Tip: You can view the exhibition in full screen mode by selecting the 3 vertical dots in the bottom bar and choose “Enter Full Screen”
The Sheridan Libraries Edible Book Festival began in 2014 and is now a highly-anticipated Johns Hopkins tradition. It is one of many such festivals that take place around the world on or around April 1 to celebrate books, art, food, and culture. In our festival, edible books are desserts inspired by literary titles, characters, or authors. Contestants are encouraged to combine word play with books, decoration, and ingredients.
Edible Book Festivals began with the Books2Eat website in 2000 and are now celebrated internationally. The event was created to commemorate the birthday of gastronome and author Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin. April Fools’ Day is also the perfect day to eat your words.
The Sheridan Libraries Book Festival is sponsored by the Winston Tabb Special Collections Research Center.
Register via online entry form before 12pm, Monday, April 4, 2022
Questions or Comments? Email Heidi Herr at hherr1@jhu.edu and follow @jhuspecialcollections on Instagram to see highlights from previous festivals.
All attendees may judge submissions. Winners are chosen by popular vote.
This edible book has it all: creativity, polish, and flare. From the written statement to the photos to the edible book itself, this dessert is the James Beard Award and the Nobel Prize for Literature combined!
Let’s face it. You want to read instead of eat the book! This edible book perfectly embodies its literary inspiration or entices you to move the book to the top of your summer reading list.
This category represents the spirit of the edible book festival! While it may not be the ace of cakes, this edible book is replete with charm and discernible effort, like the first draft of a promising writer!
You can’t believe it’s not butter . . . or a book!
Their edible book knows how to strike a pose. Whether it’s imaginative staging or photography that would make the foodie community of Instagram collectively drool, the content looks like an ad campaign for the Great British Bake-Off!
The edible book entry most likely to put a smile on your face! Clever, humorous, or super-silly, it makes your stomach roar with laughter and rumble with delight.
Tip: You can view the exhibition in full screen mode by selecting the 3 vertical dots in the bottom bar and choose “Enter Full Screen”
Sponsored by the Friends of the Libraries Advisory Council
Students, faculty, staff, members of donor groups, and alumni of Johns Hopkins University are invited to enter the competition. The general public is welcome to attend the event and cast a vote for their favorites.
Of course you may! This is especially important because some contestants like to participate with their friends, but also want to try to make a literary-themed dessert on their own.
In 2022 only you will be eating your dessert, so no need to alert us of potential allergens. Just be careful to make something you will be safe eating!
Yes. Please contact Heidi Herr at hherr1@jhu.edu by April 1 with any book changes.
No, you do not need to be present to win. Participants will be contacted via email with the list of winners and a link to where you can download photographs from the event. Winners can pick up their prize from Special Collections, receive it through campus mail, or receive it mailed to their home address.
Registered participants will receive an email with a link to the submission form and instructions. Submissions are due April 4, 2021.
Photos: .jpg files with a 2MB maximum (up to 5)
Videos: .mp4 files with a 20MB and 2min maximum (up to 2)
Prizes include a selection of locally-made sweets and gift cards to area restaurants and cafes. First place prizes are valued at about $60, and second place prizes are valued at about $40.