Thank you for your interest in the 2026 Litquake Curator Residency!

This year's Litquake festival will take place October 8th–24th.

This residency has been created to combat an often homogeneous and culturally inequitable literary landscape. It’s a unique opportunity for emerging curators and writers to utilize mentorship and support to execute an events series at our tentpole program, Litquake Festival. While we’ve operated a guest curator program for several years, we’re formalizing the process and residencies will be awarded each year through an open call. Please note that, given our limited budget and staff capacity, we will have to be very selective in our approach to reviewing residency applications. 

Litquake is committed to championing greater diversity in the literary world and promoting as wide a range of writers as possible. Accordingly, Litquake encourages submissions from curators across any and all backgrounds, especially those who have been historically overlooked by the literary world including (but not limited to) individuals who are BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, disabled, neurodivergent, and everyone with a story to tell. We also love all genres, approaches, and schools of thought when it comes to programming. Just wow us.

What we're looking for:

• Curators with a history of producing public arts/literary/community events (especially for Bay Area audiences). The Curator Residency is prioritized for locals to the Bay Area. 
• We're particularly interested in proposals with multi-disciplinary components (music, theater, dance), conversations on the intersections of literature and contemporary issues (e.g., politics, science/technology, environment/climate), and are particularly interested in anything outside the box of what Litquake historically does (we know…it’s a big box!)  
• Litquake events vary from panel discussions and performances to interactive events and readings. Please look through our festival calendar from 2025 and the guest curated events below to better understand the range of diverse events we produce.

Recent guest-curated Litquake events: 

SWOLE: The Meaning of Muscle Panel + Party curated by Micheal Foulk

Greetings, from Queer Mountain: Maybe Today, Satan curated by Micheal Foulk

Full Circle curated by Giovanna Lomanto

Entre Fronteras: Between Borders curated by Diego Plascencia-Vega

We Are Who We Remember curated by Sarah O’Neal

Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow curated by D’mani Thomas

Residency Details:

• All curators are expected to collaborate on event production for 2-3 events featured in Litquake's fall festival, including event development and participant invites, prospective venue visits (if required), development of event description language, and on-site production and emceeing (if required). 
• Participants will work with Graham Todd (Artistic Director) directly in the lead-up to the event, primarily virtually. At least 1 Litquake staff/committee member will be on-site during your events, along with multiple Litquake volunteers. 
• While you won’t be alone during any part of this process, we do expect you to work proactively and independently when appropriate.
• Expected time committment: 5 hours per month from May to September, 15 hours per month in October for roughly 40 hours total
• All curators will receive a modest stipend of $2,000 as gratitude for their involvement (paid in 2 installments, July and October)
• All curators will have their photos and bios listed online and in festival print materials as part of the Curator Resident cohort
• Litquake will provide all necessary support for production and success of the event

Timeline Overview: 

• 1-2 generative meetings with LQ staff re: event ideas through April and May
• Event ideas confirmed by May 30th, invites out to talent after final confirmation with LQ staff
• All programming (including participant lineups) confirmed by July 15th, marketing and event language assets gathered by July 31st
• Ongoing management/check ins with marketing partners, Litquake staff, & venue teams as needed throughout summer/fall
• Showflows and other event production materials confirmed by Sept 15th
• Litquake Festival events take place October 8th-24th
• 1 post-event check-in meeting held by end of November

Thank you for your interest in the 2026 Litquake Festival! 

Please note: This form is for proposing individual children's book creators to present at Litquake's Kidquake program. If you would like to propose an author for the general festival, please use this form instead.

As part of our annual Litquake Festival, Kidquake consists of two days of talks and meet-and-greets with a diverse array of children’s book creators for grades 1–5, paired with hands-on activities run by authors, illustrators, and interactive educators. Kidquake 2026 will take place October 8 and 9 at the main branch of the San Francisco Public Library; videos or live-streams of the events will reach thousands of additional students from throughout the Bay Area. Each in-person student leaves with a new book, and teachers receive a bag of books and other goodies for their classrooms. For more information about the program, visit litquake.org/kidquake.

