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, p ...

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 ...

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 The Port Harcourt Book Festival is an annual literary event in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria, organised by the Rainbow Book Club and endorsed by the Government of Rivers State, Rivers State Government since 2008. The Garden City Literary ...

, October 20–25

Asia

Asia-Pacific

Ubud Writers and Readers Festival Ubud Writers & Readers Festival (UWRF) is an annual 4-day literary festival held every October in Ubud on the island of Bali, Indonesia. Established in 2004, it is considered Southeast Asia’s biggest and most meaningful literary Festival. It ...

(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 indust ...

, Bali in Indonesia (www.ubudwritersfestival.com) * Gateway Litfest, February/ March * Delhi Poetry Festival, 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 ...

, 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), held annually since 2008 in Guntur, 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, held annually in Dubai, United Arab Emirates * Galle Literary Festival, January *

George Town Literary Festival The George Town Literary Festival (GTLF) is an annual literary festival which takes place in the city of George Town, Penang, Malaysia. It is currently the largest world literature festival organised in Malaysia and the first literary event in Sout ...

* Hay Festival Dhaka, November * Hong Kong International Literary Festival, October/November * Islamabad Literature Festival, April *

Jakarta International Literary Festival Jakarta International Literary Festival or JILF is an annual literary festival held at Jakarta in Indonesia. The goal of the festival is to promote Indonesian literature in international literary platforms. The first literary festival was taken ...

(JILF), August *

Jaipur Literary Festival The Jaipur Literature Festival, or JLF, is an annual literary festival which takes place in the Indian city of Jaipur each year in the month of January. It was founded in 2006. It is the world's largest free literary festival. The Diggi Palace ...

, January, also

JLF Adelaide OzAsia Festival, or simply OzAsia, is an Asia-focused arts festival in South Australia, presented by the Adelaide Festival Centre for two weeks in late October to early November each year. It features theatre, dance, music, film and visual a ...

in September/October *

Karachi Literature Festival Karachi Literature Festival (KLF) is an annual international literary festival held in Karachi, Pakistan. It is the first festival of its kind in Pakistan. It is one of the world's youngest and fastest growing literary festivals. Till 2019, ten ...

, 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 The Lahore Literary Festival (LLF) is an international literary festival held annually in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. The festival is considered to be one of South Asia's premier cultural events. The UNESCO Creative Cities Network added Lahore to i ...

, 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 t ...

, Lucknow, February/ March *

Nepal Literature Festival Nepal Literature Festival ( ne, नेपाल साहित्य महोत्सव) is an annual international literary festival which takes place in Pokhara, Nepal (previously Kathmandu). It was founded in 2011 by Bookworm Foundation, a ...

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 ...

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

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 The Kalinga Literary Festival ( Odia: କଳିଙ୍ଗ ସାହିତ୍ୟ ମହୋତ୍ସବ), also known as KLF, is a literary festival which takes place annually in the Indian city Bhubaneswar, Odisha. Rashmi Ranjan Parida is the founder ...

(KLF), July

Middle East

* Israel's

Hebrew Book Week Hebrew Book Week ( he, שבוע הספר העברי) is an annual week-long event in Israel celebrating Hebrew literature. History Hebrew Book Week evolved from a one-day event on Rothschild Boulevard in Tel Aviv organized by Bracha Peli, foun ...

* The Jerusalem International Writers Festival * Emirates Airline Festival of Literature

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 inte ...

, 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 t ...

, October 6–15 *

Chester Literature Festival Storyhouse is a large, mixed-use cultural building in Chester, England, which opened in May 2017. The complex includes a theatre, cinema, restaurant and the city library. It is housed in the remodelled 1936 Odeon Cinema, a grade-II-listed buildi ...

, October *

The Children's Bookshow The Children's Bookshow is an annual children's literary festival, literature roadshow which visits theatres and schools across the United Kingdom in the autumn. Established in 2003, The Children's Bookshow is directed by Siân Williams, and inclu ...

, 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 Creative Folkestone (formerly The Creative Foundation), is a UK charity dedicated to art and culture, based in Folkestone, Kent, UK. It is responsible for the Creative Folkestone Triennial, the Quarterhouse (a theatre and event space) and Folkes ...

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 The Cúirt International Festival of Literature (pronounced ) is an annual literary festival held since 1985 in Galway in Ireland. The Irish language word ''cúirt'' means "court". The festival consists of a variety of events taking place over th ...

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a city in the West of Ireland, in the province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay, and is the sixth most populous city on ...

, 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 k ...

, 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 Fe ...

FestivalandCo ''FestivalandCo'' is a literary festival held in Paris, France at the Shakespeare and Company bookstore. Sylvia Whitman founded the festival which has hosted such writers as Paul Auster, Siri Hustvedt, Jeanette Winterson, David Hare, Jung Chang ...

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 city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 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), ma ...

, France, at the Shakespeare and Company bookstore *

Festivaletteratura Festivaletteratura is a literary festival, held in Mantua, Italy, since 1997. Its peculiar formula is to host five days of small-sized lectures by authors from all over the world. The event is run mostly by volunteers, numbering around 700 in tota ...

, 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 Eur ...

, Italy, at the beginning of September *

Göteborg Book Fair The Gothenburg Book Fair (also known as ''Göteborg Book Fair'', ''Bok & Bibliotek'', ''Bok- och biblioteksmässan'' or ''Bokmässan'') is an annual event held in Gothenburg, Sweden, since 1985. Overview It started primarily as a trade fair (for ...

