Charleston Literary Festival teases 2025 lineup with big names

Charleston Literary Festival on June 11 announced its first secured slate of authors to appear in the 2025 festival, which takes place for 10 days starting Nov. 7 at the Dock Street Theatre.

Teasing out the initial 17 scribes of a lineup that will ratchet up to more than 40, the literary confab is shaping up to spotlight some of today’s most thought-provoking and quote-worthy voices.

“Our line-up reflects the best of the literary landscape from fiction to nonfiction, from literary legends to debut writers,” said Sarah Moriarty, executive director of Charleston Literary Festival.

Among those slated for the festival are Kevin Sack of Charleston, a Pulitzer-Prize-winning reporter whose new book on the Black church and Emanuel A.M.E. Church just came out, and Max Boot, a columnist with the Washington Post who has a biography of the late President Ronald Reagan. Well-known novelist Joyce Carol Oates also will be at the festival.

Lots of changes

To say that much has changed since the rollout of last year’s festival could be called a literary understatement. The 2024 program took place in the thick of the presidential election, with events bookending voting day.

“Above all, Charleston Literary Festival is committed to the free exchange of ideas and promoting lively conversation. Our program will always reflect that and that’s what our attendees appreciate about the Festival,” Moriarty said.

Since its launch in 2017, the festival has regularly executed a nimble pivot–from an earlier partnership with England’s Charleston Festival, to weathering the pandemic via a robust live-streamed stint, to beefing up their timeframe to its current 10 days.

By mining the perceptions of today’s incisive thinkers as the world churns, each year it attracts an array of internationally renowned writers and literary legends. The majority on the docket is already steeped in bona fides, and the titles they discuss at the festival have shortly thereafter been recognized with highest honors, among the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.

“In this first rollout of authors, you can already see that there are global themes emerging,” Moriarty said. “For example, Bill McKibben on the importance of solar power as a tool to help the environment. You will see more global themes emerging in the full-rollout in September.”

She also noted the quality of the fiction on this year’s list, some of which deals with the roles that we play in our lives, such as “Flesh” by David Szalay and “Audition” by Katie Kitamura.

Spanning fiction, politics, science, history, memoir, arts and culture, and more, the 2025 roster already rounds up some of today’s most inspired and essential thinkers, with many more on the way. Over the course of the festival, they will engage in candid discussions on new releases and other noteworthy notions, which regularly result in a wide-ranging exchange of ideas covering the most important topics of today.

The reveal featured nonfiction titles and writers includes

Kevin Sack on “Mother Emanuel: Two Centuries of Race, Resistance, and Forgiveness in One Charleston Church,” in conversation with Eddie Glaude
Max Boot on “Reagan: His Life and Legend”
Viet Thanh Nguyen on “To Save and to Destroy: Writing as an Other”
Glory Edim on “Gather Me: A Memoir in Praise of the Books That Saved Me”
Bill McKibben on “Here Comes the Sun: A Last Chance for the Climate and a Fresh Chance for Civilization”
Maggie Smith on “Dear Writer: Pep Talks & Practical Advice for the Creative Life”
Stephen Greenblatt on “Dark Renaissance: The Dangerous Times and Fatal Genius of Shakespeare’s Greatest Rival”
Michael Cunningham to discuss Virginia Woolfe’s “Mrs. Dalloway”

Novelists include:

Joyce Carol Oates on “Fox”
Colum McCann on “Twist”
Katie Kitamura on “Audition”
David Szalay on “Flesh”
Patricia Lockwood on “Will There Ever Be Another You”
Adam Haslett on “Mothers and Sons”
Chris Pavone on “The Doorman”
Aria Aber on “Good Girl”

The festival’s in-person format offers attendees a crucial chance to take a break from exclusively online discourse and find spaces to be together in real life.

“Having opportunities to connect with each other, person-to-person, is more important than ever. It’s through this kind of connection that we find community and develop understanding across the board,” she said.

There’s no time like the present to crack those bindings. “If anyone is looking for a Father’s Day gift for this weekend, I recommend Max Boot’s biography on Ronald Reagan. It’s beautifully written, unflinching, and extraordinarily researched,” she said.

A full lineup will be announced in September. Tickets go on sale Sept. 4. For more information, visit charlestonliteraryfestival.com