Lit Fest 2025: Full Schedule

5:00pm MDT

Writing in Color/Queer Creatives Welcome Hour

Friday June 6, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm MDT

Calling all Queer Creatives and Writers of Color! Come share a drink and build connections with fellow writers, artists, and Lit Fest attendees during our writing communities happy hour. This happy hour is open to all who identify as queer and/or BIPOC+*—we welcome you to join us in celebration and community. Copies of the Writing in Color and Queer Creatives guides to Lit Fest will be available, spotlighting Lit Fest workshops and events led by faculty that identify as BIPOC+ and/or part of LGBTQIA+** communities.
*BIPOC+ includes but is not limited to African, Indigenous, Native, Latinx, Asian, Pacific Islander, Arab, and Multiracial heritage.
**LGBTQIA+ is an abbreviation for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, intersex, asexual, and more.

Speakers

Multiple Instructors

Friday June 6, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm MDT
Lighthouse 3844 York Street Denver, CO 80205

All Genres

Audience Event

6:15pm MDT

Advanced Weekend Workshop Orientation

Friday June 6, 2025 6:15pm - 6:45pm MDT

Lighthouse

Writers taking workshops with Nicole Chung, Claire Dederer, Katie Kitamura, and Solmaz Sharif, join us on Friday evening for quick introductions to your instructor and fellow classmates and a tour of the Lit Fest campus. Stay for a visit to the food trucks, happy hour, and the Turn the Page with Colorado Matters and Kristin Koval, at 7:00 PM.

Speakers

Multiple Instructors

Friday June 6, 2025 6:15pm - 6:45pm MDT
Lighthouse 3844 York Street Denver, CO 80205

All Genres

Audience Event

7:00pm MDT

Turn the Page with Colorado Matters and Kristin Koval

Friday June 6, 2025 7:00pm - 8:00pm MDT

Lighthouse

Join novelist Kristin Koval, a Lit Fest advanced workshop regular, in conversation with Colorado Public Radio's Ryan Warner for a live taping of CPR's Turn the Page, a series that digs into works by Colorado writers. Koval's debut novel, Penitence, named an Indie First pick for February, has gotten national attention. The Washington Post raves, "Gripping and propulsive, Kristin Koval’s Penitence is an exploration of the struggles and impossible choices of two families linked by tragedy, guilt, blame and love.”

Speakers

Kristin Koval

Instructor

Kristin Koval is a former lawyer who always wanted to be a writer but initially wandered down other paths. Her debut novel, Penitence, was named a Barnes & Noble Discover Pick for February 2025, a People Magazine Best Book of the Week, a Book of the Month Pick, an Indie Next, an Apple... Read More →

Multiple Instructors

Friday June 6, 2025 7:00pm - 8:00pm MDT
Lighthouse 3844 York Street Denver, CO 80205

Fiction

Audience Event

10:00am MDT

Queer Creatives Brunch

Saturday June 7, 2025 10:00am - 11:30am MDT

Lighthouse

It’s brunch! Come celebrate Lit Fest with a dazzling morning of Drag Brunch Bingo, featuring the fabulous Alice Glamoure, with your fellow LGBTQIA+ writers and creatives! We’ll be serving up delicious bites from Scratch Kitchen, along with a selection of cocktails and mocktails.

Speakers

Multiple Instructors

Saturday June 7, 2025 10:00am - 11:30am MDT
Lighthouse 3844 York Street Denver, CO 80205

All Genres

Audience Event

5:30pm MDT

Faculty Showcase

Saturday June 7, 2025 5:30pm - 6:30pm MDT

Lighthouse

Grab a refreshment and hear readings from recently published works by Lighthouse faculty members:

Juan Morales
Teow Lim Goh
David J. Rothman
Erika Krouse
Austin Segrest
Poupeh Missaghi
Anthony D'Aries
R.L. Maizes

Speakers

Anthony D'Aries

Instructor

Anthony D'Aries is the author of The Language of Men: A Memoir (Hudson Whitman Press, 2012), which received the PEN/New England Discovery Prize and an INDIES Gold Medal. His fiction and nonfiction has appeared in McSweeney's, Boston Magazine, The Literary Review, and elsewhere. He... Read More →

