Lit in the Lowcountry: Charleston Literary Festival

Here in Charleston, the next nine days are bound to be buzzing with conversations with a variety of awarded authors. The Charleston Literary Festival will host 30 different authors from across the nation who will speak on an abundance of different topics related to their published pieces of work.

This year, the festival is working in collaboration with the Booker Prize, the leading literary award in the English speaking world. In honor of this collaboration there will be an event featuring three authors, both short and long-listed, in which they discuss their award-winning novels. Conversations with all the speakers will range from their creative process and inspiration to their research and achievements.

If you are eager to get your hands on the books that are to be discussed, our local Buxton Books currently carries copies of all the publications listed on the line up. However, if you find yourself short on time, there will be stands at each event with opportunities to purchase copies and get them signed! All of these events will take place in various locations around downtown Charleston or virtually.

Multiple venues are located near or on the College’s campus, like Sottile Theatre and the Hollings Science Center. For College of Charleston students, admission to any of the events is completely free. This is an amazing opportunity to hear firsthand about the process of creation of many well known publications. It’s also a time to have questions about writing, publishing, creating or author-specific inquiries answered by a multitude of talented writers.Some noteworthy speakers include College of Charleston’s own Scott Peeples, Yaa Gyasi, the author of Transcendental Kingdom and André Aciman, the author of Call Me By Your Name.

If you are interested in participating in these valuable conversations with the authors speaking at this year's festival, visit the 2021 program line up to reserve your tickets. In-person events will prioritize the safety of the speaker and the audience and will require masks at all times. For more details on COVID safety please visit their website.