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Dusty No More: Under the visionary leadership of Anne Cleveland, who steps down this January after a 13-year tenure leading the soon-to-be 275-year-old Charleston Library Society, the once stuffy private library on King Street has become a hot, even hip, “cultural and intellectual living room” (as its mission states) hosting a robust lineup of book-related events, readings, and community conversations.

Required Reading: Some of the books from visiting authors on tap for this month’s Charleston Literary Festival

Festival Forward: Charleston’s venerable Dock Street Theatre will again be a main venue for the Charleston Literary Festival, along with Circular Congregational Church. The festival seeks to engage readers directly with writers, including book-signing opportunities after each program with the featured author, such as Pulitzer Prize-winner Margo Jefferson, who will discuss the art of writing a memoir on November 6.

Pulitzer Prize-winner Margo Jefferson

YALLFest, the world’s largest young adult fiction book festival, draws thousands of middle grade and YA fans from around the country, who don’t mind waiting in long lines to get books signed by some of the 77 authors who participate.

Zany events, like the finale YA Smackdown, prove that writing and reading are good fun.

Beyond the Page: Free Verse, the brainchild of Charleston’s poet laureate Marcus Amaker, frees verse—literally—bringing poetry to life through movement (as pictured above in the 2019 Coming to Monuments collaboration with Dance Matters) as well as through spoken word and public art events. The month-long festival incorporates a social justice lens in much of its creativity-inspiring programming.

Charleston’s First Poet Laureate, Marcus Amaker

When Jonathan Sanchez bought Boomer’s Books in 2007, he turned what had been a used bookstore into a vibrant downtown nucleus for readers of all genres. Blue Bicycle Books has since birthed YALLFest, the Write of Summer camps, and the Poets in the Schools program, as well as hosted thousands of author and book launch events over the years.

King Street’s latest literary retailer, Buxton Books hosts numerous events and readings, such as one by local author Damon Fordham.

Readers stock up on the newest titles from their favorite YA authors at the YALLFest book tent in the parking lot adjacent to Blue Bicycle Books.

Author Lisa Taddeo at CLF in 2021

Exuberant YALLFest fans

Photographs by (Margo Jefferson) Leigh Webber Photography & (Taddeo) Mark Staff, both images courtesy of Charleston Literary Festival; (4) David Strauss Photography, courtesy of YALLFest; (Coming to Monuments) Trenise Elmore & (Amaker) Alice Keeney, both courtesy of Free Verse; (Cornwell) Andrew Cebulka; (Monroe) Anne Rhett; (Pike) Tiffany Mizzell Photography; (Willingham) Mary Hannah Harte; (Barnes) Joshua Garcia; & (Garcia) Sarah Poe Photography & Courtesy of (Jackson) College of Charleston, (4) the authors, & (Book covers-11) the publishers, (bookstores) Blue Bicycle & Buxton Books, & Charleston Library Society

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The Charleston Literary Festival kicks off a page-turning fall season, plus the return of YALLFest

Read chapter and verse on the Holy City’s literary landscape

Literary Charleston

The Charleston Literary Festival kicks off a page-turning fall season, plus the return of YALLFest

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Literary Charleston

The Charleston Literary Festival kicks off a page-turning fall season, plus the return of YALLFest

CHARLESTON MAGAZINE

FOOD & DRINK

ARTS & EVENTS

STYLE & SHOPPING

VIDEO AND MULTIMEDIA

PEOPLE & LOCAL HISTORY