Teow Lim Goh

Instructor

Teow Lim Goh is the author of three poetry collections, Islanders (2016) and Faraway Places (2021), and Bitter Creek (2025). Her essay collection titled Western Journeys (2022) was a finalist for the 2023 Colorado Book Awards in Creative Nonfiction. Her essays, poetry, and criticism... Read More →

Erika Krouse

Instructor

Erika Krouse has taught at Lighthouse since 2008; she is a Book Project mentor and a winner of the Lighthouse Beacon Award. Erika's most recent collection of short stories, Save Me, Stranger, is out with Flatiron Books in January 2025. It has garnered starred reviews from Kirkus and... Read More →

Poupeh Missaghi

Instructor

Poupeh Missaghi is a writer, translator, and editor. Her debut book trans(re)lating house one was published in 2020 and her second book Sound Museum was published in 2024 (Coffee House Press). Her most recent translation In the Streets of Tehran, a book of witness narratives, was... Read More →

Juan J. Morales

Instructor

Juan J. Morales is the son of an Ecuadorian mother and Puerto Rican father. He is the author of three poetry collections, including The Handyman’s Guide to End Times, winner of the 2019 International Latino Book Award. Recent poems have appeared in Crazyhorse, The Laurel Review... Read More →

Austin Segrest

Instructor

Austin Segrest is the author of the poetry collections Groom (Unbound Edition Press, 2025) and Door to Remain, winner of the 2021 Vassar Miller Poetry Prize and the Wisconsin Library Association Outstanding Achievement Award. Originally from Alabama, he lives in Appleton, Wisconsin... Read More →

Saturday June 7, 2025 5:30pm - 6:30pm MDT
Lighthouse 3844 York Street Denver, CO 80205

Fiction Nonfiction/Memoir Poetry Hybrid

Audience Event

7:00pm MDT

Visiting Authors Reading: Nicole Chung, Claire Dederer, Katie Kitamura, and Solmaz Sharif

Saturday June 7, 2025 7:00pm - 8:15pm MDT

Lighthouse

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.

Speakers

Nicole Chung

Visiting Author

Nicole Chung is the author of the award-winning memoir A Living Remedy, which was named a Notable Book by The New York Times and a Best Book of the Year by over a dozen other outlets. Her 2018 debut All You Can Ever Know was a national bestseller and a finalist for the National Book... Read More →

Claire Dederer

Visiting Author

Claire Dederer is a memoirist, essayist, and critic. Her most recent book is the national bestseller Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma (Knopf, 2023), a New York Times Notable Book that was named a best book of 2023 by The Washington Post, The New Yorker, Elle, Esquire, Kirkus, Electric... Read More →

Katie Kitamura

Visiting Author

Katie Kitamura’s most recent novel is Audition. She is also the author of Intimacies, one of The New York Times’ 10 Best Books of 2021 and one of Barack Obama’s Favorite Books of 2021. It was longlisted for the National Book Award and the PEN/Faulkner Award, and was a finalist... Read More →

Solmaz Sharif

Visiting Author

Solmaz Sharif is the author of two books of poetry, most recently Customs (Graywolf Press, 2022) which Publisher’s Weekly praised as “complex and confident” in a starred review. Her first book, Look (Graywolf Press, 2016), was a finalist for the National Book Award and a New... Read More →

Multiple Instructors

Saturday June 7, 2025 7:00pm - 8:15pm MDT
Lighthouse 3844 York Street Denver, CO 80205

Fiction Nonfiction/Memoir Hybrid Poetry

Audience Event

7:00pm MDT

Visiting Authors Reading: Nicole Chung, Claire Dederer, Katie Kitamura, and Solmaz Sharif (Livestream)

Saturday June 7, 2025 7:00pm - 8:15pm MDT

Zoom

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.

