A literary festival, also known as a book festival or writers' festival, is a regular gathering of

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, pla ...

s 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 The Writers' Buildings, often shortened to just Writers, is the official secretariat building of the state government of West Bengal in Kolkata, India. The 150-meter long building covers the entire northern stretch of the iconic Lal Dighi pond a ...

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).

List of literary festivals

Notable literary festivals include:

Africa

* Port Harcourt Book Festival, October 20–25

Asia

Asia-Pacific

* Ubud Writers and Readers Festival (UWRF), held annually at

Ubud Ubud is a town on the Indonesian island of Bali in Ubud District, located amongst rice paddies and steep ravines in the central foothills of the Gianyar regency. Promoted as an arts and culture centre, it has developed a large tourism industry. ...

Bali Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and ...

in Indonesia (www.ubudwritersfestival.com) * Gateway Litfest, February/ March *

Delhi Poetry Festival Poets Corner Group is a poetry group in India. The group's main purpose is to make it easier for new and aspiring poets to be published. Since its advent, Poets Corner has published over 340 poets in 21 anthologies in both English and Hindi lan ...

, January *

Dehradun Literature Festival The Dehradun Literature Festival is an annual literary festival held annually in Dehradun, India founded by samraant Virmani who is also a well known social worker. History It was founded in 2016 by Samraant Virmani, He took this initiative t ...

, February * Jashn-e-Rekhta,

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Ho ...

Guntur International Poetry Festival (GIPF) The Guntur International Poetry Festival ( Telugu: గుంటూరు అంతర్జాతీయ కవితోత్సవం), also known as GIPF, is a literary festival which takes place annually in the Indian city Guntur, Andhra Pr ...

, held annually since 2008 in

Guntur Guntur () is a city and the administrative headquarters of Guntur district in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Guntur is spread across 168.49 km square and is the third-largest city in the state. ...

, India *

Adelaide Writers' Week Adelaide Writers' Week, known locally as Writers' Week or WW, is a large and mostly free literary festival held annually in Adelaide, the capital of South Australia. Considered one of the world's pre-eminent literary events, it forms part of the ...

, held annually during the Adelaide Festival of Arts in March *

Emirates Airline Festival of Literature The Emirates Airline Festival of Literature (The Festival) is an international literature festival held annually in the United Arab Emirates. The festival is held under the patronage of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, under the auspices o ...

, held annually in Dubai, United Arab Emirates * Galle Literary Festival, January * George Town Literary Festival * Hay Festival Dhaka, November *

Hong Kong International Literary Festival The Hong Kong International Literary Festival is an international literary festival held annually in Hong Kong. It was founded in 2000 by Nury Vittachi and creative writing teacher Jane Camens, with support from Malaysian poet Shirley Geok-lin Lim ...

, October/November * Islamabad Literature Festival, April * Jakarta International Literary Festival (JILF), August * Jaipur Literary Festival, January, also JLF Adelaide in September/October * Karachi Literature Festival, February *

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = ''Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , sub ...

International Literary Festival, July * Lahore Literary Festival, February *

Lit for Life Lit for Life is an annual literary festival organised by the English daily ''The Hindu'' in Chennai, India. The festival was inaugurated in 2010, where it was part of the celebration of the 20th anniversary of ''The Hindu''s Literary Review. In ...

, Chennai, Delhi January/February *

Lucknow Literary Festival The Lucknow Literary Festival is an international literary festival held annually in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India since 2013. The Lucknow Literary Festival is an endeavour of the Lucknow Society, which is a non profit organization dedicated ...

, Lucknow, February/ March * Nepal Literature Festival *

Newcastle, New South Wales Newcastle ( ; Awabakal: ) is a metropolitan area and the second most populated city in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It includes the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie local government areas, and is the hub of the Greater Newcastle area, w ...

National Young Writers' Festival, September/October * Perth Writers' Festival, February/March * Queer LitFest, Chennai (QLF), July/September *

Shanghai International Literary Festival The Shanghai International Literary Festival is an annual event held each March in China's largest city, Shanghai. 21st century's new literary event The Shanghai International Literary Festival, started in 2003, began as a sister festival to the H ...

Singapore Writers Festival The Singapore Writers Festival is a literary event organised by the National Arts Council. Inaugurated in 1986, the festival serves a dual function of promoting new and emerging Singaporean and Asian writing to an international audience, as well ...

, October/November 1 *

Sydney Writers' Festival The Sydney Writers' Festival is an annual literary festival held in Sydney, with the inaugural festival taking place in 1997. The 2020 event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia. The festival's interim artistic director since ...

