Eastern Washington University's Get Lit! Festival – a weeklong celebration of reading and writing – presents more than 50 festival events for people of all ages and interests April 14-21.
Headliners include: sustainability expert Anna Lappé, religious scholar Dr. Reza Aslan, children's author Janet Wong, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Russo, National Book Award finalist Jess Walter, essayist Sallie Tisdale and performance poet Patricia Smith.
In keeping with the Get Lit! roots, more than 30 other local and regional authors will participate in the festival as well. Festival goers can hear six poets share and converse at the after-hours poetry salon on Friday and can explore all sorts of new authors throughout the day on Saturday. Attendees can catch a little of everything – poetry, fiction and nonfiction – at the Regional MFA Reading on Sunday, or the EWU faculty reading on Monday. All of these are free.
Most of the festival events occur Saturday, April 17. The main venues on Saturday include the Hotel Lusso – the festival hub, Auntie's Bookstore, the Kress Gallery in River Park Square, the downtown library, the Empyrean Coffeehouse and the Bing Crosby Theater.
At the hub on Saturday, the Get Lit! Festival will offer many workshops covering multiple writing genres, including business writing, grant writing and writing in the K-12 classroom. To register, visit http://www.spokaneparks.org. Space is limited, so pre-registration is recommended, although walk-ins are also welcome.
Most of the workshops are $30 for general admission and $20 for student admission. A few of the workshops are free and open to the public. There will be free writing workshops for kids and teens on Saturday, as well as a plethora of panels and discussion groups.
The majority of community panels are scheduled between noon and 3:30 p.m., at the Hotel Lusso. Saturday is also poetry slam day, with one each for youth, teens and college-age participants.
Other community events include several film showings at the Magic Lantern Theater; an all-ages community reading; two photography exhibits and an art/book exhibit.
Detailed information about festival authors and events can be found at http://www.ewu.edu/getlit.
Reader Comments(0)