The Global Association of Literary Festivals connects all of the world’s literature festivals in a spirit of cooperation, exchanging ideas and resources, forging partnerships and providing a forum for discussion on all topics that affect book festivals, writers’ festivals and international literature.
VIDEO: Featured Festival
Highlights from the hybrid Times and The Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival.
IN THE NEWS
Literary News Roundup - LitQuake, Romania Rocks, La grande traversée poétique and much more...
- Festival season is in full swing throughout October, with many more festivals opening their virtual doors, and one allowing a real, but socially distanced, audience in… Plus the rise in audio, seasonal horror stories, and fiction that breaks the mould
- We welcome more festivals to the Association this week: Granite Noir (UK), Saskatchewan Festival of Words (Canada) and The Spring Literature Festival which is just about to launch in India!
- Taking place in London and online, the first ever Romanian-British literature festival ‘Romania Rocks’ is scheduled for 17 October to 13 November and features Romanian authors in conversation with heavy-hitting British counterparts such as novelist David Mitchell in conversation with poet, essayist and novelist Andrei Codrescu, Ian Rankin and O. Chirovici talk crime-writing, and much more. Explore the programme here.
- The Festival Québec en toutes lettres (15-25 October) is spreading poetry across all continents with La grande traversée poétique, a virtual event bringing together 200 poets from 20 countries, streamed continuously from Friday 23 October until 25 October. More details here.
- San Francisco’s LitQuake Festival kicked off on 8 October and runs until 24 October, with both Global and San Fancisco virtual ‘LitCrawls’ scheduled on the final day presenting live events from the global literati in Kells (Ireland), Cheltenham (England), Angers (France), Wellington (New Zealand), Boston, Los Angeles, and Seattle. Full festival schedule which includes an illustrated history of the Super 8 film format, to the impact of AIDS on Black Queer life in Funeral Diva by Pamela Sneed, the wide-ranging programme is available to browse here.
- While their Festival is scheduled for next March, you can tune in to Virginia Festival of the Book’s ongoing virtual ‘Shelf-Life’ series – next up is a conversation between crime novelists Hilary Davidson and Rachel Howzell Hall on 22 October, and a real treat for fans of The Craft on 29 October as actress Rachel True talks about her tarot-reading deck and guidebook, alongside her Hollywood experiences.
- Tune into Vancouver Writers Fest from 19 to 25 October for conversations with Ayed Akhtar, Emma Donaghue and much more. Explore the programme here.
- Toronto International Festival of authors kicks off next week on 22 October and runs to 1 November. Check out their programme of performances, readings and interviews here.
- Tune into the Wisconsin Book Festival today for Crowdcast sessions with authors like Kiley Reid of Such a Fun Age fame, Call Me by Your Name author André Aciman discussing sequel Find Me, physicists discussing how to survive a black hole, and much more.
Join Us
Every book festival or writers’ festival, no matter its size or location, can become part of the Global Association of Literary Festivals.
Open to all literary festival directors and is free
LATEST NEWS & BLOGS
It's coming up sunflowers for Istanbul International Literature Festival
After being unable to host its March festival, Istanbul International Literature Festival staged a digital event this week on its original theme of ‘sunflower literature’ - from 15 June until 19 June - events fittingly end with David Nicholls discussing Sweet Sorrow.
Virtually the Same - Or Is It?
As festivals whose dates are later this year or early next, decide on the shape their events might take what’s to be learned from those first movers who were forced to become the ‘early adopters’ of the latest tech?
A Winter Wonderland of Online Programming - Auckland Writers' Festival - 3 May 26 July
The 20th anniversary edition of the Auckland Writers’ Festival was due to take place from 12 to 17 May this year and like many of us, the Festival has had to move their best laid birthday plans online.
