Another occasion to see House Andrews live!
Ilona and Gordon will appear as Featured Authors at the 2026 Columbus Book Festival in Ohio on July 11 and 12, 2026.
Hosted by the Columbus Metropolitan Library Foundation, the festival events will be held at Main Library, 96 S. Grant Ave, and in the adjacent Topiary Park at the corner of Town and Washington Streets.
If you would like to see House Andrews in person, here is where to find them:
- Saturday, July 11 at 1:00 PM Spirits, Spells & Swoons: Romantasy | Stage 2
House Andrews will be talking romantasy, magic, danger, and all the delicious complications that come with throwing feelings into a fantasy kingdom that’s trying to kill you. Joining them on the panel are BFF Jeaniene Frost (A Curse of Beasts and Magic) and Shalini Abeysekara (This Blade of Ours).
- Sunday, July 12 at 10:30 AM Speed Matching | Room 2A
In Speed Matching, readers meet authors in small groups for quick five-minute rounds, getting a personal introduction to each book before the authors rotate to the next table.
- Sunday, July 12 at 3:00 PM God Complex: World-Building | Stage 2
Later that afternoon, Ilona Andrews will return to Stage 2 for a conversation about world-building alongside John Chu (The Subtle Art of Folding Space) and K.X. Song (The Dragon Wakes with Thunder). If your favorite part of fantasy is seeing how an author builds a world that feels layered, lived-in, and slightly alarming to inhabit, this is likely your panel.
Tickets?
All of these sessions are free and open to the public, with no tickets required. Seating for panel discussions is first come, first served however, so if there is a session you particularly want to attend, arriving early is your friend.
Signed books?
Yes! After each scheduled appearance (so both panels as well as the Speed Matching), Ilona and Gordon will head to their assigned table in the 2nd Floor Reading Room for a one-hour signing session, where readers will be able to meet them and have books signed.
The festival bookstore will also be set up there, with new releases as well as back-titles from all the featured festival authors available for purchase. By buying books at the Official Festival Bookstore you are supporting your local independent book stores! It is a partnership between Cover to Cover, The Book Loft, Gramercy Books, and Prologue Bookshop.
The festival organizers will also be announcing the full author lineup, exhibitors, and updated festival information through the official festival website which is here.
Book Clubs
One more quick note while I have your attention.
If you previously sent a request for a personalised book club letter from House Andrews and did not receive a response, please resend it with the subject line: Book Club Letter Request.
Both Ilona and myself have been truly buried under a truly ridiculous amount of fake “book club” spam lately, the ChatGPT-written kind that promises followers, Hollywood connections, immortal Texan ferrets in space, the works.
Some of the legitimate requests may have been accidentally sacrificed during the cleanup. Using that exact subject line will help real requests stand out from the nonsense.
Happy BDHing!
Oooh, to live close enough to attend such an event! I shall wait till Maggie #2 is such a big hit you come for PR to Europe 🙂
Oooh First 🙂 today is a good day
That sounds awesome!
Have a good First day! 🙂
I second this notion! 😄 We really need this visit!
Squee!!! You’re coming to Columbus!!!
That sounds like fun! Except for the spam requests of course, ugh.
Ohh, the event sounds fun . . . says the introvert from her keyboard. For those of you who get to go: Enjoy yourselves on our behalf! Represent us well!
On an unrelated note, I’m still disappointed about the lack of immortal space ferrets.
+1 on the Texas space ferrets
+100
Yall, Jeaniene & Shalini?! That is a stacked group of talent! Thank you for letting us resend bookclub request emails, I just assumed yall were too busy and to try again later this year.
There’s such a thing as book club spam??? Why on earth!?? Thank you both for ensuring this blog is a safe space for my brain. It’s tired right now, working on the lit review for my doctoral project and this blog is where I remember who I was before I started this madness. BDH forever!!
Ohhh. The lit review was the most painful part for me. It got easier after that. Best wishes for your source wrangling. And yes, take the time to rest your brain and enjoy WHATEVER makes you happy.
Unfortunately, yes, spam saying “We saw your book, we’d like to feature it to our big book club for the low low fee of an arm and a leg.” Another fun one on instagram is “Send me this post” and when you do the person pitches paid posts to promote your book to their followers. This type of thing is why I don’t usually respond to unsolicited e-mails/dms😒.
Good luck on your doctoral project. I remember those days of going through my lit review after I fried my brain with everything else.
If you are doing a dissertation defense, knowing everything about your project is your friend. I speak from experience on that. Everyone, with the exception of one person, were statisticians. They threw everything at me including the kitchen sink. I got through every question since I knew my stuff. We took the entire 3 hours for my defense. Then the half hour wait while the committee took their time in deciding. That was the worst half hour for me. 😁
Best of Luck! Have a friend sit with you while you wait for the decision. Definitely celebrate before you return to do any of the edits they ask for. May your bibliography be accepted on the first try and you cease dreaming in APA (or whatever your field demands for citation).
Wish I was closer! Sounds like great fun!
Ahhh!!!! You come to my city!! HUZZAH!
What is a book club letter request please?
My book club read This Kingdom will not kill me at our April meeting. Were we supposed to ask first?
Not at all 🙂
A book club letter request is just that – Ilona has graciously provided a short note or message for book groups in connection with an IA book selection or discussion. It is completely optional and not something you need permission for in order to read the book with your book club.
If your group read This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me at your April meeting, that is perfectly fine. The note in the post was simply meant for anyone who had previously written in asking for a letter and may not have received a response.
Happy dance! Close enough for a day trip! Or two! Blocks out calendar for the weekend.