, May * Williamstown Literary Festival April/May * Chandigarh Literati, November * Kalinga Literary Festival (KLF), July

Middle East

* Israel's Hebrew Book Week * The Jerusalem International Writers Festival *

Europe

* Authors' Reading Month, Brno, Wroclaw, Kosice, Lviv, Ostrava, in July *

Berlin International Literature Festival The Berlin International Literature Festival (german: internationales literaturfestival berlin) or ''ilb'' is an annual event based in Berlin. Every September, the festival presents contemporary poetry, prose, nonfiction, graphic novels and int ...

, in September *

Bradford Literature Festival The Bradford Literature Festival (sometimes abbreviated to BLF) is a spoken and written word event that promotes literature and is held for ten days annually over June and July in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The first event was held in 201 ...

, now held around June/July * Cambridge Literary Festival, held bi-annually in April and November, with many events accessible online *

Cheltenham Literature Festival ''The Times'' and ''The Sunday Times'' Cheltenham Literature Festival, a large-scale international festival of literature held every year in October in the English spa town of Cheltenham, and part of Cheltenham Festivals: also responsible for th ...

, October 6–15 * Chester Literature Festival, October * The Children's Bookshow, autumn * Conrad Festival,

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

, October. The largest literary festival in Central Europe. * Creative Folkestone Book Festival, 4 - 13 June, 2021 (it is normally held in November and heralds the start of the festive season). * Cúirt International Festival of Literature,

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a City status in Ireland, city in the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lo ...

, April *

Edinburgh International Book Festival The Edinburgh International Book Festival (EIBF) is a book festival that takes place in the last three weeks of August every year in Charlotte Square in the centre of Scotland’s capital city, Edinburgh. Billed as ''The largest festival of its ...

, August 13–29, coinciding with the annual

Edinburgh Festival __NOTOC__ This is a list of arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland. The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh Fes ...

* FestivalandCo,

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

-themed literary festival held in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, France, at the Shakespeare and Company bookstore * Festivaletteratura, held in

Mantua Mantua ( ; it, Mantova ; Lombard and la, Mantua) is a city and '' comune'' in Lombardy, Italy, and capital of the province of the same name. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the Italian Capital of Culture. In 2017, it was named as the Euro ...

, Italy, at the beginning of September * Göteborg Book Fair,

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has a ...

, Sweden, Sept * Harrogate International Festivals Theaksons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, home to the Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year, world's largest crime fiction Festival, in July * Harrogate Raworths Harrogate Literature Festival, in July Harrogate International Festivals * Harrogate History Festival, chaired in 2015 by Manda Scott, in October Harrogate International Festivals * Hawkesbury Upton Literary Festival, late April * The

Hay Festival The Hay Festival of Literature & Arts, better known as the Hay Festival ( cy, Gŵyl Y Gelli), is an annual literature festival held in Hay-on-Wye, Powys, Wales, for 10 days from May to June. Devised by Norman, Rhoda and Peter Florence in 1988 ...

, May 27 – June 5 * The North London Literary Festival, held late March or early April * Istanbul Tanpınar Literature Festival, held in

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, Turkey, at the beginning of May * Jewish Book Week, London, late February and early March * Louisiana Literature, late August, held at the

Louisiana Museum of Modern Art The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art is an art museum located on the shore of the Øresund Sound in Humlebæk, north of Copenhagen, Denmark. It is the most visited art museum in Denmark, and has an extensive permanent collection of modern and con ...

Humlebæk Humlebæk is a town within the municipality of Fredensborg in North Zealand in Denmark, approximately 35 km north of Copenhagen. Humlebæk is located at the shore to Øresund and has a population of 9,758 (2022).

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

. * Norwegian Festival of Literature,

Lillehammer Lillehammer () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. Some of the more notable villages in the municip ...

, Norway, is the largest literature festival in the Scandinavian countries since 1996 * Openair Literatur Festival Zürich,

Zürich , neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon , twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco Zü ...

, held annually since 2013 * Peak Literary Festival, October 25 – November 5 /May 25 – June 6 * Prague Writers Festival,

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a tempera ...

, Czech Republic, June 3–10 * Rencontres aubrac,

Aveyron Aveyron (; oc, Avairon; ) is a department in the region of Occitania, Southern France. It was named after the river Aveyron. Its inhabitants are known as ''Aveyronnais'' (masculine) or ''Aveyronnaises'' (feminine) in French. The inhabitants ...

, France * Sarajevo Poetry Days,

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see names in other languages'') is the capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its administrative limits. The Sarajevo metropolitan area including Sarajev ...

, Bosnia and Herzegovina * WALTIC, Stockholm, Sweden

North America

Banff Mountain Book Festival The Banff Mountain Book Festival is an annual book festival held at the Banff Centre in Banff, Canada. Grand Prize * 1994: Chris Bonington and Audrey Saukeld (editors), ''Heroic Climbs'' * 1995: Thomas Wharton, ''Icefields'' * 1996: Stephen Ve ...