, Gothenburg, Sweden, Sept *

Harrogate International Festivals Harrogate International Festivals (HIF) is a registered charity and one of the UK's longest running arts festivals, having been established in 1966. Based in Harrogate, North Yorkshire. Festivals include the Harrogate Music Festival, Theakston Ol ...

Theaksons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, home to the

Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year The Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award is one of the UK's top crime-fiction awards, sponsored by Theakston's Old Peculier. It is awarded annually at Harrogate Crime Writing Festival in the UK, held every July, as part of the Ha ...

, world's largest crime fiction Festival, in July * Harrogate Raworths Harrogate Literature Festival, in July

* Harrogate History Festival, chaired in 2015 by

Manda Scott Manda Scott (born 1962) is a former Scottish veterinary surgeon who is now a novelist, blogger, columnist and occasional broadcaster. Born and educated in Glasgow, Scotland, she trained at the University of Glasgow School of Veterinary Medicine ...

, in October

* 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 ITEF - Istanbul International Literature Festival, is an international literary event held in the city of Istanbul to focus on a variety of genres, and to bring together writers, publishers, literary translators, critics and journalists for a ser ...

, held in

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

, Turkey, at the beginning of May *

Jewish Book Week Jewish Book Week is a literary festival in London, held annually in February and March, that explores Jewish literature, ideas and culture. The festival was founded in 1952 and since 2012 it has been presented at Kings Place. It is organised by t ...

, 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 cont ...

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 = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

. *

Norwegian Festival of Literature The Norwegian Festival of Literature (in Norwegian Sigrid Undset-dagene) is the biggest non commercial literary festival in the Nordic countries taking place in May/June in Lillehammer every year since 1995. The festival includes all the Nordic cou ...

, Lillehammer, Norway, is the largest literature festival in the

Scandinavian countries Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Swede ...

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 Zürich ...

, 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 List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

, 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 Sarajevo ...

, Bosnia and Herzegovina * WALTIC, Stockholm, Sweden

North America

* Banff Mountain Book Festival, October 31 – November 2, 2007 * Boston Book Festival, annually in October *

Burlington Burlington may refer to: Places Canada Geography * Burlington, Newfoundland and Labrador * Burlington, Nova Scotia * Burlington, Ontario, the most populous city with the name "Burlington" * Burlington, Prince Edward Island * Burlington Bay, no ...

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. *

Eden Mills Writers' Festival The Eden Mills Writers' Festival is held annually in the village of Guelph/Eramosa, Eden Mills, which is approximately east of Guelph, Ontario, Canada. The festival includes readings by poets, authors, and other writers at various outdoor venues t ...

, Eden Mills/Guelph, Ontario, Canada *

Festival of Literary Diversity The Festival of Literary Diversity is an annual literary festival, which takes place in Brampton, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 2016 by Jael Richardson, the festival serves to promote and publicize literature by writers from underrepresented groups, s ...

, 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 The Guadalajara International Book Fair, better known as the FIL (from its Spanish name: Feria Internacional del Libro de Guadalajara) is the largest book fair in the Americas, and second-largest book fair in the world after Frankfurt's. It is als ...

, 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 Litquake is San Francisco, California, San Francisco's annual literary festival. Originally named Litstock, the festival events took place in a single day in Golden Gate Park in the spring of 1999. It now has a two-week run in mid-October, as well ...

, 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 17th ...

, annually in October *

Los Angeles Times Festival of Books The ''Los Angeles Times'' Festival of Books is a free, public festival celebrating the written word. It is the largest book festival in the United States, annually drawing approximately 150,000 attendees. Started in 1996, the Festival is hel ...

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 world' ...

, 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

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 ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the 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, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, 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 library ...

, 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 La ...

, 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 The Tucson Festival of Books is a free annual book fair held in Tucson, Arizona during the second weekend in March. It was established in 2009 by Bill Viner, Frank Farias, John M. Humenik, Bruce Beach, and Brenda Viner. History The first annual ...

, Tucson, Arizona, held annually in March *

Winnipeg International Writers Festival The Winnipeg International Writers Festival is a Winnipeg, Manitoba based organization that puts together an annual literary festival known as THIN AIR. The festival program runs for a week each fall, and there are also several off-season events reg ...

, annually in September * Kentucky Women Writers Conference, The, Lexington, Kentucky, September 11–13, 2008 * The Word on the Street, several cities in Canada *

Wordfest Wordfest is a not-for-profit arts organization that produces one of Canada's largest international literary festivals, taking place each October in Calgary, Alberta. In addition to the yearly festival, Wordfest also facilitates and hosts year-roun ...

, Calgary, Alberta, held annually in October

Caribbean

Bocas Lit Fest The NGC Bocas Lit Fest is the Trinidad and Tobago literary festival that takes place annually during the last weekend of April in Port of Spain. Inaugurated in 2011, it is the first major literary festival in the southern Caribbean and largest li ...

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 The Calabash International Literary Festival is a three-day festival in Jamaica staged on a biennial basis on even years (having been held annually in its first decade).

, 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 His ...

, 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 Paraty (or Parati, ) is a preserved Portuguese colonial (1500–1822) and Brazilian Imperial (1822–1889) municipality with a population of about 43,000. Indeed, the name "Paraty" originates from the local Guaianá Indians' Indigenous Tupi ...

, 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, city located in Colombia. * International Poetry Festival of Rosario is held in Rosario, 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