2026 Town Book

Each year, festival organizers name a Town Book that will promote reading and discussion. The Town Book for 2026 is national bestseller A Guardian and a Thief, by Megha Majumdar. Winner of the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence and a National Book Award finalist, the novel is "a literary gem with the pace of a thriller,” according to USA Today. Set over the course of one week in a near-future Kolkata, A Guardian and a Thief tells two stories, Ma’s frantic attempts to save her family from a collapsing society, and Boomba, whose escalating crimes set him on a collision course with Ma.

There will be a guided Town Book Discussion at the Collingswood Public Library during the week leading up to the festival, where readers will have an opportunity to talk about A Guardian and a Thief before meeting the author on the day of the festival. Copies of the Town Book are available at the Library.