Litquake is committed to championing greater diversity in the literary world and promoting as wide a range of writers as possible. Accordingly, Litquake encourages submissions from children's book creators across any and all backgrounds, especially those who have been historically overlooked by the literary world including (but not limited to) individuals who are BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, disabled, neurodivergent, and everyone with a story to tell. 

 What we're looking for: 

• Children's book creators (authors or illustrators) with a book published between October 2025 and October 2026. Kidquake programs are geared toward grades 1–5. 
• Kidquake's assemblies attract 200+ children per session. You don't ned to be a professional entertainer, but we are looking for presenters who ready to enthusiastically share their work in 10 minutes or less with a large group of eager but sometimes squirrely young readers. Consider proposing an activity that might involve audience participation and interaction—past examples include collaborative story-telling, music-making, or an interactive drawing demonstration!
• If a large group presentation isn't for you, consider proposing a 45-minute hands-on workshop for this age group, which will reach a smaller group of 15–25 students per session.
• Not only for locals! We’re opening submissions up to anyone and everyone. If you/your publisher is able to support travel to the Bay Area, let us know that in the form—we'd love to roll out the welcome mat for you!

 Event Details:

• All participants will receive a modest stipend as gratitude for their involvement.
• Kidquake assembly presentations are approximately 10 minutes each; hands-on workshops are approximately 45 minutes. Assembly presentations will also be shared via video or live-stream.
• All participants will have their photos and bios listed online.

Thank you for your interest in the 2026 Litquake Festival! 

Please note: This form is for proposing an entire festival session/program with a slate of participants. If you would like to propose an individual author to participate on Litquake-curated panels, readings, or keynote/headliner sessions, please use this form.

This year's festival will take place October 8–24.

Litquake is committed to championing greater diversity in the literary world and promoting as wide a range of writers as possible. Accordingly, Litquake encourages submissions from authors and curators across any and all backgrounds, especially those who have been historically overlooked by the literary world including (but not limited to) individuals who are BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, disabled, neurodivergent, and everyone with a story to tell. We also love all genres, approaches, and schools of thought when it comes to storytelling. Just wow us.

 What we're looking for:

• Proposals for events with a clear topic and confirmed list of participating authors with a book or other significant publications published since October 2025. Priority will be given to events featuring authors with new books in September/October 2026.
• Speakers who can give a great interpretation of their work to a live audience.
• Please submit a short proposal along with any links to published work or a short excerpt of the work to be featured.
• Not only for locals! We’re opening submissions up to anyone and everyone. If you/your publisher is able to support your travel to the Bay Area, let us know that in the form—we'd love to roll out the welcome mat for you!
• We're particularly interested in proposals addressing cross-genre discussions, conversations on the intersections of literature and contemporary issues (e.g., politics, science/technology, environment/climate), and (for our Writers' Weekend events) sessions exploring elements of the writer's craft.
• Events vary from panel discussions and performances to interactive events and readings. Please look through our festival calendar from 2025 to better understand the range of diverse events we produce.
• Even if you've presented at Litquake many times previously, there's no guarantee that your proposal will be accepted every year; within our limited space and finite resources, we strive to create a balanced program and to make room for new voices and perspectives each year.

 Event Details: 

• All participants will receive a modest stipend as gratitude for their involvement.
• All participants will have their photos and bios listed online.
• With rare exceptions (at the discretion of Litquake's programming staff), authors are only permitted to appear once during the festival. Please choose wisely when submitting an author as an individual or as part of a proposed program!

Thank you for your interest in the 2026 Litquake Festival! 

Please note: This form is for proposing individual authors to participate on Litquake-curated panels, readings, or keynote/headliner sessions during the main festival only. If you would like to propose an entire session with a slate of participants please use this form. If you would like to submit an author for Kidquake (October 8-9) please use this form. 

