central Valley Book Fest
About & Vision
A Festival Born from a Belief in Stories
Founded by Tamara Thomas — a lifelong reader, educator, and community builder from California's Greater Central Valley.
Tamara Thomas
Founder, Greater Central Valley Book Fest
The Founder
Tamara Thomas is an author, community leader, Tracy Arts Commissioner, and passionate advocate for literacy, education, and the arts. With more than three decades of experience in community engagement, public speaking, and creative leadership, she founded the Greater Central Valley Book Fest to celebrate stories, connect communities, and elevate the voices of authors, artists, educators, and storytellers throughout California's Central Valley. Her vision is to create a premier, multi-generational literary festival that inspires lifelong learning and celebrates the power of stories to bring people together.
The Greater Central Valley Book Fest is a one-day festival designed not just to celebrate books, but to celebrate the full spectrum of storytelling — and to do it in a venue worthy of the occasion, in a city ready to become a cultural destination.
Tamara brings to this project years of experience in education, community organizing, and arts programming. She believes that the right festival, in the right place, at the right moment, can change a community's relationship with its own stories.
What We Stand For
The Four Pillars
Literacy
We believe reading changes lives. Every element of the festival — from children's story time to adult panels — is designed to put books in hands and spark a lifelong love of reading.
Stories
Stories are how communities understand themselves. We celebrate every form — written, spoken, performed, filmed, drawn, and sung — because every form matters.
Arts
The festival is a home for artists of every discipline. Illustrators, filmmakers, photographers, songwriters, and playwrights belong here as much as novelists and poets.
Community
The Greater Central Valley is a place of extraordinary diversity and deep roots. This festival is for the people who live here — and for the stories that belong to them.
The Five-Year Vision
Built to Grow for Decades
The Greater Central Valley Book Fest is designed from the ground up as a recurring annual event — not a one-time experiment. Year one is the proof of concept. Years two through five are the institution.
One day. One venue. A curated program of authors, artists, panels, and performances. The goal is a memorable, well-run debut that earns the trust of the community, the venue, and our first sponsors.
A second day of programming. Expanded Author Alley. A schools outreach program that brings student groups to the festival during a dedicated morning session.
Regional press coverage and a growing roster of featured authors. A formal literary award presented at the festival. Partnerships with Central Valley school districts and public libraries.
The Greater Central Valley Book Fest becomes a destination event — drawing attendees, authors, and press from across California. A signature keynote speaker. A waiting list for Author Alley tables.
Five years in, the festival is a fixture of the regional cultural calendar — as expected and anticipated as any arts event in the state. A model for community-rooted literary festivals everywhere.
Why Tracy?
A City Ready for Its Cultural Moment
Tracy sits at the crossroads of the Bay Area and the Central Valley — close enough to draw visitors from both, distinct enough to have its own identity. Its historic downtown is walkable, its arts scene is growing, and its community is hungry for a signature cultural event.
The Grand Theatre is the ideal anchor. A beautifully restored historic venue with a main theater, galleries, a studio theater, and arts education studios — it has everything a literary festival needs, and a story of its own worth telling.
The Grand Theatre
Tracy, California
A historic performing arts venue with spaces for every scale of programming — from intimate workshops to full-house keynote events.
Ready to Be Part of the Story?
Whether you're a potential venue partner, sponsor, author, or community organization — we'd love to hear from you.