Get Lit! Festival

The Get Lit! Festival began in 1998 as a one-day marathon of literary readings sponsored by Eastern Washington University Press and EWU's Department of Creative Writing. Then The Spokesman-Review lovingly called it “the little literary festival that could,” and they were right. By 2004, the audience had swelled to 10,000 people from Spokane and the surrounding region. More recently, The Spokesman-Review referred to the festival as the literary equivalent to Spokane's nationally recognized sporting events, Hoopfest and Bloomsday.

The Get Lit! Festival is a weeklong celebration that connects the community with local, new, and nationally-known writers. The Get Lit! Festival has become an integral part of the artistic and cultural landscape of the Inland Northwest and beyond. As Harold Augenbraum, the Executive Director of the National Book Foundation said, “There are two national literary capitals, Spokane and New York.”

Now housed within Eastern Washington University’s College of Arts, Letters, and Education, the Get Lit! Festival continues to grow by leaps and bounds. Each year, we partner with local educational institutions such as Gonzaga University, Spokane Community College, Spokane Falls Community College, North Idaho College, and Whitworth University; as well as community organizations and businesses to bring over 40 authors to each festival.

Past festivals have featured authors such as Kurt Vonnegut, Jane Smiley, Richard Russo, Salman Rushdie, Rita Dove, and Sarah Vowell. We also spotlight regional talent from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana such as Sherman Alexie, Dorianne Laux, Tim Egan, Sallie Tisdale, and Jess Walter. Over the past decade, the Get Lit! Festival has been praised consistently as “one of the best festivals I’ve ever been to” by authors and audiences alike.

Our weeklong celebration of reading and writing offers events for literature lovers of all ages, including:

• readings and lectures
• interviews
• workshops
• panel discussions
• poetry slams for children, teens, and college students
• writing contests
• book signings
• visits by festival authors to local K-12 schools and colleges

Our definition of storytelling also allows us to include:

• graphic novels, playwriting, screenwriting, songwriting, blogging, and spoken-word poetry
• events combined with radio, music, film, and theater performances
• community readings and storytelling events by writers of all ages

 The Get Lit! Festival seeks above all to foster a love of reading and writing, and to celebrate the world of literature among all people in our community. We hope that each year more will join with us to embrace the power and magic of words.

Click here for a complete festival calendar of events!

 Looking Ahead to the 2012 Festival

Join us next year, April 11-15, when the Get Lit! Festival focuses on writers who “Capture the World.” Intriguing characters from different cultures get sandwiched between the covers of a book. Villains are chased from word to word and chapter to chapter in a crime novel. Memories stretch like taffy between the lines of a poem. A moment in time is expertly framed inside the margins of an essay. This is the alchemy of an author and the power of a poet. Mark your calendar for the 14^th annual festival as we celebrate the role of writers from multiple genres and encourage local writers to use their craft to connect to the world at large.