Speakers

Nicole Chung

Visiting Author

Claire Dederer

Visiting Author

Katie Kitamura

Visiting Author

Solmaz Sharif

Visiting Author

Multiple Instructors

Saturday June 7, 2025 7:00pm - 8:15pm MDT
Zoom

Fiction Nonfiction/Memoir Hybrid Poetry

Audience Event

5:00pm MDT

Advanced Weeklong Workshop Orientation

Sunday June 8, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm MDT

Lighthouse

Writers taking workshops with Steve Almond, Emily Rapp Black, Mark Doty, Danielle Evans, Amitava Kumar, T Kira Māhealani Madden, Claire Messud, Beth Nguyen, Jenny Offill, Rowan Ricardo Phillips, and Maurice Carlos Ruffin, join us on Sunday afternoon for quick introductions to your instructor and fellow classmates and a tour of the Lit Fest campus. Stay for the Lit Fest Kickoff Party!

Speakers

Multiple Instructors

Sunday June 8, 2025 5:00pm - 6:00pm MDT
Lighthouse 3844 York Street Denver, CO 80205

Fiction Nonfiction/Memoir Poetry Hybrid

Audience Event

6:00pm MDT

Lit Fest Kickoff Party

Sunday June 8, 2025 6:00pm - 8:30pm MDT

Lighthouse

The kickoff party brings together participants and instructors for a night of celebration. Enjoy musical performances from Youth On Record musicians, catered dinner, drinks, and more!

Speakers

Multiple Instructors

Sunday June 8, 2025 6:00pm - 8:30pm MDT
Lighthouse 3844 York Street Denver, CO 80205

All Genres

Audience Event

4:30pm MDT

First Draft Live: The Debut Journey

Monday June 9, 2025 4:30pm - 6:00pm MDT

Lighthouse

Join Mitzi Rapkin for a live episode of her popular First Draft podcast. This one will feature a conversation between debut authors Nini Berndt and Evanthia Bromiley and as they discuss their publication journeys, their book launch learning curve, their inspiration and challenges, and more. Mitzi's First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing, a literary podcast now in its 12th year of production, has more than 500 interviews in the archive.

Speakers

Mitzi Rapkin

Panelist

Mitzi Rapkin is the founder, host and producer of the literary podcast, “First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing,” which features a new author interview each week. She has interviewed more than 500 contemporary writers of fiction, nonfiction, essays, and poetry over the past twelve... Read More →

Nini Berndt

Nini Berndt's debut novel, There Are Reasons for This, comes out from Tin House Press in spring 2025. She's a graduate of the MFA program in Fiction at the University of Florida, and her work has appeared in The Southampton Review, Subtropics, Adroit, Passages North, Blackbird... Read More →

Evanthia (Evie) Bromiley

Evanthia Bromiley is a graduate of the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers and the recipient of scholarships from the Aspen Institute, a Lighthouse Fellowship, a Lisel Mueller scholarship, and Elizabeth George and Carol Houck-Smith awards. She is the 2025 Grace Paley Fellow for... Read More →

Monday June 9, 2025 4:30pm - 6:00pm MDT
Lighthouse 3844 York Street Denver, CO 80205

Fiction Nonfiction/Memoir

Audience Event

7:00pm MDT

Visiting Authors Reading: Mat Johnson, Alex Marzano-Lesnevitch, and Elizabeth McCracken

Monday June 9, 2025 7:00pm - 8:00pm MDT

Lighthouse

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.

Speakers

Mat Johnson

Visiting Author

Mat Johnson is a Philip H Knight Chair of Humanities at the University of Oregon. His publications included the novels Invisible Things and Pym, the nonfiction novella The Great Negro Plot, and the graphic novel Incognegro. Johnson is the recipient of the American Book Award, the... Read More →

Alex Marzano-Lesnevich

Visiting Author

Alex Marzano-Lesnevich is the author of The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir, which received a Lambda Literary Award, the Chautauqua Prize, the Grand Prix des Lectrices Elle, the Prix des Libraires du Quebec, and the Prix France Inter-JDD. It has been translated into 11 languages... Read More →

Elizabeth McCracken

Visiting Author

Elizabeth McCracken is the author of eight books: Here’s Your Hat What’s Your Hurry, The Giant’s House, Niagara Falls All Over Again, An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination, Thunderstruck & Other Stories, Bowlaway, The Souvenir Museum, and The Hero of This Book. She’s... Read More →

Multiple Instructors

Monday June 9, 2025 7:00pm - 8:00pm MDT
Lighthouse 3844 York Street Denver, CO 80205

Fiction Nonfiction/Memoir Hybrid Poetry

Audience Event

7:00pm MDT

Visiting Authors Reading: Visiting Authors Reading: Mat Johnson, Alex Marzano-Lesnevitch, and Elizabeth McCracken (Livestream)

Monday June 9, 2025 7:00pm - 8:00pm MDT

Zoom

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.

