Announcing LitFest 2022

We hope you’ll join us virtually for the seventh annual LitFest, hosted in conjunction with Amherst College. This year’s lineup includes Pulitzer Prize winners Natalie Diaz and Viet Thanh Nguyen; 2021 National Book Award nominees Katie Kitamura and Elizabeth McCracken; and journalists Vann Newkirk and David Graham, among others.

This year, we are continuing to highlight the work of The Common’s own Literary Publishing Interns and Amherst Alumni Authors during a virtual reading at 4pm on Saturday, February 26. The Common is also hosting, in collaboration with Restless Books, a conversation with winners of the Restless Books Immigrant Writing Prize, Deepak Unnikrishnan, Grace Talusan, and Ani Gjika. Join us for this packed weekend!

The 2022 festival will largely be in-person, with virtual options for many of the sessions. Visitors will be required to show either proof of full COVID vaccination – and proof of booster if eligible – or a negative test result taken within 72 hours preceding the event.

Conversation with 2021 National Book Award Nominees Katie Kitamura and Elizabeth McCracken
Host: Kirun Kapur
7-8p.m., Friday, February 25
Hosted in partnership with the National Book Foundation

Poets at Amherst with Pulitzer Prize Winner Natalie Diaz
Host: Alicia Mireles Christoff
11a.m., Saturday, February 26 
Hosted in partnership with the National Book Foundation

A Conversation with Pulitzer Prize Winner Viet Thanh Nguyen
Host: Jennifer Acker, editor-in-chief of The Common 
7p.m., Saturday, February 26 
Hosted in partnership with the Presidential Scholars Program

Voting Rights and the Future of our Democracy
A conversation with Vann Newkirk and David Graham
Host: Cullen Murphy
11a.m., Sunday, February 27 

Richard Wilbur — Keeping the Difficult Balance
A conversation with Rhina Espaillat, Dana Gioia, and filmmaker Ralph Hammann
Host: Amelia Worsley
1p.m., Sunday, February 27 

Restless Books/The Common presents (Im)migration Writing
Host: Ilan Stavans
3p.m., Sunday, February 27 
Featuring Deepak Unnikrishnan, Grace Talusan, and Ani Gjika