Napa Valley Book Festival Sets 50+ Author Lineup at Blue Oak Nov. 14

Napa Valley Writers will host the second annual public Napa Valley Book Festival on Saturday, Nov. 14 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Blue Oak School gym at the corner of Clay and Seminary streets in downtown Napa, bringing together more than 50 authors, independent booksellers, and literary organizations for a free community celebration (Napa Valley Marketplace Magazine).

Napa Valley Writers President Yvonne Baginski said the club expanded author participation this fall after attending the Sacramento Book Festival, which featured more than 250 writers. Independent bookstores Napa Bookmine, Copperfield's Books, and Books and Blocks of Cotati will participate alongside the Napa Valley Library, publisher Books That Save Lives, and representatives from the Northern California chapters of Mystery Writers of America, the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, and Sisters in Crime. Free parking will be available at the Clay Street Garage.

Schedule: Children's Story Hour, Tom Stienstra at 11:15 a.m., and Rex Pickett at 1 p.m.

Morning programming opens at 10:15 a.m. with a children's story hour for ages 4 to 9 featuring Maria Castellucci Moore (You Yoga: Finding Your Inner Shine), Claudette Shatto (The Gratitude Rock), and John Petraglia (Featherstorm: A Holiday Adventure).

At 11:15 a.m., San Francisco Chronicle outdoors writer emeritus Tom Stienstra will discuss his memoir Heaven Delayed: One Man's Survival of Sixteen Near-Death Encounters, recounting experiences beginning with a 1975 late-night robbery attack and three medical emergencies in which doctors revived him. At 1 p.m., Sideways author Rex Pickett will deliver the festival keynote address, "The Fiction Writing Process: From the Blank Page to Publication," drawing on Sideways, its three sequels, and his thriller The Archivist. An all-ages open mic session with 5-minute classroom slots will close the festival from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m., while author Cinder Shine Ernst will offer free copies of Terminally Smiling: Joy That Lifts Even When Life Grounds You while supplies last.

Paul Anamosa on 100 Million Years of Napa Valley Soil and Yountville's School-Site Timeline

Across the valley's viticultural community, soil scientist and Vineyard Soil Technologies founder Paul Anamosa highlighted findings from his book How the Rocks Made the Wine: The Geologic History of the Napa Valley, which traces 100 million years of plate tectonics, volcanism, and erosion across more than 30 distinct soil series in Napa County—about half the total found across all of France (Napa Valley Register). Anamosa noted that while mineral nutrients do not pass directly into finished wine as flavor compounds, soil depth and water-holding capacity govern vine stress, berry size, skin-to-juice ratios, and tannin concentration, with hillside rock profiles producing smaller, more concentrated fruit than deep valley-floor soils.

Meanwhile, in Yountville, a review of 8 municipal milestones traced the town's acquisition and planning for the former Yountville Elementary School property (Napa Valley Register). Through Resolutions 24-4251 and 24-4252, the Yountville Town Council authorized the property acquisition with an initial capital-project budget of $11.5 million, conducted outreach in 2024 and 2025, unanimously approved a Final Conceptual Site Plan under Resolution 25-4344, and introduced a Commons zoning district on Jan. 13 before repealing Ordinance 26-539 following a March 2026 referendum petition—leaving the town as the property owner while future proposals return to public meetings.