Speakers

Mat Johnson

Visiting Author

Alex Marzano-Lesnevich

Visiting Author

Elizabeth McCracken

Visiting Author

Multiple Instructors

Monday June 9, 2025 7:00pm - 8:00pm MDT
Zoom

Fiction Nonfiction/Memoir Hybrid Poetry

Audience Event

4:30pm MDT

Lit Fest Fellows Reading

Tuesday June 10, 2025 4:30pm - 6:00pm MDT

Lighthouse

Help us celebrate the exceptional talent among this year’s Lit Fest Fellowship finalists and winners. Happy hour beverages and snacks available.

Our lineup so far:

Fellowship for Emerging Writers
Poetry: Sydney Mayes (selected by Rowan Ricardo Phillips)
Fiction: Mika Taylor (selected by Megha Majumdar)
Nonfiction: T Abeyta (selected by Mark Sundeen)

Veteran Writing Awardees (selected by Benjamin Hertwig):
Enrique Gautier
Matt Gallagher

LARRK Fellowship Winners:
Shelby Pinkham
Iggy Shuler

Speakers

Multiple Instructors

Tuesday June 10, 2025 4:30pm - 6:00pm MDT
Lighthouse 3844 York Street Denver, CO 80205

Fiction Nonfiction/Memoir Hybrid Poetry

Audience Event

7:00pm MDT

Visiting Authors Reading: Steve Almond, Ingrid Rojas Contreras, Eduardo Corral, and Paul Harding

Tuesday June 10, 2025 7:00pm - 8:15pm MDT

Lighthouse

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.

Speakers

Steve Almond

Visiting Author

Steve Almond [www.stevealmondjoy.org] is the author of a dozen books, including the New York Times bestsellers Candyfreak and Against Football. His first novel, Which Brings Me to You (co-written with Julianna Baggott) was made into a major motion picture starring Lucy Hale. His second... Read More →

Ingrid Rojas Contreras

Visiting Author

Ingrid Rojas Contreras was born and raised in Bogotá, Colombia. Her memoir, The Man Who Could Move Clouds, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. It tells the story of the author's lineage of curanderos, or shamans, and her mother, who was the first woman in her family to become... Read More →

Eduardo Corral

Visiting Author

Eduardo C. Corral is the son of Mexican immigrants. Graywolf Press published his second book, Guillotine, in 2020. His first book, Slow Lightning, won the Yale Series of Younger Poets competition. His poems have appeared in Ambit, New England Review, The New Republic, Ploughshares... Read More →

Paul Harding

Visiting Author

Paul Harding is the author of three novels, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Tinkers, Enon, and This Other Eden, which was a finalist for the National Book Award, and shortlisted for the Booker Prize. He has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for... Read More →

Multiple Instructors

Tuesday June 10, 2025 7:00pm - 8:15pm MDT
Lighthouse 3844 York Street Denver, CO 80205

Fiction Nonfiction/Memoir Hybrid Poetry

Audience Event

7:00pm MDT

Visiting Authors Reading: Steve Almond, Ingrid Rojas Contreras, Eduardo Corral, and Paul Harding (Livestream)

Tuesday June 10, 2025 7:00pm - 8:15pm MDT

Zoom

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.

