Lit Fest is an eight-day celebration of writers and readers, an extravaganza of weeklong and weekend advanced workshops, craft seminars, readings, salons, business panels, agent meetings, and parties. In 2023, Lit Fest will take place in Lighthouse's brand new, permanent building (with plenty of offerings for our virtual participants)!
Choose workshops and events à la carte or sign up for one of our festival passes for the full experience. Click here to browse the 2022 catalog to get a sense of the programming.
Visiting Authors for 2023 included fiction writers Steve Almond, Jonathan Escoffery, Sheila Heti, Katie Kitamura, Rebecca Makkai, Claire Messud, and Akhil Sharma; nonfiction writers Grace M. Cho, Andre Dubus III, Amitava Kumar, Leslie Jamison, Nadia Owusu, and Michelle Tea; and poets Forrest Gander, Carmen Giménez-Smith, and Patrica Smith; and novelist/screenwriter Dean Bakopoulos.
Fellowship judges included Victoria Chang (Poetry), Vanessa Hua (Fiction), Mitali Jahagirdar (TV/screenwriting), and Leslie Jamison (Nonfiction).
Past visiting agents have included Anna Stein (Curtis Brown), Marya Spence (Janklow & Nesbit), Sarah Fuentes (Fletcher & Co.), Jenny Bent (The Bent Agency), Michelle Brower (Aevitas Creative), Alexa Stark (Trident Media Group), Kristin Nelson (Nelson Literary), Chris Parris-Lamb (Gernert), Duvall Osteen (Aragi), Sally Wofford-Girand (Union), and Tanusri Prasanna (DeFiore & Co.). Lit Fest passholders have the option of meeting one-on-one with an agent during Lit Fest.
Have questions? Visit our Lit Fest FAQs or give us a call at 303.297.1185.
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Advanced Workshops
Lit Fest features advanced weeklong and weekend courses taught by visiting authors of the highest caliber. Participation is by application only, and classes are limited to 10 (prose) or 12 (poetry and generative workshops) students each. Applications close on March 11.
Craft Seminars
Lit Fest craft seminars give writers of all levels the chance to gain new insight into particular topics, techniques, or genres. Whether you’re interested in learning more about breaking into blogging, creating colorful characters, or perfecting that fight scene, we’ve got a class for you.
Salons + Readings
Stick around after class for our nighttime salons, which feature author panels on a variety of literary topics. Or stay to hear a free reading from Lit Fest participants and instructors, including our visiting authors.
Agent Consultations
Need publishing advice? Our Full-Access Business Pass gets you a one-on-one consultation with Lit Fest's visiting literary agents and editors. Visiting agents and editors will be announced in April.
Weekend Intensives
Want to learn more about a specific element of craft? Dive into the work of a certain writer? Lit Fest weekend intensives offer participants the chance to spend one or two weekends in focused study on a particular topic.
Business Panels
How do you submit to literary magazines? What’s the best way to find an agent? Our daily lunchtime Business Panels provide the advice you need to master the publishing side of writing. Bring a lunch and join us.
Fellowships
Our Lit Fest Fellowships for Emerging Writers help defray the costs of a weeklong or weekend advanced workshop for writers with financial need. Applications close on March 11.
Passes
We have passes available for every type of festival goer, from the Glitterati Pass for evening events to full-access passes to seminars and panels. Passes for Lit Fest will be available in April, 2023.