Get Lit! Secures Spokane Arts Grant Award

Each spring Get Lit! brings written-word enthusiasts together in Spokane for three days of events celebrating nationally prominent writers.

Now, in its 28^th year, Get Lit! has been awarded a $10,000 grant from Spokane Arts, a local nonprofit funding agency. It is the highest amount Spokane Arts is giving to any organization this year, and Get Lit! was the only program to earn its full requested amount.

Kate Peterson, an alumna of Eastern’s MFA program and the director of Get Lit! Programs, said the funding will help to preserve and expand the festival’s capabilities, both this year and next. “This grant will help take some of the immense financial pressure off of the festival and will allow us to celebrate some of the changes we made this year.”

“Our festival programming in 2026 will be a series of events that not only entertain, but inspire and educate,” Peterson said. “The goal of Get Lit! is to engage audiences in discussions and activities that help them more fully appreciate, and perhaps more actively participate in, the regional literary arts scene.

Get Lit! was last awarded the Spokane Arts Grant in 2021, support that helped fund that year’s fully virtual, pandemic-challenged festival.

This year’s headlining authors will be announced in the coming weeks but include celebrated novelist and EWU alumnus Jess Walter, as well as EWU alumna poet Maya Jewell Zeller. Over the years, Get Lit! has also hosted acclaimed writers such as Kurt Vonnegut, Joyce Carol Oates and Anne Lamott, as well as renowned contemporary writers such as Hanif Abdurraqib, Brit Bennet, Tommy Orange and Pulitzer Prize winner Anthony Doerr.

Feedback from attendees of Get Lit!’s previous festivals praise the great craft classes and affordable tickets, as well as the diversity and quality of the events offered. Many also mentioned how special it felt to have so many acclaimed writers right here in Spokane. “Having freedom of speech and creative expression shouldn’t be something we take for granted,” Peterson said, urging literary lovers of all walks of life to “fight for it” and inspire each other to read, write, create and protect one another.

“It has been our mission for 28 years, both in festival programming and educational outreach, to empower the arts, celebrate diversity, and inspire creativity,” Peterson said. She and her team at Get Lit! hope to continue to celebrate that tradition in 2026 and beyond.

 

Get Lit! runs from April 17-19. A full schedule with information on the more than 50 authors expected to attend the festival will be posted by March 1 on the Get Lit website.