This year's festival will take place October 8–24.

Litquake is committed to championing greater diversity in the literary world and promoting as wide a range of writers as possible. Accordingly, Litquake encourages submissions from authors and curators across any and all backgrounds, especially those who have been historically overlooked by the literary world including (but not limited to) individuals who are BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, disabled, neurodivergent, and everyone with a story to tell. We also love all genres, approaches, and schools of thought when it comes to storytelling. Just wow us!

What we're looking for: 

• Authors with a book or other significant publications (e.g., feature article, anthology contribution) published between October 2025 and October 2026. Preference will be given to authors with books published in September/October 2026.
• Authors whose older work has achieved new attention due to film/TV adaptation, relevance to current discourse, etc.
• Someone who can give a great interpretation of their work to a live audience.
• Not only for locals! We’re opening submissions up to anyone and everyone. If you/your publisher is able to support author travel to the Bay Area, let us know that in the form—we'd love to roll out the welcome mat for you!
• Events vary from panel discussions and performances to interactive events and readings. Please look through our festival calendar from 2025 to better understand the range of diverse events we produce. 
• Even if you've presented at Litquake many times previously, there's no guarantee that your proposal will be accepted every year; within our limited space and finite resources, we strive to create a balanced program and to make room for new voices and perspectives each year.

Event Details:

• All participants will receive a modest stipend as gratitude for their involvement.
• All participants will have their photos and bios listed online.
• With rare exceptions (at the discretion of Litquake's programming staff), authors are only permitted to appear once during the festival. Please choose wisely when submitting an author as an individual or as part of a proposed program!

Thanks for your interest in Lit Crawl San Francisco on Saturday, October 24th! 

Lit Crawl San Francisco is the world’s largest literary pub crawl, and features hundreds of authors and literary organization during its three hours of literary mayhem. Lit Crawl only accepts fully developed proposals for one-hour programs/sessions, not applications from individual authors. 

Litquake is committed to creating greater diversity in the literary world and promoting as wide a range of writers as possible. Accordingly, Litquake encourages submissions that feature authors from any and all backgrounds who have been historically overlooked by the literary world including (but not limited to) individuals who are BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, disabled, neurodivergent, and everyone with a story to tell. We also love every and all genres, approaches, and schools of thought when it comes to storytelling and literary programming. Just wow us.

Our criteria: 

• Are your authors free on Saturday, October 24th, from 5:00-9:00 pm?
• Is your organization local or in some way connected to the Bay Area? Or able to travel to San Francisco on October 24th?
• In 2026, we are especially interested in creating space for new voices. Past participation in Lit Crawl SF does not guarantee selection for the 2026 program.
• We strongly recommend making sure that all authors included in your proposal have already confirmed their availability for October 24th before submitting. 
• By submitting, prospective participants agree to work collaboratively with the Lit Crawl SF programming team if accepted.

Looking for inspiration? Here's the link to last year's schedule.

What Makes for a Great Proposal

• Clear theme or idea that readers are exploring and riffing on
• Collaboration across groups
• Fresh ideas that engage the audience
• Exploring a genre (ie. romance, food, travel, ghost stories, sci-fi)
• Experimenting with formats (ie. music, audience engagement, sessions in languages other than English)

What We Should Keep in Our Hearts But Not in Our Proposals

• Anything that feels like you have to be an insider to get it
• "We have done this session 23 years and know it is great so we are going to do it again."
• "Six Bay Area authors reading their best work."
• Ideas that need a massive amount of tech AV support

More details: 

• Lit Crawl curator slots are limited to ONE hour.
• Curators, emcees, and readers can only participate in one Lit Crawl event. (No double-dipping.)
• Lit Crawl is unable to feature book sales and signings.
• All participants' photos and bios will be listed online, if submitted by the deadline provided to accepted programs.

Thanks again for letting us know about your organization and its literary efforts!