People like to read for a wide range of reasons and any one of them should be a sufficient excuse to spend this coming Saturday at the 8th annual Boston Book Festival (BBF) in Copley Square.

No matter which format (print, dedicated e-reader, audio book or smartphone) you prefer, the 2016 BBF has free events to stimulate you to read more widely and perhaps to write your own bestseller.

“We are proud to present an all-star cast of authors this year, with luminaries in ever field and genre,” said Deborah Z. Porter, the festival’s executive director. “From crime fiction, memoir, literary fiction, business and economics, biography to architecture, politics, poetry, young adult or kid lit, we promise to challenge and entertain.”

Q and A sessions with the hottest scribes from the bestseller lists is probably the biggest draw. Just as sports fans like to get up close and personal with the stars of their favorite teams, readers are curious about what their favorite authors are like in real life.

For example, at 11 a.m. on Saturday in the sanctuary of Trinity Church, world-renowned architect Frank Gehry and his Pulitzer-Prize-winning biographer will chat about architecture and Gehry’s oeuvre which includes the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain that was declared “the greatest building of our time.”

Fans of the Boston Globe’s art critic Sebastian Smee will get to see if he is as charming and informative in person as he is in print. Former Dot resident Liam Day will be among the poets reading at the “Poems and Pints” pub session. Susan Faludi will give the memoir keynote. Top mystery and thriller writers will share their techniques for tingling spines.

“In addition to the sessions patrons may enjoy a variety of activities in Copley Square itself,” said BBF Deputy Director Norah Piehl, “including a marketplace, costume characters and a scavenger hunt for kids, live music performances on the Berklee Festival Stage, walking tours by Boston By Foot, food trucks, on-demand poetry, and more.”

Attention, parents! The BBF recently announced that it has discontinued its springtime Hubbub Children’s Book Festival, so this Saturday is your best option to coax your progeny into becoming an avid reader.

The librarians at Dot’s Adams St. Branch helped select “The Faery Handbag” by Kelly Link, as this year’s One City, One Story book-club selection. Adams Street’s Elisa Birdseye felt the book was “really imaginative, sort of a ’soft fantasy’ like the Madeleine L’Engle classic “A Wrinkle in Time.” ”

Birdseye advocates that her branch patrons attend the festival.

“Any event that gets people to read more is great, and even if you can’t afford to buy an exciting author’s latest work at the BBF, you can always come to us and borrow our copy!’”

For the updated schedule, information on presenters, directions, and a map, visit bostonbookfest.org.