Litquake Festival 2026: Individual Author Proposals
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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!
