English

Lake Forest Literary Festival

The 2018 Lake Forest Literary Festival:
Cruel Histories

Novelist and essayist Evan Lavender-Smith reads his essay “Sleep Study” at the Lake Forest Literary Festival, March 26th, 2018.

Madeleine P. Plonsker Emerging Writer in Residence Christine Larusso reads from her winning poetry manuscript MAR, with an introduction by Plonsker Prize judge Carmen Giménez Smith, at the Lake Forest Literary Festival on March 27th, 2018.

Poet Carmen Giménez Smith reads from her work at the Lake Forest Literary Festival, March 27th, 2018.

Bruce Holsinger, historical novelist and scholar of medieval English literature, delivers his keynote lecture, “Plague, Pomp, and Poverty: Remaking Medieval London,” at the Lake Forest Literary Festival, March 28th, 2018.

Monday, March 26

Mar
26
: Prose Reading by Evan Lavender-Smith 4:00 p.m.:
2018 Literary Festival

Tuesday, March 27

Mar
27
: Poetry Reading by Christine Larusso 4:00 p.m.:
2017 Plonsker Winner
Mar
27
: Poetry Reading by Carmen Giménez Smith 7:30 p.m.:
2018 Literary Festival

Wednesday, March 28

Mar
28
: Fiction Workshop by Professor Bruce Holsinger 12:00 p.m. - 12:50 p.m.:
Fiction and the Alchemy of Research
Mar
28
: Fiction Workshop led by historical novelist Susanna Calkins 4:00 p.m. - 4:50 p.m.:
Framing Fiction Around Historical Questions
Mar
28
: Plague, Pomp, and Poverty: Remaking Medieval London 7:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.:
Lecture by Bruce Holsinger

Events sponsored by the Department of English, the Print and Digital Publishing Program, the Center for Chicago Programs, and the Department of Theater.

Previous Festivals

2017 Lake Forest Literary Festival

The thirteenth incarnation of the annual Lake Forest Literary Festival is a celebration of American stories, from the Thoreauvian story Mark Edmundson has to tell about the unfulfilled possibilities of American idealism to the literary horror of Brian Evenson and the ghost stories of Lake Forest College alumna Emily Cappetini ’09, to the inventive feminist circus story told in the first novel of Meg Whiteford, this year’s Plonsker Prize winner, to the “novel you can walk through” of Alana and Lance Olsen.
2016 Lake Forest Literary Festival

This year’s festival included events with Second City’s Kelly Leonard, poet Quarysh Ali Lansana, and translator Stanley Lombardo.
2015 Lake Forest Literary Festival: DIG IT!

The 2015 annual lit fest, themed “DIG IT!,” ran from March 23 through March 26 and included a visit from DIG actress and playwright Regina Taylor.

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The annual Lake Forest Literary Festival welcomes writers, artists, filmmakers, and other creative thinkers to the College for readings, workshops, and student discussions.

Since 2004, we’ve welcomed everyone from John Waters to Shelley Jackson to William Gass. Add in the the annual Plonsker Prize winner, and you’ve got an annual recipe for wonderful word soup, dynamic literary entrees, and the best dessert of all: the time to listen, read, and think.