Ooh, great news, but I’d love to see you extend your Ohio visit to the Joseph-Beth bookstore in Cincinnati. It’s only two hours away from Columbus.
Just sayin’.
Enjoy, everyone in the Columbus area! So lucky you are!
My mind is wandering this morning..doesn’t want to do work. And I’m thinking of how much fun it would be if all the furry, feathered or four-legged characters from Cuddles, Bucky, and Turgan to Zeus, the baby, and the ferrets, to the First Scholar and his students, to Bear and the cat (what did Elias name him???) all got together. Dina could interview them! And Puffles! Can’t forget Puffles. 🙂
OK, I really need to go do some work. Happy Thursday!
And Attura! I love Attura and hope to see him all be-ribboned, dancing and pirouetting at The Wedding ( which we are all p*tiently w*iting for, like angelic little BDH’ers).
Well, this is exciting! Guess I know what I’ll be doing in July.
Speed dating for books is freaking adorable. Sounds like it’s going to be a lot of fun.
Agreed! I wish I lived closer so I could attend that session! 🙂
How wonderful… But now you have planted the seed about a book of immortal Texan ferrets in space!! LOL
So glad you are getting the recognition you deserve!
😅 Oh, the immortal Texan ferret has been solving space cases for a few months now https://ilona-andrews.com/blog/dirty-tricks-and-scammy-grifts/
Drat, I dont think I can get the whole weekend off but maybe…
The immortal Texas ferrets with cowboy hats on with little cowboy boots like the Texas Rangers (not the baseball team).
This post was just the thing for me today. I just fried my brain getting reports done for the last four days (that includes today and having to drive over to my corporate office to get a new work computer Monday).
Everyone in Ohio have fun at the conference!
Well, I’m impressed with my own level of masochism. I bought “This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me” the day it came out and finished it last night. In between, I got an amazing amount of stuff done with restrictions like, ” You can read the next chapter when your taxes are done” and “You can read another chapter after the kitchen is clean” (used more than once along with laundry, cooking and working in the garden). Useful self-torture but last night, with three chapters to go, I finally gave in and finished it.
Looking forward to the next book, and starting over to read this one again in one continuous gulp. Thanks.
Wow! That’s some amazing willpower! I could barely make myself sleep when I wanted to read it (and that was only for the bare minimum). 😄
Funny thing – There’s a Columbus in almost every state – not just Ohio.
Adding a state to your “Columbus” wasn’t necessary. It was front and center in the info for the logo.
But I had a brief moment of hope that it was the local one, which is close and I could drive to it.
No such luck. Darn.
Have fun in Ohio!
Yeah, I had to go look. Figured it was Ohio, but was hopeful it might be closer. 🤦♀️
Wait I might actually be able to go?!? If only my anxious brain will stop coming up with things that could go wrong…
That sounds like an amazing weekend! Congrats to all those lucky enough to get to go!
On a side note, did that book club letter thing make anyone else think about starting a book club, just for the letter? 😄 Just kidding (mostly). I know I’m too contrary for a book club. If I was told I had to read something, I wouldn’t want to. Even if it was something I might like. 🤦♀️🤣
+1
This is why I am not in a book club and didn’t graduate college. Mandatory reading doesn’t get done!
That was me in high school. I’ve since read and loved some of the books assigned back then – and bounced off some others multiple times.
The book club I attend doesn’t require you to read every selection. I just don’t attend if I didn’t read the book. The selections are all over the place – literary fiction, romance, memoir, magical realism, varying from one quarterly meeting to the next. The moderator picks the books from member suggestions.
I will be there virtually when it meets tonight (Solito, by Javier Zamora). This club has introduced me to some really good reads that I might never have picked up on my own. So there may be a book club out there that you would like, if you look around some. Or if you design your own!
🤗 Thanks for the encouragement that I’m not destined to be book club-less my whole life! 😄
So…immortal Texan ferrets are not gonna be in the official merch store? My cats will be very disappointed.
Don’t count the immortals ferrets out, they are doing a Firefly reboot OO
Yay!!! I was planning to make the 4 hour drive to Lexington, KY for that book event, and had to cancel those plans last minute. I am so excited to have another chance to see you guys in person! Thank you for taking time out of a very busy schedule for your fans.
DRATITUDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If I weren’t already scheduled to be somewhere else that weekend, I would SERIOUSLY be considering driving 10 hours to get there ….. and driving in strange cities *terrifies* me!!!
My company has a virtual book club, and last year I put in proposal for TKWNKM. Got selected for our December meet up. Wonder how many times Inwill have read it by then?
You’ll probably have it memorized by then. 😂
Columbus, Ohio! Yes!
Hi! Will the panels possibly be recorded so we can see the q&a portions?
This is a question for the organisers 🙂
Oooo that would b awesome! Pondered how far to Ohio, but already knew it is too far, as I started by counting the number of states in between.
Yay! That was me (from the Arboretum book signing)! Or at least, I’m one of them. 😅 Book club letter request re-sent. Thank you!!
Wow! Sounds like a great event. Jeaniene Frost, too!!! My sister lives there…but I’m in Oregon. I’ll have to talk her into going so I can live vicariously through her.
Will there be a meet and greet in Columbus? So excited that you are coming to my city!!!!
SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
that is all.
Boy those Romantasy fans are sure gonna hate our Fae.
This so awesome!! We live in Columbus and will definitely be there!
Immortal Texan space ferret? Yes. Columbus, Ohio is a close second to space ferrets, a very close second. The hellmouth in C-bus is behind a Tim Horton’s on N. High Street, FYI. We are the home of White Castle, please judge us more on our awful road system than the shame of tiny gross slider-things.