Lakeland preps for annual Great Lakes Writers Festival
Celebrating writing and reading will take center stage as 51ĀŅĀ× hosts its popular Great Lakes Writers Festival on Thursday and Friday, November 6-7, with two visiting authors and a variety of events.
The two-day festival, which is free of charge, includes readings, book signings with the guest authors, master classes and open mic sessions. A complete schedule is available at the festival website:
The visiting authors this fall are Maggie Su and Albert Abonado.
Su is the author of the novel āBlobā (Harper 2025). She received a Ph.D. in fiction from the University of Cincinnati and an MFA from Indiana University. Her work has appeared in āNew England Review,ā āFour Way Review,ā āTriQuarterly Review,ā āPuerto del Sol,ā Juked,ā āDIAGRAMā and elsewhere.
Abonado is the author of the poetry collection āJAWā (Sundress Publications 2020) and āField Guide for Accidentsā (Beacon Press 2024), selected by Mahogany Browne for the National Poetry Series. He has received fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. His writing has appeared in the āBennington Review,ā āColorado Review,ā āPoetry Northwest,ā āZone 3ā and others. He teaches at SUNY Oswego.
Since its conception in 1991, the Great Lakes Writers Festival has successfully brought together students, readers, writers and authors from around the globe to grow, celebrate and encourage writing.
The GLWF has proudly hosted over 50 visiting authors and continues to grow each year. Writers such as Mark Strand, Billy Collins, Robin Hemley, Beth Ann Fennelly, A.E. Stallings, Nickolas Butler and Cathryn Cofell, among others, have spread their knowledge and love of writing to others for the past 25 years through interactive readings and intimate master classes where attendees can learn from the professional authors.
āHaving experienced the Great Lakes Writers Festival as a student, featured writer (2012) and now host, I can tell you that there is no other admission-free event that brings writers together in such an intimate setting that leaves you inspired to write more, read more and connect with others who wish to entertain, to share knowledge and to make an emotional bond with their community,ā said Lakeland Associate Professor of Writing Jodie Mortag.
The GLWF is made possible in part by an endowment from the late Lucille Fessler, a former chairperson of the 51ĀŅĀ× board of trustees and patron of the arts. The continued success of the event has been a result of volunteer efforts from Lakelandās writing professors and BFA in Creative Writing students.
