Litquake 2024: Here’s What You Need to Know

With the fall of the leaves off of tree tops and the roll of the fog through the mountains, so too does the fleeting foxes of temptation. You have a hot coffee (or cocoa, no judgment) between both hands, blowing on it softly to spread the preciousness around the world for a little bit. You watch as it makes the world a little bit quieter and the leaves fall at your feet. You finally understand why great writers always tend to write so tenderly about San Francisco. 

San Francisco is not only beautiful in its own rite, it is also romantic. It has a seductive, alluring quality that draws a lot of great writers to come revel in the magic that rolls in with the fog. 

This city has a literary history that flows so deeply through the air. In 1953, City Lights Bookstore was opened on Columbus Avenue and immediately drew in crowds of authors and readers through the doors to its open arms. People were initially drawn into the cozy atmosphere, but many stayed long enough to find a warm embrace where many different cultures lie. For many writers in San Francisco, finding people to publish their work was hard enough, but the real trouble was finding a community that was ready and willing to listen to their stories. Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Peter D. Martin, founders of City Lights Bookstore, were ready to create a safe space for writers in the Bay Area to tell their stories. They soon created City Lights Publishing, which will continue to tell stories for many years to come. 

To make an incredibly long history short, San Francisco holds a special place in its heart for the literature that adores it so. 

What is Litquake?

Litquake is an organization that projects the importance of literature and creating a safe space to bring everyone together onto the people of San Francisco. The founders and executive committee of Litquake stress how important it is to have a community for Bay Area writers to be able to share their work and for Bay Area readers to learn more about the world around them. Founded in 1999, Litquake is a festival for literature enjoyers and passersby alike to come together and meet people who share common interests. 

The festival spans from bookstores, bars,  and cafes to tattoo parlors, police stations, and laundromats. At these venues, they often have discussions of books and poetry performances, or even just a place to hang out and buy a couple of books. The topics at each of these pop-ups can range from discussions about growing up in the Bay Area to poetry about race and gender to film screenings and Q&As with popular authors. It is like a walk (or a crawl) around heaven for literature enthusiasts and a wonderfully brisk night out for everyone else. 

Literature, whether scholarly or casual, creates a path in everyone’s life. Everybody’s journey is different, but the books that we choose to read have become increasingly important to us. It not only connects us, but also creates a space that is now welcome for everyone instead of excluding a certain type of people (who were historically anything less than rich and white). This festival is an incredible experience to anyone who is interested in literature or learning more about a multitude of experiences–or maybe just to get outside and breathe in deep the autumn air.

For more information on Litquake 2024 use this is a link to the schedule for the festival happening from October 10th to the 26th:

https://www.litquake.org/2024-schedule

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