The Tahoe Literary Festival brings together authors, poets, publishers, storytellers and book lovers for a festive weekend of inspiration and support

The literary arts are flourishing at Lake Tahoe. Literary festivals, crawls, open mics, writing workshops and author events abound like never before, creating opportunities for readers and writers alike to connect, create and celebrate the written word.  

At the heart of this vibrant community is the Tahoe Literary Festival, which is quickly establishing itself as the region’s premier literary event. Held on the beautiful North Shore of Lake Tahoe from October 9–11, the multi-genre festival features authors, poets, songwriters and industry experts offering panels, author conversations, generative workshops and craft talks.

The third annual event promises to be bigger than ever as momentum continues to build around this fast-growing literary festival. 

Inspiring Creativity

The nonprofit Tahoe Literary Festival was founded in 2024 by Katherine Hill, publisher of Tahoe Guide (formerly Tahoe Weekly), and me, as we sought to create an event that celebrated the literary arts in Tahoe.  

The Tahoe Literary Festival book fair

The goal was to cultivate a literary destination during Tahoe’s shoulder season that was inspiring, celebratory and supportive—a place where nationally recognized authors share ideas with local writers, where visitors plan vacations around a literary experience, and where creativity becomes part of the region’s cultural identity.   

After all, Lake Tahoe is home to countless bestselling authors, Grammy Award-winning musicians, renowned screenwriters and talented freelance writers, while its natural beauty has inspired fascinating non-fiction books, romance novels, mystery thrillers and more. 

The Tahoe Literary Festival reflects this spirit of place.     

“Lake Tahoe has always inspired creativity,” says Hill. “We wanted to create a festival that celebrates that connection between people, place and the written word, while building a literary community where writers and readers can come together, exchange ideas and inspire one another.”  

What began as an idea soon evolved into a grassroots effort supported by a handful of volunteers, writers, community partners and local businesses—and has since expanded to include the Truckee Literary Crawl and several author events, workshops, and literary salons throughout the year.

Around 200 people attended the inaugural Tahoe Literary Festival in 2024, which featured 45 authors and presenters and included both free community events and ticketed events. The 2025 festival drew about 300 people and featured 60 authors and presenters. And this year, event organizers received over 100 applications from authors, poets, songwriters and industry experts to participate. 

“We’ve seen a 30 percent increase each year in attendance,” says Jeff Brunings, the festival’s director of development, who helps secure partnerships, funding and community support. “The geographic reach of attendees, authors and presenters has grown steadily each year, attracting regional and out-of-state talent, as well as local creatives.” 

Authentic Connection

In a time when much of society is fixated on social media and bound to their phones, the Tahoe Literary Festival strives to create an environment where authentic connection happens naturally and takes root.  

It’s a place where readers connect with writers, peer-to-peer relationships are created, authors support each other, new friendships are cultivated and creative-to-creative interactions often lead to expansive possibilities. Each program curated by the festival is designed to spark dialogue while establishing lasting connections between people, place and culture.  

“The Tahoe Literary Festival is important because this area is so rich in artistic history, but a lot of that, as of yet, has been untapped on a broader scale that can get the attention of the outlying areas,” says Jesse James Ziegler, Reno’s Poet Laureate Emeritus. 

Financial support from the North Tahoe Community Alliance, with additional help from the Arts Council of Placer County, individual donors and in-kind donations, make the festival possible.  

“We depend on support from grants, foundations and individual donors to ensure the long-term sustainability of literary arts in our mountain community,” Brunings says. “Together, we can continue building something meaningful in Tahoe.”  

The festival is held throughout Tahoe City at the following venues: Tahoe Art Haus, Tahoe Wine Collective, Gatekeepers Museum, The SNOW Sports Museum, Boatworks Mall, Tahoe City Library and The Understory by Wonderwood Books.

Events on Tap

The Tahoe Literary Festival kicks off on Friday, October 9, with a welcome and opening, guest readings and a free community open mic led by Scott Green, founder of the Tahoe Poetry Collective. 

Saturday is a full day of ticketed programming starting at 10 a.m., with all-inclusive access for $65. 

Featured guests include Parvati Shallow, author of Nice Girls Don’t Win. The actress and two-time Survivor winner will participate in a panel exploring people’s fascination with cults. 

From left, Will Richardson, Kate Anderson, Secily Anderson, Gil Gaus and Darren Senn perform in the Singer-Songwriter Showcase

California Poet Laureate Lee Herrick and Nevada Poet Laureate Shaun Griffin will share their love of poetry and offer programs throughout the weekend, and Grant Faulkner, author of the new release something out there in the distance and co-host of the Memoir Nation podcast, will offer two writing workshops.  

Bestselling author Suzanne Roberts, whose new book 52 Writing Prompts: Inspiration for the Creative Writer releases in October, will teach several workshops. Author, playwright and songwriter Sands Hall of the Community of Writers will present a workshop on writing scenes and will moderate the panel “Our Fascination with Cults: Exploring the Myths and Realities of Belief.” And naturalist and author Obi Kaufmann will have a conversation with Laura Cunningham. 

Other featured presenters include Jared and Julia Drake of Wildbound PR, authors Greg Sarris, Josh Weil, Kim Culbertson, Karen Nelson and Laura Newman, Nevada County Poet Laureate Karen Terrey and Reno Poet Laureate Emeritus Jesse James Ziegler, among others. 

The day ends with a festive book fair, author meet-and-greet and the Singer-Songwriter Showcase hosted by Will Richardson. All are free events. 

The festival concludes Sunday with a half-day generative writing retreat offering participants an immersive writing experience, as Lee Herrick will offer a generative poetry writing workshop, Suzanne Roberts will teach memoir and creative nonfiction, and Grant Faulkner will teach “A Crash Course in Novel Writing” for fiction writers. 

This is a special opportunity for both aspiring and established writers to spend three hours writing with renowned authors. Tickets are $75. 

Whether you’re a novice writer, a published author or simply someone who loves books, the Tahoe Literary Festival offers a chance to listen, learn, be inspired and connect with a vibrant literary community.

Tickets and a full schedule of events are available at Tahoelitfest.com. 

Priya Hutner is a Truckee-based author, journalist and cofounder of the Tahoe Literary Festival. Her new book, Chasing Nirvana: A Seeker’s Story of Love, Loss, and Liberation, won the autobiography category at the 20^th Annual National Indie Excellence Awards.