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English

Lake Forest Literary Festival

Thursday, March 2

Mar
2
: Artists’ Talk and Exhibit - “There’s No Place Like Time: A Novel You Walk Through” 7:00 p.m.:
Featuring a video art exhibition by Andrea and Lance Olsen
Artists’ Talk 7:00 p.m. in Durand 209; opening reception in Sonnenschein and Albright Galleries at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 2.

Monday, March 20

Mar
20
: Why Write – A Workshop with Mark Edmundson 12:00 p.m.:

Attention all writers or would-be writers! Mark Edmundson will be hosting a noontime workshop to share his advice about the art of writing, based on his new book Why Write? (Bloomsbury Press 2016). Don’t miss this opportunity to meet “up close and personal” with one of the most prolific and distinguished writers at work today.
Mar
20
: Fiction Reading with Emily Capettini 4:00 p.m.:
As the opening act of the Lake Forest Literary Festival, English alumna Emily Capettini ’09 will join us to read from her fiction and to answer questions about the writing life of an English major beyond Lake Forest.
Mar
20
: “In Defense of Ideals” A talk by Mark Edmundson 7:30 p.m.:
This 2017 Lake Forest Literary Festival event features a lecture titled “In Defense of Ideals,” based on Edmundson’s recent book Self and Soul: A Defense of Ideals (Harvard UP 2015).

Tuesday, March 21

Mar
21
: Fiction Reading with Plonsker Prize Winner, Meg Whiteford 4:00 p.m.:
Join us to hear the 2016 Plonsker Prize winner and writer in residence read from her prizewinning manuscript An Ordered World
Mar
21
: Fiction Reading with Brian Evenson 7:30 p.m.:
Join us for this reading by the acclaimed fiction writer Brian Evenson, judge of the 2016 Plonsker Prize

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.