MARCH
Spring Literary Festival (Western Carolina University, Cullowhee):
The oldest literary festival in North Carolina, it brings the best of established and emerging literary talent, local as well as national, to the mountains of Western North Carolina.
Scriptworks (Mars Hill College)
Sciptworks is an annual playwrighting competition, sponsored by Southern Appalachian Repertory Theater (SART), based at Mars Hill College. The winning Scriptworks play is produced as part of SART’s summer series.
SEPTEMBER
Carolina Mountains Literary Festival (Burnsville)
With a mission is to bring together authors with avid readers, novice writers, and fans, the Carolina Mountains Literary Festival inspires people to read more, write more, and contribute positively to society through the literary arts.
Eastern North Carolina Literary Homecoming (Greenville)
This festival features award-winning authors whose writings are rooted in the soil of eastern North Carolina, representing a variety of genres, including poetry, oral history, fiction, historical nonfiction, and North Carolina culture.
Bookmarks (Winston-Salem)
Winston-Salem’s Festival of Books includes author readings, panel discussions, cooking demonstrations and children’s activities featuring local, regional and national writers.
“Lights in the Mountains" (Various locations)
A biannual weekend of readings & workshops organized by North Carolina Writers' Network West, which serves counties west of Asheville, this gathering features workshops in fiction, nonfiction and poetry, as well as the opportunity to have writing critiqued.
NOVEMBER
Crystal Coast Book Festival (Morehead City)
Now in its third year, the Crystal Coast Book Festival brings best-selling and rising authors together for writer’s workshops and poetry readings as well as school activities, “dine with the author” outings and other events.
Great Smoky Mountain Book Fair (Sylva)
A collaboration of the Friends of the Jackson County Library, City Lights Bookstore, and the Honors College at Western Carolina University, this annual event features local personalities, poets, memoirists, novelists, mystery and horror writers, cookbook authors, columnists, and children's authors.
LITERARY SERIES, WITH EVENTS FROM SEPTEMBER THROUGH MAY
Hughlene Bostian Frank Visiting Writers Series (ASU):
Established in 1989, this series brings more than a dozen authors of poetry, fiction, and drama to the Appalachian State University campus in Boone each year to present public readings.
In Their Own Words Visiting Writers Series (Lenoir-Rhyne College):
Founded on the belief that reading is an essential element in the creation of vibrant communities, the In Their Own Words series invites children’s writers mystery writers, essayists, poets and novelists to read from their own works in a relaxed environment before college and community audiences.
The Big Read (Hickory and Catawba County):
A community-wide, year-long reading initiative between Lenoir-Rhyne College Visiting Writers Series, Catawba Valley Community College, the Catawba County Library system, and the Hickory Public Library system, the Big Read celebrates the power of books and the importance of reading.
The Little Read (Hickory and surrounding area)
The Little Read makes reading come alive to elementary school children (and their parents) in Catawba County by organizing special reading and cultural programs in conjunction with the appearance of a major children’s author.
CALENDAR
For additional events visit www.ncarts.org