Speakers

Ingrid Rojas Contreras

Visiting Author

Steve Almond

Visiting Author

Eduardo Corral

Visiting Author

Paul Harding

Visiting Author

Tuesday June 10, 2025 7:00pm - 8:15pm MDT
Zoom

Fiction Nonfiction/Memoir Hybrid Poetry

Audience Event

4:30pm MDT

The Book Project Showcase

Wednesday June 11, 2025 4:30pm - 6:00pm MDT

Lighthouse

Come meet our very successful Book Project authors Nini Berndt, Gloria Browne-Marshall, Jan Thomas, and Jenny Dandy read from their work and talk about writing their books. Stick around for book signings and Q&A from William Haywood Henderson and others from the Book Project!

Speakers

Jenny Dandy

Jenny Dandy took her first class at Lighthouse Writers Workshop in the fall of 2015. In 2020 she graduated from the Book Project and in 2023 she signed a three-book contract with Level Best Books. Her first book, The Brownstone on E. 83rd (April 2024) came out of the Book Project... Read More →

William Haywood Henderson

Instructor

William Haywood Henderson earned a BA in English from the University of California at Berkeley, an MA in creative writing from Brown University, and attended Stanford University as a Wallace Stegner Fellow in Creative Writing. He is the author of three novels: Native, The Rest of... Read More →

Jan Thomas

Instructor

J.E. Thomas spent her early summers stuffing grocery bags with books at the local library, reading feverishly, then repeating the process week after week. So it's not surprising that she thinks books and imagination are the best streaming service around. J.E. is an award-winning writer... Read More →

Nini Berndt

Gloria J. Browne-Marshall

Instructor

Gloria J. Browne-Marshall is an Emmy Award-winning writer, a professor of Constitutional Law and Africa Studies at John Jay College (CUNY), civil rights attorney, and playwright. She is the author of She Took Justice: The Black Woman, Law, and Power; Race, Law, and American Society... Read More →

Wednesday June 11, 2025 4:30pm - 6:00pm MDT
Lighthouse 3844 York Street Denver, CO 80205

Fiction Nonfiction/Memoir Hybrid

Audience Event

7:00pm MDT

Writing in Color Trivia Night with Black People Know Things

Wednesday June 11, 2025 7:00pm - 9:00pm MDT

Lighthouse

Love trivia? Looking for new writer friends? Join us for a night of BIPOC-centered trivia hosted by Black People Know Things! This event is open to all with the aim of highlighting BIPOC+* culture and providing writers of color an opportunity to connect.
*BIPOC+ includes but is not limited to African, Indigenous, Native, Latinx, Asian, Pacific Islander, Arab, and Multiracial heritage.

Speakers

Multiple Instructors

Wednesday June 11, 2025 7:00pm - 9:00pm MDT
Lighthouse 3844 York Street Denver, CO 80205

All Genres

Audience Event

4:30pm MDT

Poetry Collective Celebration

Thursday June 12, 2025 4:30pm - 6:00pm MDT

Lighthouse

Come and celebrate the hard work of the Poetry Collective graduates, hear some of their final work, and learn more about the year-long program.

Speakers

Multiple Instructors

Thursday June 12, 2025 4:30pm - 6:00pm MDT
Lighthouse 3844 York Street Denver, CO 80205

Poetry

Audience Event

4:30pm MDT

Poetry Collective Celebration (Livestream)

Thursday June 12, 2025 4:30pm - 6:00pm MDT

Zoom

Come and celebrate the hard work of the Poetry Collective graduates, hear some of their final work, and learn more about the year-long program.

Speakers

Multiple Instructors

Thursday June 12, 2025 4:30pm - 6:00pm MDT
Zoom

Poetry

Audience Event

7:00pm MDT

Visiting Authors Reading: Helen Phillips, Eileen Myles, Tony Tulathimutte, and Matthew Zapruder

Thursday June 12, 2025 7:00pm - 8:15pm MDT

Lighthouse

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.

Speakers

Multiple Instructors

Thursday June 12, 2025 7:00pm - 8:15pm MDT
Lighthouse 3844 York Street Denver, CO 80205

Fiction Nonfiction/Memoir Hybrid Poetry

Audience Event

7:00pm MDT

Visiting Authors Reading: Helen Phillips, Eileen Myles, Tony Tulathimutte, and Matthew Zapruder (Livestream)

Thursday June 12, 2025 7:00pm - 8:15pm MDT

Zoom

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.

Speakers