If you like books or reading in general, this weekend is for you.

That’s because authors from all over the United States will converge upon Bowling Green for the sixth annual Southern Kentucky Book Fest. The Book Fest will be this Friday and Saturday at the Sloan Convention Center.

More than 10,000 people attended last year, making it Kentucky’s largest literary event.

According to Book Fest’s Web site, 40 to 44 percent of the Kentucky working-age population has little to no reading skills, and 14 percent of adults in Kentucky have no literary skills.

Writers will be available to sign books as well as speak with readers.

Authors attending the event include Rosalind Miles, Lynn Hightower, Ann B. Ross, David L. Robbins, Steve Berry and many others. There will be 200 authors attending the event, including 50 who write children’s books.

“We have every type of genre you could think of; cookbooks, garden books, mystery, fiction, nonfiction,” said Jayne Pelaski, assistant to the dean for community outreach, who helped coordinate the event.

Children’s day is from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday. Suzy Kline, author of the “Horrible Harry” series, will speak at a session. Story book characters, plays and many other activities are on the Fest’s schedule throughout both days.

The Book Fest will continue from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday as the children’s authors will make room for adult authors.

Ellen Michelletti, senior educational resource library assistant in Tate Page Hall, is recommending that students in her children’s literature class go to the Book Fest because there will be a lot of children’s writers there.

Her students will soon be teachers and be able to use this in the classroom, she said.

“It’s a good way to see what’s out there,” Michelletti said. “There’s always the chance to meet writers, and not just books but song writers will be there too.”

Admission to the Book Fest is free.

Reach Emily Gries at [email protected]