Center for Humanistic Inquiry LitFest

The Center for Humanistic Inquiry partners with The Common, Amherst's literary magazine, along with the Emily Dickinson Museum, the English Department and the Office of Communications, to produce Amherst’s signature annual literary festival celebrating the college’s extraordinary literary life. One weekend each year, fans of good writing come from all over to hear their favorite authors speak and converse, while students have the opportunity to attend master classes by the visiting writers. The programming includes finalists and winners of the year's National Book Awards.

Image

Litfest 2023

Amherst’s 8th annual literary festival celebrates the College’s extraordinary literary life by inviting distinguished authors and editors to campus. This year’s lineup includes Pulitzer Prize winner Hilton Als; MacArthur Fellowship winner Valeria Luiselli, and 2022 National Book Award finalists Meghan O’Rourke and Ingrid Rojas Contreras, among others.

Litfest 2023 Slideshow

Image

Litfest 2022

In its seventh year, Amherst’s annual literary festival celebrated the College’s extraordinary literary life by inviting distinguished authors and editors to discuss the pleasures and challenges of verbal expression—from fiction and nonfiction to poetry and spoken-word performance. 2022's lineup included Pulitzer Prize winners Natalie Diaz and Presidential Scholar Viet Thanh Nguyen; 2021 National Book Award nominees Katie Kitamura and Elizabeth McCracken; and journalists Vann Newkirk and David Graham.

Litfest 2022 Slideshow

Image

Litfest 2021

In it’s sixth year, LitFest 2021 went virtual with a series of live-streamed fiction and poetry readings and discussions by our invited guest speakers. Featuring 2020 National Book Award (NBA) winner for fiction, Charles Yu, NBA finalist Megha Majumdar, NBA poet Tommye Blount, and Pulitzer Prize-winning author and journalist Anne Applebaum.

Litfest 2021 Videos