A literary festival, also known as a book festival or writers' festival, is a regular gathering of writers and readers, typically on an annual basis in a particular city. A literary festival usually features a variety of presentations and readings by authors, as well as other events, delivered over a period of several days, with the primary objectives of promoting the authors' books and fostering a love of literature and writing.
Writers' conferences are sometimes designed to provide an intellectual and academic focus for groups of writers without the involvement of the general public.
There are many literary festivals held around the world. Notable literary festivals include:
Africa
Nigeria Port Harcourt Book Festival, October Chinua Achebe Literary Festival, November
Asia
Bangladesh Hay Festival Dhaka, November
China Shanghai International Literary Festival
Hong Kong Hong Kong International Literary Festival, March
India
Chandigarh Literati, November Dehradun Literature Festival, February Delhi Poetry Festival, January Gateway Litfest, February/March Guntur International Poetry Festival (GIPF), July Jaipur Literary Festival, January Jashn-e-Rekhta, Urdu literary festival held annually in New Delhi Kalinga Literary Festival (KLF), July Lit for Life, January/February Lucknow Literary Festival, February/March Ma Literature Festival, January/February Mathrubhumi International Festival of Letters Queer LitFest, Chennai (QLF), July/September Wayanad Literature Festival (WLF), Biennale, December Valley of Words International Literature & Arts Festival, November
Indonesia Jakarta International Literary Festival (JILF), August Ubud Writers and Readers Festival (UWRF), held annually at Ubud, Bali Makassar International Writers Festival (MIWF), held annually at Makassar
Malaysia George Town Literary Festival Kuala Lumpur International Literary Festival, July
Nepal Nepal Literature Festival
Pakistan Islamabad Literature Festival, April Karachi Literature Festival, February Lahore Literary Festival, February Sindh Literature Festival, January/February/March
Singapore Singapore Writers Festival, October/November
Sri Lanka Galle Literary Festival, January
Middle East
Israel Hebrew Book Week The Jerusalem International Writers Festival
United Arab Emirates Emirates Airline Festival of Literature, held annually in Dubai
Australasia
Australia Adelaide Writers' Week, March Newcastle, New South Wales National Young Writers' Festival, September/October Perth Writers' Festival, February/March Sydney Writers' Festival, May New Zealand
Auckland Writers Festival, May WORD Christchurch, September VERB Wellington, September
Europe
Austria Festival of German-Language Literature, Klagenfurt
Bosnia and Herzegovina Sarajevo Poetry Days, Sarajevo
Czech Republic Authors' Reading Month, July (held in Brno, Wroclaw, Kosice, Lviv, Ostrava) Prague Writers Festival, June
Denmark Louisiana Literature, August
England Black British Book Festival, October Bradford Literature Festival, June/July Bridport Literary Festival, November Cheltenham Literature Festival, October Chester Literature Festival, October The Children's Bookshow, Autumn Creative Folkestone Book Festival, November Hay Festival, May to June Harrogate International Festivals Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, July Hawkesbury Upton Literary Festival, April Jewish Book Week, February/March Lancaster Literature Festival, March and October Liverpool Literary Festival, October London Literature Festival, Autumn Manchester Literature Festival The North London Literary Festival, March/April Oxford Literary Festival, Spring Peak Literary Festival, October/November or May/June
Finland Lahti International Writers' Reunion LIWRE, June
France FestivalandCo, held in Paris at the Shakespeare and Company bookstore Rencontres aubrac, Aveyron
Germany Berlin International Literature Festival, September
Ireland Cúirt International Festival of Literature, Galway, April
Italy Festivaletteratura, held in Mantua, at the beginning of September
Norway Norwegian Festival of Literature, Lillehammer, is the largest literature festival in the Scandinavian countries since 1996 Bergen International Literary Festival (LitFestBergen) is an annual festival for non-fiction and fiction established in 2019.
Poland Conrad Festival, Kraków, October. The largest literary festival in Central Europe.
Scotland Edinburgh International Book Festival, August, coinciding with the annual Edinburgh Festival Wigtown Book Festival
Sweden Göteborg Book Fair, Gothenburg, Sept WALTIC, Stockholm The Stockholm Writers Festival (Entering its ninth year)
Switzerland Openair Literatur Festival Zürich, Zürich, held annually since 2013
Turkey Istanbul Tanpınar Literature Festival, held in Istanbul, at the beginning of May
Wales The Hay Festival, May/June
North America
Canada Banff Mountain Book Festival, October/November Eden Mills Writers' Festival, Eden Mills/Guelph, Ontario Festival of Literary Diversity, Brampton, Ontario The Frye Festival, Moncton, New Brunswick, April Toronto International Festival of Authors, October/November Whistler Writers Festival, Whistler, British Columbia, November Winnipeg International Writers Festival, September The Word on the Street, several cities Wordfest, Calgary, Alberta, October
Mexico Guadalajara International Book Fair, November/December
United States Boston Book Festival, October Brooklyn Book Festival, September Burlington Book Festival, September Children's Literature Festival at the University of Central Missouri, March The Curwood Festival, Owosso, Michigan, June Hollywood Book Festival, July Kentucky Women Writers Conference, Lexington, Kentucky, September Litquake, San Francisco, October Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, Los Angeles, California, April Miami Book Fair International, Miami, Florida, November National Book Festival, September New Orleans Poetry Festival, New Orleans, April Printers Row Lit Fest, Chicago, Illinois, September OC Book Fair, Tustin, California, November Tennessee Williams/ New Orleans Literary Festival, New Orleans, March Texas Book Festival, Austin, Texas, fall Tucson Festival of Books, Tucson, Arizona, March
Caribbean
Jamaica Calabash International Literary Festival, Treasure Beach, June
Trinidad and Tobago Bocas Lit Fest, April
South America
Argentina International Poetry Festival of Rosario, Rosario
Brazil Festa Literária Internacional de Paraty, Paraty
Colombia International Poetry Festival of Medellín, Medellín
Peru Trujillo Book Festival, Trujillo, March
References
Further reading Driscoll, Beth. "Sentiment analysis and the literary festival audience." Continuum 29.6 (2015): 861-873. Driscoll, Beth, and Claire Squires. "Serious fun: Gaming the book festival." Mémoires du livre/Studies in Book Culture 9.2 (2018). Johanson, Katya, and Robin Freeman. "The reader as audience: The appeal of the writers' festival to the contemporary audience." Continuum 26.2 (2012): 303-314. Ommundsen, Wenche. "Literary festivals and cultural consumption." Australian Literary Studies 24.1 (2009): 19. Robertson, Martin, and Ian Yeoman. "Signals and signposts of the future: Literary festival consumption in 2050." Tourism Recreation Research 39.3 (2014): 321-342. Murray, Simone. The adaptation industry: The cultural economy of contemporary literary adaptation. Routledge, 2012. Stewart, Cori. "The Rise and Rise of Writers' Festivals." A Companion to Creative Writing (2013): 263-277. Weber, Millicent. "Conceptualizing audience experience at the literary festival." Continuum 29.1 (2015): 84-96. Weber, Millicent. Literary Festivals and Contemporary Book Culture. 2018.
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