Amy Bass: “City Divided, Team United: A Coach, a Team, and the One Goal That Brought a Town Together”Dan Simpson, Sound Technician ExtraordinaireEmerging Writer Award Winners Andrea Rinard, Chloe Firetto-Toomey, and Chase BurkeChase Burke, winner of the Cecelia Joyce Johnson Award for a short story.Chloe Firetto-Toomey, winner of the Scotti Merrill Award for PoetryAndrea Rinard, winner of the Marianne Russo Award for a novel-in-progressJane Leavy, Gish Jen, Joyce Carol Oates, and Lionel Shriver on “Sports and Fiction”Megan Abbott and Jane LeavySeminar Technical Director Ben PeggLouisa Thomas on “How Did It Feel?: The Ineffability of Sports”The free and open-to-the-public afternoon session draws a crowd before doors open at 1:45 pm.
Key West Literary Seminar welcomes readers and writers to this subtropical island city. Our flagship program is the annual Seminar, a four-day event that explores a unique literary theme each January, where readers from around the world enjoy presentations by some of the best writers of our time. In our Writers’ Workshop Program, also in January, writers of all levels meet in small groups with esteemed faculty to share their work and explore the craft of writing. A Scholarship Program reduces fees for teachers and librarians and recognizes the work of outstanding emerging writers. Exclusive recordings from the Seminar spanning thirty years are available in the Audio Archive, while our online journal, Littoral, features news, essays, photographs, and other resources that document Key West’s rich literary history.
A diversity of life thrives in the littoral zone — a thin strip of coastline between high and low watermarks. As the operating metaphor for our online journal, it refers to that part of Key West routinely overrun by the tide of literature and to the rich life of letters in this island city. Here you’ll find event coverage from our team of writers and photographers; news and updates about upcoming opportunities; and rare images from historic collections, interviews, and all manner of report from Key West’s life of letters.