UC Riverside’s 45th annual Writers Week Festival, the longest-running free literary event in California, has announced its schedule and list of authors. The festival, which will be held virtually, has over 40 confirmed authors who will engage with online audiences during events scheduled for Feb. 12 and 14-18.
“Despite COVID-19, Writers Week was not cancelled in 2021, and in 2022 we have a stellar lineup,” said Allison Adelle Hedge Coke, Writers Week director. “We welcome literature lovers from around the world to share time and space with these authors that bring not only their ingenious and artful writing, but their culture and unique view of the world. This year’s D. Charles Whitney Reader, Luis J. Rodriguez, and Stephen Minot Lecturer, Cornelius Eady, have both moved mountains for decades to create community for writers of color and emerging voices.”
In addition to readings, discussions, panels, and audience Q&As, guests will also be able to enjoy music by The Cornelius Eady Trio and Rupa & the April Fishes on Feb. 15.
On Feb. 18, Master of Fine Arts candidates Emily Doyle and Soleil Garneau will host the week’s finale. In this session, literary legacies Sandra Cisneros, Linda Hogan, and Ishmael Reed will be honored with a Los Angeles Review of Books (LARB) – UCR Department of Creative Writing Lifetime Achievement Awards and Costo Medals, bestowed by College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences Dean Daryle Williams and the Rupert Costo Chair of American Indian Affairs Clifford Trafzer. This event is free and open to the public.
On Feb. 19, in a post-festival ticketed event, the Lifetime Achievement Award honorees, Cisneros, Hogan, and Reed will be celebrated by LA Review of Books and will include a round robin reading and Q&A session.
From its inception, Writers Week at UCR aimed to be a festival where both acclaimed writers and emerging authors could meet new audiences and serve as a unique literary hub in the Inland Empire, an area rich in history and culture, said Hedge Coke, an award-winning author and distinguished professor of creative writing at UCR.
The pandemic has taken this celebration — for a second year — to a virtual space, but Hedgge Coke said she hopes to bring it back to campus as a hybrid event when it’s safe to do so. All presentations will be captioned and offer American Sign Language translation.
Authors from Jordan, Australia, China, Egypt, and throughout North America have been invited to participate, representing a multitude of international, national, Black, Indigenous, People of Color, and LGBTQ+ communities.
“Writers Week participants will get to meet writers who are also artists, activists, influencers and more,” Hedge Coke said. “It is exceptionally important to all of us at Writers Week to bring an incredible range of voices, from all walks of life to our forum. Their presence betters all of us listening in and makes our world a bit bigger each entry.”
Featured Writers
- Emily Rapp Black
- Kate Bonnici
- Joy Castro
- Sandra Cisneros
- Anthony Cody
- Lewis deSoto
- Cornelius Eady
- Steve Erickson
- Molly Fisk
- Carribean Fragoza
- Sesshu Foster
- Edgar Gomez
- Kimberly Guerrero
- Daisy Hernandez
- Linda Hogan
- Gordon Lee Johnson
- John Kinsella
- Diane Lefer
- Antonio de Jesús López
- Tom Lutz
- Isabella Madrigal
- Sophia Madrigal
- Juanita Mantz
- Chloe Martinez
- Rupa Marya
- Rajiv Mohabir
- Amanda Moore
- Ibrahim Nasrallah
- Daniel Olivas
- Jamaica Heolimeleikalani Osorio
- Ishmael Reed
- Luis J. Rodriguez
- Jasmine Elizabeth Smith
- Susan Straight
- Kim Shuck
- Moheb Soliman
- Richard Van Camp
- Elissa Washuta
- Kyle Lucia Wu
- Luo Ying
- Group readings include contributors from the anthologies “XLA Poets” and “Tlaculix: Tongues in Quarantine,” and student groups from UCR Writers Resist and the UCR MFA in Creative Writing and Writing for the Performing Arts.
Visit writersweek.ucr.edu for the full schedule and to register for events.
