Competitive readers, it is time to wipe off your reading glasses, sharpen your pencils and put on the coffee: Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh is pleased to announce that Adult Battle of the Books, the book-based trivia showdown, will return for 2025. This year, you’ll be excited to learn that Adult Battle of the Books has expanded to new locations: CLP Lawrenceville, CLP Brookline, CLP Squirrel Hill and CLP East Liberty. The top two teams from each preliminary round will be invited to contend in the ultimate Battle: Our dynamic Championship at Aslin Beer Company. 

Adult Battle of the Books is a trivia game created by the career bookworms at CLP just for you, our book-loving city of literary champions. Teams of 3-5 readers have the spring to carefully read a list of five titles, then we gather in June for three rounds of trivia questions about the people, places, and plots of those books. 

What’s Different for 2025? 

• Your team captain will sign up on behalf of your team to be one of the eight teams to compete at one of our four CLP locations in June. 
• If you are the first or second place winner at one of the CLP locations, you will be invited to compete in the Championship Round on September 10th at Aslin Beer Company.  

Get your team captain to sign up for a night of competitive book trivia at CLP-Lawrenceville on Tuesday, June 10 from 5:30 pm to 8:00 pm. If this location and date does not work for you, we will also host CLP battles at: 

• CLP-Brookline on Thursday, June 12 from 5:30 – 8:00 pm – REGISTRATION FULL
• CLP-Squirrel Hill on Tuesday, June 17 from 5:30 – 8:00 pm – REGISTRATION FULL
• CLP-East Liberty on Wednesday, June 18 from 5:30 – 8:00 pm – REGISTRATION FULL

The event will begin at 5:30 pm with the game starting at 6 pm sharp.

NOTE: You and your team can only sign up for one location event. 

Here’s how you can join the fun: 

1. Form Your Team: Teams should be 3-5 people, and all players must be 18+. Each team should identify a Team Captain, who will be the main point of contact with the Library. Don’t forget to pick a name that will strike fear into the hearts of other readers! 
2. Register for the Battle (below): Once you have your team, your Captain should fill out our registration form below. (Under “Attendee Registration – Total Guests,’ choose one. We will contact you for details on the rest of your team.) Registration will remain open until March 31, but we will close registration early if the event fills up, which it has in all previous years. Register early!    
3. Prepare for the Battle: Get copies of the battle books – check the library for lots of copies in a variety of formats. Make a strategy – will everyone read all the books, or will you split the list?    
4. Let the Battle Begin: Arrive at your selected CLP location on the designated evening ready to compete! There will be three rounds of questions, plus a bonus round.   
5. All the questions will be taken from these five books*:  
   • The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley 
   • Anita de Monte Laughs Last by Xochitl Gonzalez 
   • The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years by Shubnum Khan 
   • The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann 
   • Come and Get It by Kiley Reid 

*For full listing of all formats, including audio and large print, check the check out this Staff Picks booklist or visit the library catalog.