Litquake 2026

Pay what you can ($15 suggested) for guaranteed seat; FREE to walk-ups (space depending)

Pitchapalooza is American Idol for books (only kinder and gentler). Twenty writers, selected at random, will pitch their book for one minute only! Judges (including The Book Doctors, Arielle Eckstut and David Henry Sterry) will help you improve your pitch, not tell you how bad it is. Judges critique everything from idea to style to marketplace potential, and authors gain concrete advice as well as a greater understanding of the publishing industry. Whether potential authors pitch themselves, or simply listen to the critiques, Pitchapalooza is educational and entertaining for one and all. At evening’s end, the judges will pick a winner. Like the dozens of Pitchapalooza winners who have gone from talented amateurs to professionally published authors, this lucky participant will receive an introduction to an agent or publisher. Doors at 6:30pm.

FREE, $10–$15 suggested donation

Co-presented with Memoir Nation

These four memoirists are, in different ways, writing into spaces where their experience has been minimized, misread, or actively suppressed. Judy Juanita's California Fever Dream spans sixty years of writing focused on Black activism and feminism. In I Love You So Many, journalist Terria Smith shares lessons learned from a career sharing stories about the richness of Native people’s lives. Elena Dudum's They Told Me Back Home Would Be Beautiful is a call to action against institutional silencing and censorship. Finally, Caroline Paul has spent her career writing women into adventure narratives that historically excluded them, most recently in Why Fly. Brooke Warner and Grant Faulkner, co-founders of the Memoir Nation podcast and online community, will guide a compelling discussion on the power of this truth-telling form. Doors at 6:30pm.