The Texas Book Festival announced two keynote speakers for the 2020 Texas Teen Book Festival, which will be held during the 2020 Virtual Texas Book Festival from October 31 to November 1. The 2020 Texas Teen Book Festival will feature keynote panels with authors Nic Stone and Elizabeth Acevedo. 

Clap When You Land, Acevedo’s 2020 novel written in verse, received “a standing ovation” from Kirkus. Acevedo’s The Poet X was a New York Times bestseller and won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, the Michael L. Printz Award, the Pura Belpré Award, the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award, and the Walter Award. She is also a National Poetry Slam champion.

Stone is a New York Times-bestselling author and former TTBF keynote speaker. Dear Justyce, a much-anticipated follow-up to her young adult bestseller Dear Martin, will be published on September 29, 2020. Stone’s middle-grade fiction debut, Clean Getaway, and the first of a series based on Marvel’s Black Panther comics, Shuri: A Black Panther Novel, were published in January.

“The decision to move TTBF to a virtual format in place of a face-to-face celebration of reading this year was a difficult one. However, I find myself excited about what this new opportunity offers us,” says Shawn Mauser, chair of the Texas Teen Book Festival. “This year's format is going to allow us to explore new avenues of connection with our TTBF fans and our authors. We get to explore new ways to be creative with this year's festival, and that experience is going to make our in-person festivals even better when they return (and they will).”

The 2020 Virtual Texas Book Festival will take place online from October 31 to November 15.