Get Lit! Festivities Run Through Sunday

The 26th annual Get Lit! festival, hosted by EWU’s Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program, will be held April 11-14.

Get Lit! is the state of Washington’s longest running literary festival and the university’s premier literary event. It features four days filled with readings, workshops and open mic events featuring both highly sought-after authors and local literary talent. 

Get Lit! provides both residents and visitors with the perfect opportunity to immerse themselves in Spokane’s vibrant writing scene. 

“We’re really excited about our lineup,” says Kate Peterson, director of Get Lit! Programs. “Carmen Maria Machado is this year’s headliner, and she will be joined on stage at The Bing for a conversation with beloved Spokane writer Sharma Shields.”

Machado is the bestselling author of the award-winning memoir In the Dream House. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Tin House, and other prominent publications. Her 2017 short story collection, Her Body and Other Parties, was a finalist for the National Book Award. 

Machado’s hands-on craft class is now sold out, but you can still hear from her during the headlining event: An Evening with Carmen Maria Machado. A $25 “book fair pass” offers access to Machado’s discussion panel, in addition to more than 10 events held throughout the day at the Montvale Event Center on Saturday, April 13. [Get your tickets for the book fair online.]

Machado will be among the more than 60 authors participating in this year’s Get Lit! festival. Additional featured authors include Alma Garcia, a fiction writer, and Luther Hughes, a poet, who will be teaching craft classes on Friday, April 12, at downtown Spokane’s Central Library. These craft classes are ticketed at $35, but free events are also offered at the downtown library throughout the week. 

“We’re offering more opportunities than usual this year for attendees to get involved and share their own work,” Peterson says. 

Get Lit! organizers say festival hubs will be the Central Library and the Montvale Event Center, but additional venues include locations such as Spark Central’s community space, Emma Rue’s cafe, and The Magic Lantern movie theater. Events include public reading opportunities, workshops, a silent reading party, writing with Spark Central, and a live virtual event which will be available to all attendees.  

If you can’t make it in person, the Sunday lineup is completely virtual this year. Fantastic events are planned for that day, including a conversation, “Social Justice and the Braided Memoir,” featuring Jennifer Lunden and Sofia Ali Kahn. These events will take place, April 13 on the youtube channel.

For more information about the schedule, events and headliners, and how to purchase tickets, head to the Get Lit Festival website.