Lit Fest 2025

Discussions in the West around diversity in the arts often focus on the identities of characters and creators. However, true diversity is about more than just plopping different faces into stories that are 100 percent Western in spirit; it can―and should―encompass diverse structures, themes, and values. The program explores how storytelling staples in the West, such as the three-act structure and themes of empowerment and change, are far from universal. It introduces viewers to the East Asian four-act story structure and explains how Eastern value systems such as collectivism can dictate form.

The publishing industry is complicated, constantly changing, and seemingly mysterious, so the relationship between an author and her agent is an integral component of a successful career. Join author Christina Rivera and Evanthia Bromiley and their agents, Julie Stevenson and Jennifer Lyon as they talk about how they’re navigating the choppy waters of publishing together.

We'll discuss the idea that, for creative writing, it is often more fruitful to think of a poem or story or novel or whatever as a rich, elaborate, precise description - of events, of the characters' experience of those events, than to approach a work with a motive or sense of obligation to explain things for the reader. This opens onto all kinds of freeing distinctions that can disburden writers from what can be pretty paralyzing worries - e.g. of having to "understand" a work before you begin it, of having to "know" everything before you start; to know something is not the same as to understand it; to describe something is not the same thing as to explain it.
This is the livestream version of the class, if you would like to attend in person, click here.

Place is deeper than setting; instead it articulates a unique landscape that is both emotional and physical. This workshop offers practices for infusing your stories and essays with a sense of place. How do we evoke it and how can we infuse our work with the power of place?

In this generative hybrid intensive we'll examine the power held by both written poetics/prose and the spoken word. Rather than interpreting these two viewpoints as adversarial, we'll examine them as extensions of each other. How do sound poets and storytellers strengthen their writing? Writers, what can you learn about your work through the performance of sound poets and storytellers? We'll look at ways others have successfully brought sound to writing.

Hear your favorite visiting author perform their recent works. Shop at the Lit Fest pop-up bookstore operated by The Bookies and get your book signed afterward.