Litquake Prepares to Shake Bay Area

San Francisco’s annual Litquake Festival, which was founded in 1999 and now brings more than 500 authors to the Bay Area, will be held October 10–26. Litquake 2024 will be the first fest under the leadership of executive director Norah Piehl, who previously served as director of literary programs at the Bay Area Book Festival and executive director of the Boston Book Festival.

The organization also announced four board members, including artist and journalist JD Beltran, director of the Center for Creative Sustainability consultancy; author Evette Davis (48 States), co-owner of BergDavis Public Affairs consultancy and a PW BookLife Prize nominee in 2023; 100 Word Story co-founder Grant Faulkner, the executive producer of a developing reality show for writers, America’s Next Great Author; and novelist Jacqueline Luckett (Searching for Tina Turner). 

Prior to the festival, the Litquake Foundation will host a series of four “My Dinner With” benefits in San Francisco and Berkeley. Authors Joyce Maynard (How the Light Gets In), Jane Smiley (Lucky), Annalee Newitz (Stories Are Weapons), and Daniel Handler (And Then? And Then? What Else?) are participating.