Get Lit! Mission Statement

The ultimate goal of all Get Lit! Programs, which include educational outreach activities as well as an annual literary festival, is to engage the Inland Northwest community in a celebration of the written word and to encourage discussion, at all age levels, of literature in its many forms. Overall, Get Lit! Programs enhance the artistic, social, and cultural life of people throughout the region.

Each spring, the Get Lit! Festival invites selected authors to Spokane to share their work and their passion for writing. Some of these authors enjoy a reputation in the Northwest, while others have earned national or even international renown. The weeklong celebration features presentations and readings, writing workshops and panel discussions, visits by authors to K-12 schools and colleges/universities, community readings, and poetry slams, along with other events. Readers and writers alike find a wellspring of talent, inspiration, and learning at the Get Lit! Festival.

Get Lit! educational outreach programs--writing residencies and author visits to K-12 schools, as well as discussions between teachers and writers--support the sense of discovery, the enhanced self-knowledge, and the simple pleasure inherent in reading and writing. Our educational outreach activities focus on the next generation of writers, engaging them in discussions around literature and introducing them to the tools they need to develop their own abilities as writers. We seek to broaden and deepen language arts skills, encouraging students to think critically and creatively about our world. As one sixth-grade student put it, reading and writing "help your mind grow."