Literary festival

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. A non-exhaustive list is set out below, including dates when a festival is usually held (where available).

Asia-Pacific

• Adelaide Writers' Week, held during the Adelaide Festival of Arts
• Brisbane Writers' Festival, September 29 - October 2
• Galle Literary Festival, January 27-30
• Hong Kong Book Festival, November 17 - 19, 24 - 26
• Hong Kong Literature Festival, June 30 - July 16
• Hong Kong International Literary Festival, March 7 - 15
• Jaipur Literary Festival, January 21-25
• Karachi Literature Festival, February 5 & 6, 2011.
• Kitab in India (see Pablo Ganguli)
• Kuala Lumpur International Literary Festival, July 29 - 31
• Melbourne Writers' Festival, August 19 - 28
• Newcastle, New South Wales National Young Writers' Festival, September 28 - October 2
• New Zealand International Arts Festival, biennial in even years during February and March, contains a Writers & Readers Week
• Perth Writers' Week, February 23 - 1 March
• Shanghai International Literary Festival
• Singapore Writers' Festival, October 24 - November 1
• Sydney Writers' Festival, May 23 - 29
• Ubud Writers & Readers Festival, October 6 - 10, 2010
• Williamstown Literary Festival April 26 - May 1, 2011

Europe

• AngloMockBa, Moscow (see Pablo Ganguli)
• Arty Malta Festival, Valletta (see Pablo Ganguli)
• Asia House Festival of Asian Literature, Asia House, London, May
• Cheltenham Literature Festival, October 6-15
• Chester Literature Festival, October
• Correntes d'Escritas, Póvoa de Varzim, Second half of February (the largest literary festival in Portugal, gathers writers from the Portuguese and Spanish speaking world (Iberian Peninsula, Central and South America and Africa)
• Edinburgh International Book Festival, August 13-29, coinciding with the general Edinburgh Festival
• FestivalandCo, Shakespeare themed literary festival held in Paris, France at the Shakespeare and Company bookstore
• Festivaletteratura, held in Mantova, Italy, at the beginning of September
• Folkestone Literary Festival, September 20-25
• The Hay Festival, May 27-June 5
• International Istanbul Poetry Festival, May 11-16 [1]
• International Literature Festival Berlin
• Istanbul Tanpınar Literature Festival, held in Istanbul, Turkey, at the beginning of November [2]
• Jewel of Russia, St Petersburg(see Pablo Ganguli)
• Kosmopolis. Amplified Literature Festival. Center of Contemporary Culture. Barcelona. Spain. Oct 23, 2010. March 2011.
• Krokodil, Belgrade, Knjizevno Regionalno Okupljanje Koje Otklanja Dosadu I Letargiju [3]
• Linton Children's Book Festival, held every other year in May, since 2006. 5-12 May 2012
• Oxford Literary Festival, April 10-17
• Peak Literary Festival, October 25 -Nov 5 /May 25 -June6
• Prague Writers Festival, June 3-10
• Rencontres aubrac, France, Aveyron
• Reykjavík International Literary Festival, (Bókmenntahátíd), since 2000
• Runnymede International Literary Festival, since 2006
• Tartu Literature Festival Prima Vista, Estonia, since 2004
• Venice Incroci di Civiltà: Incontri internazionali di letteratura a Venezia / Crossings of Civilizations: Literary Meetings in Venice April 13-16, 2011
• Word About Town, Hastings, November 15-20
• Wordfringe, Festival of New Writing in Aberdeen and North-East Scotland [4]

Middle East

• BAI - Dubai International Arts and Literary Festival (see Pablo Ganguli)
• Emirates Airline Festival of Literature, annual held in March
• Istancool (see Pablo Ganguli)
• Majestic Petra (see Pablo Ganguli)

North America

• AJC Decatur Book Festival, Decatur, Georgia, September 1–3, 2006
• Antigua and Barbuda International Literary Festival, since 2006, Antigua, West Indies, Nov. 7-9, 2008
• Aspen Summer Words, since 1976, Aspen, Colorado, June 20-25, 2010
• Augusta Literary Festival, Augusta, Georgia, March 3, 2012
• Baltimore Book Festival, since 1996, Baltimore, Maryland, Sept. 25-27, 2009
• Banff Mountain Book Festival, October 31–November 2, 2007
• Blue Metropolis Montreal International Literary Festival, April 30-May 3, 2008
• Brattleboro Literary Festival, October 1-3, 2010
• Burlington Book Festival, September 15–17 2006
• Calabash International Literary Festival, since 2001, Jamaica
• The Curwood Festival celebrates the life and writings of James Oliver Curwood the first weeekend of June in Owosso, MI.
• Edmonton International Literary Festival, since 2002, Canada’s only Creative Non-fiction Festival
• The Frye Festival, Moncton, New Brunswick, April 23 -27 2008. Honouring Northrop Frye. International cast.
• Greater Reading (PA) Literary Festival "Reading Reads," October, 2009,[5]
• Guadalajara International Book Fair, November 27-December 05 2010
• Hollywood Book Festival, July 28, 2007
• Toronto International Festival of Authors, annually in October
• Litquake, since 2002, San Francisco, annually in October
• Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, UCLA, Los Angeles, California, late April/early May
• Maine Literary Festival, since 2006, Camden, Maine, November 7-9, 2008
• Miami Book Fair International, Downtown Miami, Florida- November
• Midwest Literary Festival, Aurora, Illinois, 2nd weekend of September [2005, 2006, 2007]
• Ohioana Book Festival, Columbus, Ohio, held in May, since 2007
• Ottawa International Writers Festival, since 1997, twice annually since 2004, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
• PEN World Voices, the New York Festival of International Literature, New York
• Saskatchewan Festival of Words annually since 1997, Moose Jaw, SK, Canada (July 15-18, 2010)
• Spring Literary Festival, Ohio University, three days, held in May, since 1986
• Tennessee Williams/ New Orleans Literary Festival, New Orleans, annually in March.
• Twin Cities Book Festival, Minneapolis, Minnesota, annually in October
• Vancouver International Writers & Readers Festival, annually in October
• Virginia Festival of the Book, Charlottesville, Virginia, March 26–30, 2008
• Winnipeg International Writers Festival, annually in September
• Women Writers Conference, The, Lexington, Kentucky, September 11-13, 2008
• Words Alive Literary Festival, since 2007, Sharon, Ontario at the Sharon Temple National Historic Site and Museum. Next event: September 18, 2010 (corrected date).
• Wordstock, in downtown Collingwood, Ontario. Inaugural event: September 11, 2010.

See also

• Author
• Literature
• Writing