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Get Lit! Literary Festival was started as a one day event by the Eastern Washington University Press and EWU’s Department of Creative Writing back in 1998. Since then it has grown to six days and features 42 events ranging from a Youth Poetry Slam to workshops on creative writing. For the athletically inclined there was also a Bloomsday Training Run hosted at Spokane Community College. Christopher McDougall, author of Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen, led the run and later gave a talk on running at the SCC Lair Auditorium.

Photo by SpokaneFocus

Eastern Washington University considers Get Lit! a key program in their effort for community involvement. Melissa Huggins, the Get Lit! Programs Coordinator, was found at many events during the week managing the details that make an event like this so successful. She stated that Get Lit! pulls in people from all over the Spokane region including many students from the local universities and community colleges. She was particularly interested in the Joyce Carol Oates reading.

We are very lucky to have Joyce Carol Oates. She is a tremendous writer. She’s a tremendous speaker. She’s very funny and personable. We’re lucky to have her. (Melissa Huggins)

Photo by SpokaneFocus

One of the premiere events of the festival was a reading by the acclaimed author Joyce Carol Oates at the the Bing Crosby Theater Friday, April 12th, 2013. She read from her latest book The Accursed. Since publishing her first book in 1963 she has published over forty novels and many other works including poetry, short stories and plays. She has also won numerous awards for her writing including a National Book Award and the National Humanities Medal. She has also been nominated several times for the Pulitzer Prize.

Photo by SpokaneFocus

Author David Shields read from his new book How Literature Saved My Life. Shields, who hails from Seattle, is the Milliman Distinguished Writer-in-Residence at the University of Washington. His published works include Heroes, Dead Languages and Handbook for Drowning: A Novel in Stories.

Photo by SpokaneFocus

Author Jaimy Gordon, a professor in the English Department at Western Michigan University also read from her book Lord of Misrule. Her published works include Bogeywoman, Circumspections from an Equestrian Statue and Shamp of the City-Solo.

Photo by SpokaneFocus

Following the readings, the authors graciously signed copies of their works for festival-goers. Eager fans relished the opportunity to meet and chat with the writers about their work. This yearly festival is appreciated by the Spokane community and accolades should definitely go to Eastern Washington University for their coordination and support of this event. Spokanites hope it continues for many more years.

For more photos of this event check out SpokaneFocus on flickr. Also follow SpokaneFocus on Twitter and Facebook for coverage of future events.