A Look Back at Get Lit! 2019

2019 Get Lit! Programs
Celebrate 21 Years.

Get Lit! Programs celebrated its 21^st year this April with dozens of events, outstanding authors, festival-inspired food and drink, and our second annual book fair at the Montvale Event Center.

We presented events throughout downtown Spokane, Coeur D’Alene, and on Eastern’s campuses in both Cheney and Spokane. We are thankful to our many sponsors, including the many Eastern programs and departments who helped us to bring in New York Times best-selling author Roxane Gay for our headlining reading.

We were also lucky enough to present Tommy Orange, winner of the PEN/Hemingway award and finalist for the Pulitzer Prize; Kaveh Akbar, a major new voice in contemporary poetry; Claudia Castro Luna, Washington State’s Poet Laureate; and many other writers with a diverse range of important stories to tell.

Surveys showed that hundreds of our attendees were attending the festival for the first time. As Get Lit! continues to grow, it is our mission to continue to prioritize diversity and to serve EWU students along with our vibrant literary community.

This year we presented free events to students in EWU’s Intro to Literature course, American Indian Studies students, and others, including students from Cheney High School, On Track Academy, the Community Colleges of Spokane, and more. We also held special private events for students and young people, including sending writers to work one-on-one with patients at Sacred Heart Children’s Hospital.

Get Lit! also received many honors this year, including an Inclusion Award from Spokane Arts for our dedication to bringing diverse authors to the festival each year from our community and beyond. We also won a Washington State Governor’s Arts Award for our contributions to the cultural vitality of our state. We were also nominated for EWU’s Diversity and Inclusion Award.

Visit our website for more information on becoming a sponsor for next year’s festival, or how to work with us to bring high-quality educational programming from best-selling writers to your classrooms. We are also currently open for submissions for Get Lit! 2020. Learn more and submit via getlitfestival.org.