ABOUT US
Litquake’s diverse live programs aim to inspire critical engagement with the key issues of the day, bring people together around the common humanity encapsulated in literature, and perpetuate a sense of literary community by providing a vibrant forum for Bay Area writing. Because we believe in literature as a public good, we work to produce events that are accessible to all.
Litquake is a project of the Litquake Foundation, a 501(c)3 nonprofit registered in the state of California.
"There is no other literary festival in the country like Litquake. It is all about community, connecting readers to writers and connecting writers to each other. Homegrown and innovative, it is a jewel, reminding us how strong and how essential the arts are."
–T.J. Stiles, author and two-time Pulitzer Prize recipient
FROM LITSTOCK TO LITQUAKE
Originally hatched over beers at the Edinburgh Castle pub in 1999, Litstock debuted as a free one-day reading series in a fog-bound Golden Gate Park. Founders Jane Ganahl and Jack Boulware (pictured left) realized quickly that booklovers craved something grander. Against the backdrop of a technology-crazed San Francisco, writers were still drawn to the city, and readers still appreciated the written word.
In 2002, the festival was rechristened Litquake, and began expanding its programming to include all elements of the Bay Area literary scene. Taking a cue from a USA Today report that San Franciscans spend twice the nation’s average on books and booze, in 2004, the festival inaugurated an immediately successful closing night Lit Crawl bacchanal throughout the city’s Mission District.
Popular demand drove Litquake to expand even further, adding more national and international authors, youth programs, classroom visits and book giveaways, and special localized editions of the Lit Crawl now held each year in Austin, Boston, Detroit, Wellington, Cheltenham, and beyond.
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Whether it’s poets reciting in a cathedral, authors discussing science vs. religion in a library, or novelists reading in a beekeeping supply store, the goal remains the same: whet a broad range of literary appetites, present literary fare in a variety of traditional and unlikely venues, and make it vivid, real, and entertaining. Now the largest independent literary festival on the West Coast, Litquake continues its mission as a two-week literary spectacle for booklovers, complete with cutting-edge conversations, unique cross-media events, and hundreds of readings.
Past
Festivals
Litquake has been shaking the Bay Area literary scene since 1999, proudly presenting over 11,500 authors in front of nearly 300,000 attendees since our inception.
Lit.quake?
by Lawrence Ferlinghetti
The festival debuted under the name Litquake in 2002. That year, we invited the founder of City Lights Books & Publishers, the legendary Lawrence Ferlinghetti, to participate in a reading. He showed up two hours late, after some car trouble, and read the following poem:
So we’re having a quake
We’re going to have a literary quaking
It’s announced in the smallest papers
free for the taking
It’s flying on flyers all over town
It’s happening here today
in downtown San Francisco
in the town that’s famous for earthquakes
and ready for them every way
It’s a quake that’s been promised
And all the best writers will be quaking or shaking
So get ready to tremble get ready to shake
The hour has come
The atomic clock is down to one
​And I am wondering
Who will be really shook up
Who and what will really be shook
Who will be quaking in their boots
Will it shake the country to its roots
Will it crack the marble skies
and will it have a ripple effect
with Lit.revolutions and Lit.orgasms
all around the world
Will it shred the fabric of society
And cause inebriation or sobriety
Will it get you high or low
Will you go with the flow
Will it make lovers run for cover
Will it shake up marriages in fancy carriages
Will it let loose the dogs of waror liberate the doves of peace
Will it leave a scorched earth
Or business-as-usual on the home hearth
Will it open up a huge hole
Into which will tumble
And where will be the epicenter of this quake
And what will be the reading on the Richter scale
Will there be lots of real estate for sale
What towers and powers will come tumbling down
Will it shake down the banks
Will it hit the ranks
of both the good and the bad
the glad and the sad
Will it derail tanks and war
or derail peace and more
or bring down the war machine
or other things obscene
Will it burn up the Bush
and will the White House fall
Will it change anything at all
Will it open up a great chasm in which we’ll see
The huge spiritual void in America​
Or will it move your heart and soul;
Will it shake your mind
Will it wake up the humanity
Of all mankind?
OUR COMMITMENT TO DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION
We at Litquake recognize that a renewed, public commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion is crucial to both our own growth and that of the Bay Area arts community at large. By prioritizing these goals in our organization, we will create a space where readers and writers of all identities feel welcome and empowered to participate in our mission—bringing people together around the common humanity encapsulated in literature.
We commit ourselves programmatically to:
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Supporting more BIPOC & LGBTQ+ writers and highlighting their stories
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Serving a diverse, intergenerational literary audience
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Prioritizing equitable access to our programs
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Collaborating with our community in order to best understand and respond to its various needs
We commit ourselves administratively to:
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Creating a staff, board, and volunteer base reflective of our community
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Functioning transparently in regards to our journey towards these goals
We understand this commitment is not short-term, and it is in fact work that will never end—as our community and its needs change, we aim to change with it.
Here's our 2023 Progress Report:
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68% of authors featured were BIPOC
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35% of authors were LGBTQ+
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59% of attendees were BIPOC
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31% of attendees were LGBTQ+
We also continue to support the Litquake Out Loud program, a curatorial program highlighting the Bay Area's BIPOC and LGBTQ+ writers and thought leaders.