, October 31 – November 2, 2007 *

Boston Book Festival The Boston Book Festival is an independent nonprofit group based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the name of its main event. The nonprofit was founded in 2009 by Deborah Z Porter, and aims to "celebrate the power of words to stimulate, agitate, ...

, annually in October * Burlington Book Festival, September 15–17, 2006 * Children's Literature Festival at the University of Central Missouri, held annually in March since 1969 * The Curwood Festival celebrates the life and writings of James Oliver Curwood the first weekend of June in

Owosso, Michigan Owosso is the largest city in Shiawassee County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 15,194 at the 2010 census. The city is mostly surrounded by Owosso Township on its west, but the two are administered autonomously. The city was ...

. *

Eden Mills Writers' Festival The Eden Mills Writers' Festival is held annually in the village of Eden Mills, which is approximately east of Guelph, Ontario, Canada. The festival includes readings by poets, authors, and other writers at various outdoor venues throughout the v ...

, Eden Mills/Guelph, Ontario, Canada * Festival of Literary Diversity, Brampton, Ontario, Canada *

The Frye Festival The Frye Festival, formerly known as the Northrop Frye International Literary Festival, is a bilingual (French and English) literary festival held in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada in April of each year. The festival began in 1999 and honours no ...

, Moncton, New Brunswick, April 22–28, 2013. Honouring Northrop Frye. International cast. * Guadalajara International Book Fair, November 27 – December 5, 2010 *

Hollywood Book Festival The Hollywood Book Festival is an annual book festival in Hollywood, California (LA). Honored, are books that deserve more attention from television, video gaming,and multimedia communities. The book festival is one of the only publishing fest ...

, July 28, 2007 * Litquake, since 2002,

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

, annually in October * Los Angeles Times Festival of Books,

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the worl ...

, penultimate weekend of April *

Miami Book Fair International The Miami Book Fair is an annual two-day street fair and literary festival organized by Miami Dade College. The fair brings over 300 national and international authors exhibitors to a weeklong gathering and includes pavilions for translation, ...

Downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ...

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at t ...

Florida Florida is a U.S. state, state located in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia (U.S. state), Geo ...

, November *

National Book Festival The National Book Festival is a literary festival in the United States organized and sponsored by the Library of Congress, founded by Laura Bush and James H. Billington in 2001. Background In 1995 the First Lady of Texas Laura Bush (a former ...

, produced by the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the '' de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...

, September www.loc.gov * Tennessee Williams/ New Orleans Literary Festival,

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

, annually in March. *

Texas Book Festival The Texas Book Festival is a free annual book fair held in Austin, Texas. The festival takes place in late October or early November. It is one of the top book festivals in the United States. Beginnings The festival was established in 1995 by ...

, Austin, Texas held annually in the fall since 1996 * Toronto International Festival of Authors, held annually in late October and early November since 1980. * Tucson Festival of Books, Tucson, Arizona, held annually in March * Winnipeg International Writers Festival, annually in September * Kentucky Women Writers Conference, The,

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a city in Kentucky, United States that is the county seat of Fayette County. By population, it is the second-largest city in Kentucky and 57th-largest city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 28th-largest ...

, September 11–13, 2008 * The Word on the Street, several cities in Canada * Wordfest, Calgary, Alberta, held annually in October

Caribbean

* Bocas Lit Fest,

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

, annually, last weekend of April * Calabash International Literary Festival, Treasure Beach,

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispanio ...

, biennially on even years in June

South America

Festa Literária Internacional de Paraty The Festa Literária Internacional de Paraty (International Literary Festival of Paraty- FLIP) is a literary festival held yearly since 2003 in the Brazilian city of Paraty, in the state of Rio de Janeiro. The festival usually happens in early Ju ...

Is held in Paraty, city located in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. * International Poetry Festival of Medellín is held in

Medellín Medellín ( or ), officially the Municipality of Medellín ( es, Municipio de Medellín), is the second-largest city in Colombia, after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia. It is located in the Aburrá Valley, a central reg ...

, city located in

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Cari ...

. * International Poetry Festival of Rosario is held in

Rosario Rosario () is the largest city in the central Argentine province of Santa Fe. The city is located northwest of Buenos Aires, on the west bank of the Paraná River. Rosario is the third-most populous city in the country, and is also the most ...

, city located in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. * Trujillo Book Festival, is held in Trujillo city located in Peru. In the year 2012 was on March from days 1 to 12.

References

External links

*{{Commons category inline, Literary festivals