It's Lit Fest Season

Get out there and see something!

Hi friends.

This is the kind of idea I usually end a letter with but do people even read to the ends of these letters? I do not know! But I just wanted to say: I cannot stress to you enough how easy it is to have a good, fulfilling, stimulating, sometimes even life-changing experience by attending a reading, a festival, an art show, a music performance, any kind of free arts event in real life.

Also it’s important that we keep participating in free arts events because there may not always be financial support for such things. Big crowds show funders, be they governmental, corporate, or otherwise that there is an audience and a need for these kinds of events.

And finally, we gotta get away from these screens and out into the world. My friends. It is crucial.

Oh look, here’s a nice list of literary festivals across America.

To that end, I will once again be participating in the Mississippi Book Festival this year, driving my station wagon three hours from New Orleans to Jackson on Friday afternoon, and picking up my buddy Kristen Arnett from the airport when I get there. This festival is always fun and well-attended—people from Mississippi are big readers—and the crowd is hyped and enthusiastic.

I haven’t been to a lit fest since last spring, as I find myself wrapping up all the promotional stuff from the last two years of publishing books. I know that next year will be a quiet one from me, generative, with only a little bit of travel. Famous last words—I’m sure I’ll find some way to blow up in my life in one way or another.

But for now I’ve said yes to pretty much everything I’ve been asked to do this fall, for better or for worse. How will I feel on the other side? I am going to guess exhausted but also happy to be a part of something bigger than myself.

And I want to expose myself to as many ideas as possible. So what I’m really looking forward to is going to lots of panels at this festival. I took a look at the schedule, and I think the centerpiece of the day for me is probably the conversation between Kiese Laymon and Jason Reynolds, hosted by the whip-smart and funny Traci Thomas of The Stacks. I’m also looking forward to popping in on one of the three (!) workshops Steve Almond is teaching. And finally, happening simultaneously, there’s a counterculture & true crime conversation between Abbott Kahler and Susannah Calahan and an interview of Hanif Abdurraqib but also there’s an ecopoetry discussion—so I think I’ll divide my time between those panels first thing in the morning.

I think in my younger years I didn’t appreciate enough that I was around all these amazing people and could actually witness their wisdom. I was often really in it for the party and the gossip, I won’t lie. But now I’m just excited to fill my brain with all kinds of new information, and also to just witness people be professional and good at their job and see how my peers can work a crowd.

But also…a little party and gossip never hurt anyone. I am only a human being living in these American times. Please inject me with a tiny bit of fun.

Do you have any free festivals or cultural events in your community you’re looking forward to or want to spread the word about? I’m leaving the comments open today for you to share.

See you out there,

Jami

You are reading Craft Talk, the home of #1000wordsofsummer and also a weekly newsletter about writing from Jami Attenberg. I’m also on bluesky and instagram.