Registration for the 2023 Kweli International Literary Festival is now open. The festival will take place from July 15 to September 15 and includes both in-person and virtual events.

Kweli Lit Fest is run by Kweli Journal, a non-profit literary journal by and for writers of color. In its 12th year, the festival is a multi-week, hybrid festival exclusively for BIPOC, diaspora, and international writers. The programming includes intensive workshops, readings and conversations, craft talks and master classes.

The festival features prominent African authors including Namwali Serpell (Zambia), Chika Unigwe (Nigeria), Magogodi Makhene (South Africa), Yvette Lisa Ndlovu (Zimbabwe), Hafizah Augustus Geter (Nigeria/USA) and more.

There will be two free pre-festival reading and performance events:

  • Chika Unigwe and Yvette Lisa Ndlovu will feature in a night of readings and live music/choreography at The New School in NYC on Thursday, July 13.
  • Pulitzer Prize finalist Ingrid Rojas Contreras will headline a reading and performance at Ballet Hispanico in NYC on Friday, July 14.

Kweli Lit Fest will launch with a day-long inaugural program in person on Saturday, July 15 at Barnard College from 8 AM – 6 PM. There will be a feature keynote conversation between Hanif Abdurraqib (Carnegie Medal Winner) and Kaitlyn Greenidge (Whiting Award Winner) and craft-intensive sessions with Namwali Serpell, Deborah D.E.E.P Mouton, and more.

Register for the festival inaugural day here.

The festival continues virtually through September with master classes, multi-session workshops and craft talks curated specifically for writers of color by authors such as Fatimah Asghar, Mikael Awake, Laura Pegram (Kweli Editor-in-Chief), and more.

Register for virtual classes here.

Check out the full schedule below.