9th Annual Fall Literary Festival

Lit Youngstown kicks off its annual literary festival on Thursday, October 16, with several events that are free and open to the public. This year’s festival theme, Rooted in Earth, invited proposals that center the natural and built environments. Visit https://www.lityoungstown.org/2025-festival-details for event details.

On Friday, October 17 at 7:00pm, David Huebert of Halifax, Canada, and Sean Prentiss of Vermont will read and sign books at St. John’s Episcopal Church (323 Wick Ave). David Huebert, a highly acclaimed author of short story collections and the novel Oil People, teaches at University of King’s College. Sean Prentiss is the author of a memoir, Finding Abbey: the Search for Edward Abbey and His Hidden Desert Grave, which won the National Outdoor Book Award. He teaches at Norwich University and lives with his family on a lake deep in the woods of northern Vermont. ASL interpretation will be provided by Meagan Albani.

Four readings will take place at Butler North in the afternoon and evening on Saturday, October 18.
At 1:30pm, Ohio writers Nin Andrews, Jen McConnell, Melanie Murphy and Paula J. Lambert will read their work and sign books. Nin Andrews, a longtime resident of Youngstown now of Virginia, is the author of the fifteen poetry collections and a new memoir, Son of a Bird. Jen McConnell will read from her newest hybrid fiction collection, Current Disasters. Melanie Murphy, a NEOMFA graduate, is a writer of poetry and lyric essays. Paula J. Lambert, a Columbus poet and editor, will read from her book Sinkhole.
At 3:00pm, Pennsylvania poets will read from the Keystone Anthology, a celebration of the varied landscapes and voices of Pennsylvania.
At 4:45pm, The Craig Paulenich Endowed Lecture on Literary Community presents poet, editor and associate professor Caryl Pagel on Small Press Ecologies. This lecture will consider small presses as imaginative and defiant forces in contemporary culture. Caryl Pagel is an associate professor at Cleveland State University, where she teaches creative writing in the NEOMFA program.
The festival concludes with a reading featuring poets Todd Davis, Lauren Camp and Kortney Morrow at 7:00pm. ASL interpretation will be provided by Meagan Albani. Todd Davis is the author of eight full-length collections of poetry. He is an emeritus fellow of the Black Earth Institute and professor of environmental studies at Pennsylvania State University. Lauren Camp serves as New Mexico Poet Laureate. She is the author of eight poetry collections, most recently In Old Sky, which grew out of her experience as Astronomer-in-Residence at Grand Canyon National Park. Kortney Morrow is a poet and writer and program director for the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards in Cleveland.

Lit Youngstown is a literary arts nonprofit with programs for writers, readers, and those who love a good story. More information is available at www.LitYoungstown.org.