Connecticut Literary Festival Receives Recognition for Inaugural Event

The inaugural Connecticut Literary Festival, held last fall in Hartford, is among the winners of the 2020 edition of Best Writing Conferences in America, produced by the Writer magazine, based on a survey of its readers.  The free one-day festival featured writers, publishers, presses, and literary organizations - and “made a strong enough impression with attendees to land a spot on our 2020 list,” according to the publication.

The Connecticut Literary Festival included panels of writers talking about their work, readings of various works of poetry, fiction and non-fiction by Connecticut authors, and a range of engaging sessions.  In addition, the Tiny Reading Gallery hosted about 40 writers, reading their original work all day in 10-minute slots. Among the additional features: typewriters set up on mini-desks with lamps, Rolodex, and flowers for visiting writers.  The typed pages were then hung on the gallery walls, creating an interactive installation.

The second annual festival will be held at Real Art Ways in Hartford on October 10, 2020.  The Connecticut Literary Festival is produced by Central Connecticut State University and hosted by Real Art Ways, located in Hartford’s Parkville neighborhood.

Beyond spotlighting some of the region’s premier artists through talks and readings, the festival also welcomes and highlights the achievements and work of publishers, presses, and literary organizations.

The Festival director is Jotham Burrello.  Advisory Board members include Mary Collins, Ken Cormier, Briann Greenfield, Colin Hosten, Leslie McGrath, Pieter Roos, Susan Schoenberger, Sergio Troncoso and Diane Vivona.

Headlining the panels last fall was Amy Bloom, whose books include two New York Times best-sellers, Lucky Us and Away, the nonfiction Normal, exploring sex and gender, and three collections of short stories.

In last year’s rankings, the top-rated writing workshop in Connecticut was The Yale Writers’ Workshop, held at Yale University.  That workshop will also return again this year, in June.

Also named as top writers conferences in New England were the Stonecoast Writers’ Conference (Maine), Cape Cod Writers Conference (Massachusetts), The Writer’s Conference (New Hampshire), NecronomiCon (Rhode Island) and Vermont College of Fine Arts Postgraduate Writers’ Conference (Vermont). 

Founded in 1887, The Writer is one of the nation’s oldest magazines focusing on the craft of writing.