Kweli International Literary Festival

We're thrilled to announce the 2023 Kweli International Literary Festival REGISTRATION IS OPEN! The nation’s foremost literary festival exclusively for BIPOC writers, #KweliLitFest23 will be held July 15th through September 15th and will feature readings and conversations, craft talks, master classes, and workshops with award-winning BIPOC authors, including Hanif Abdurraqib, Fatimah Asghar, Ingrid Rojas Contreras, Kaitlyn Greenidge, Oscar Hokeah, Jocelyn Nicole Johnson, Victor LaValle and Namwali Serpell.

Our Festival Inaugural Day will be held on SATURDAY, JULY 15, 8AM-6PM, in-person at Barnard College in New York City. The all-day inaugural event includes readings and craft conversations with acclaimed authors, and panel discussions with agents and editors. Review our SCHEDULE AT A GLANCE. There is limited capacity for the in-person inaugural day so sign up now to reserve your spot. Additional master classes, craft talks, and multi-session workshops following Inaugural Day will be held virtually for full accessibility. Click here to register for the virtual classes.  

Our stellar lineup of Teaching Artists in Short Fiction, Novel, Poetry, Nonfiction and Screenwriting tracks include Mikael Awake, Ramona Emerson, Raven Jackson, Megha Majumdar, Kirstin Valdez Quade, David Weiden, and more! 

Registration closes in less than a month so sign up now!

INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS
See the Presenter Information Webpage. Click on headshots for full bios.

AUTHORS
Hanif Abdurraqib (Author, A Little Devil in America) 
Fatimah Asghar (Author, When We Were Sisters)
Mikael Awake (Author, Playground Moves, the Story of Rucker Park & Basketball's Reinvention) 
Rita Chang-Eppig (Author, Deep as the Sky, Red as the Sea) 
Ingrid Rojas Contreras (Author, The Man Who Could Move Clouds)
Yohanca Delgado (Author, The O. Henry Prize Stories, 2022)
Ramona Emerson (Author, Shutter) 
Kim Coleman Foote (Author, Coleman Hill) 
Hafizah Augustus Geter (Author, The Black Period)
Kaitlyn Greenidge (Author, Libertie)
Isabella Hammad (Author, Enter Ghost)
Oscar Hokeah, (Author, Calling for a Blanket Dance)
Raven Jackson (Author, Little Violences) 
Jocelyn Nicole Johnson (Author, My Monticello) 
Megan Kamalei Kakimoto (Author, Every Drop is a Man's Nightmare) 
Victor LaValle (Author, Lone Women) 
Megha Majumdar (Author, A Burning)
Magogodi Makhene (Author, Innards)
Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton (Author, Black Chameleon) 
Susan Muaddi Darraj (Author, Behind You is the Sea)
Yvette Lisa Ndlovu (Author, Drinking From Graveyard Wells) 
Tracey Rose Peyton (Author, Night Wherever We Go) 
Jodi M. Savage (Author, The Death of a Jaybird)
Namwali Serpell (Author, The Furrows, An Elegy) 
Chika Unigwe (Author, The Middle Daughter)
Kirstin Valdez Quade (Author, The Five Wounds) 
LaToya Watkins (Author, Holler, Child)
David Heska Wanbli Weiden (Author, Winter Counts)

EDITORS, AGENTS & PODCAST HOSTS
Nneoma Amadi-Obi (Assistant Editor, W.W. Norton)
Caroline Bleeke (Executive Editor, Flatiron Books)
Alexa Frank (Assistant Editor, HarperVia)
Serene Hakim (Agent, Ayesha Pande Literary) 
Iwalani Kim (Agent, Sanford J. Greenburger & Associates)
Miwa Messer (Host, Poured Over Podcast)
Marie Pantojan (Senior Editor, Penguin Random House)
Erin Wicks (Senior Editor, Zando)

Register Now! Check out highlights from our previous festivals.