Author Jesmyn Ward (left) took the stage in 2024 for a conversation with Tracy K. Smith about Ward鈥檚 Let Us Descend (2023). The novel describes a woman鈥檚 life in the rice fields of the Carolinas, the slave markets of New Orleans, and a Louisiana sugar plantation.听
David Huntley (from left) and Edelma Huntley, presenters for the David Quammen event, were joined by 疯客直播 Fe author Hampton Sides at the 2023 疯客直播 Fe International Literary Festival.
Author Tommy Orange (Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma) and Ramona Emerson (Din茅) discuss the writing life and Orange鈥檚 latest book, Wandering Stars (2024) at the 2024 event.
Author Jesmyn Ward (left) took the stage in 2024 for a conversation with Tracy K. Smith about Ward鈥檚 Let Us Descend (2023). The novel describes a woman鈥檚 life in the rice fields of the Carolinas, the slave markets of New Orleans, and a Louisiana sugar plantation.听
TIRA HOWARD PHOTOGRAPHY
David Huntley (from left) and Edelma Huntley, presenters for the David Quammen event, were joined by 疯客直播 Fe author Hampton Sides at the 2023 疯客直播 Fe International Literary Festival.
TIRA HOWARD PHOTOGRAPHY
Author Tommy Orange (Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma) and Ramona Emerson (Din茅) discuss the writing life and Orange鈥檚 latest book, Wandering Stars (2024) at the 2024 event.
If you haven鈥檛 heard of the 疯客直播 Fe International Literary Festival, now you know 鈥 and you鈥檙e welcome. If you have heard of it, or better yet, have attended in the past, then add all the exclamation marks you want to the following sentence: The fourth 疯客直播 Fe International Literary Festival runs May 16-18, and tickets go on sale Friday, January 31.
As in previous events, this year鈥檚 festival-goers can expect thought-provoking conversations between a range of authors on big and small stages, book signings, walk-and-talk events around town, and meditation sessions. The festival also offers free community events at several venues around 疯客直播 Fe, which will be confirmed later this spring.
And this year鈥檚 event includes award-winning, top-tier writers whom many of us have been reading for years, like Amy Tan, best known for The Joy Luck Club (1989) and The Kitchen God鈥檚 Wife (1991), plus myriad novels and short story collections; Percival Everett, whose latest novel James (2024) won the National Book Award and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize; Viet Thanh Nguyen, author of The Sympathizer (2016) that won Nguyen a Pulitzer Prize; and Miranda July, whose new novel All Fours (2024) has the internet abuzz.
Nonfiction writers on the lineup include Heather Cox Richardson, author of Democracy Awakening (2023) and guru of all things political commentary; Terry Tempest Williams, who鈥檚 one of the most consequential environmental writers with such books as Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place (1991) and The Hour of Land (2016); and Michael Pollan, whose latest book This is Your Mind on Plants (2021) speaks to the strangeness of three drugs (opium, caffeine, and mescaline) and what they do to our brains.
DJ and poet Raashan Ahmad cheers on young writers performing on a community stage at the 2023 festival.
Courtesy SFILF
The literary festival also celebrates local writers. This year鈥檚 festival includes Deborah Jackson Taffa (Laguna Pueblo, Quechua [Yuma]), who leads the MFA in Creative Writing program at the Institute of American Indian Arts and whose memoir, Whiskey Tender (2024), was a finalist for the National Book Award; and Hampton Sides, author of bestselling narrative histories like The Wide Wide Sea (2024), Blood and Thunder (2006), and Ghost Soldiers (2001).
So what is the best way to prepare for the festival besides getting tickets before your favorite author events sell out? Read the books, or at least those noted above, and explore the festival鈥檚 list of authors and read their books too.
Also new this year is Megan Mulry, the festival鈥檚 executive director, who previously was director of communications at Radius Books and has worked in publishing in New York and in finance in London. Mulry鈥檚 mission at the literary festival鈥檚 organization is to help manage the exponential growth of the annual mega-literary event, alongside co-founders Clare Hertel, Mark Bryant, Carmella Padilla, and their team.
鈥淚t鈥檚 incredible what Carmella and Mark and Clare built together,鈥 Mulry says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like that magic chemical solution with the three of them together, with Mark鈥檚 editorial, and Claire鈥檚 marketing and PR and community, and Carmella鈥檚 roots in the community, and her love and understanding of the community. The festival is so wedded to this community, and it鈥檚 really admirable.鈥
Mulry says the team is dedicated to making the festival relevant and affordable for New Mexicans.
Organizers set aside 1,500 tickets, with at least 75 tickets per Main Stage session for New Mexico librarians, teachers, and students. Applicants are simply required to provide one sentence about why they want to attend, Mulry says.
Slots for volunteers this year are already filled, Mulry says, and there鈥檚 even a 100-person waitlist.
鈥淭he [volunteer] response has been so heartening and amazing, and there are so many people who are ready and eager to do it. So much so that we had to cap it at 200 volunteers,鈥 she says. Volunteers will also help with the new free screenings and other sessions on the second floor of the convention center as well as with book signings and general crowd assistance.
Although tickets for author events go on sale Friday, January 31, the festival is still four months away and not all events have been announced. Mulry recommends checking the festival’s website frequently for events that will be added in the coming weeks and months. If you are interested in volunteering in 2026, sign up for the festival’s newsletter or find information at /volunteer.