Get Lit! Programs

Submission information and guidelines for Get Lit! Festival 2026:

First, we want to thank all of the authors, sponsors, community partners, interns, and volunteers who made 2025’s festival such a success. It is not an easy climate for a non-profit literary festival to survive, and we are so grateful to everyone who donates their time, talent, and resources to help us pull off a weekend of inspiring events. The 28th annual Get Lit! Festival will take place Friday, April 17th through Sunday, April 19th. This will be a mix of in-person and virtual events. 

Our submission deadline is September 1.

Please note that we are a relatively small festival that receives many dozens more submissions than we can present. This means we must be very selective when it comes to programming. We have also had to make significant changes to the festival lineup for 2026 due to funding issues within the college which are causing a fantastic program, Writers in the Community (WITC), to lose essential resources. Get Lit! Programs is officially bringing WITC under our umbrella in 2025/2026 in order to continue their important work teaching year-round free creative writing sessions in community spaces in Spokane. These changes will mean the festival needs to be smaller in scope, which will mean a more competitive submission process. 

Each year at the Get Lit! Festival we present readings, writing workshops, craft classes, panel discussions, open-mics, book launches, and many other events.

While many of our authors and events are chosen from these online submissions, we do solicit several of our headlining authors each year. We offer every participant a very modest honorarium as a thank you for sharing their time and talent, but as a non-profit that relies on grants, sponsorships, and ticket sales to cover all festival costs, this payment is very modest and will fluctuate from year to year. This honorarium will not cover travel expenses and accepted writers should be prepared to pay their own way.

The 2026 festival will also include a book fair at our festival hub, the historic Montvale Event Center. The book fair will feature many local and regional small presses, literary magazines, bookstores, arts organizations, nonprofits, etc. Organizations and vendors seeking to be part of the in-person book fair should also submit using this portal. Please see book fair guidelines below.

Please read the following guidelines before drafting your submission.

Submission Tips for 2026:

• It is generally best to submit as a group or pairing. For example, if you’d like your event to be a panel, please submit an idea that features 3-5 panelists, including one who is willing to act as a moderator. Or, if you’re submitting an idea for a paired reading and Q&A, please include the names of your additional readers. Take a look at a previous schedule to get a feel for what we present: https://getlitfestival2025.sched.com/
• We generally do not accept single author events as we do not have the space. However, if you must submit as a single author, please note 3+ topics in your submission that you would be comfortable discussing on a panel with other writers working with similar themes; if authors are open to it, we create larger events based on individual submissions. *For example our 'Joy of Writing Animals' event in 2024 came together via 3-4 individual submissions.
• Please submit events that are broad in nature. For example: a panel on ekphrastic poetry would be great but a panel on Artists and Writers of the Italian Renaissance would be too specific.
• The Get Lit! audience varies widely in terms of experience (some audience members are readers and not necessarily writers, while others have published several books to national acclaim). Please keep this in mind when brainstorming your event. We especially love conversations that discuss the craft of writing and help inspire both aspiring and established writers.
• We strive for our festival to be as diverse as possible in terms of writers and topics and encourage submissions from BIPOC writers, LGBTQIA+ writers, writers with disabilities, and folks on the margins. We value submissions that are timely and will lead to important conversations.
• If you are submitting as an author as well as as an organization for the book fair, please separate these into two submissions: one submission should focus on your participation as a writer and the other on your participation in the book fair.
• Info on virtual events: We are excited to include some pre-recorded virtual content in our festival schedule, so if you plan to present virtually, we ask that you highlight your experience and comfort level with Zoom, as well as any other tech requirements you may have. Virtual events will be pre-recorded with us between December and April and will premiere as part of our full festival schedule. You will be invited to tune in during the premiere to be part of a live chat, but that is not required. Please see our YouTube channel for examples.
• Some topics that our audiences are especially interested in for 2026: memoir, personal essay, journalism, genre-bending, sci-fi, fantasy, romance, hands-on learning activities, how-to classes, business of writing, how to survive re: AI, new wave self-publishing methods. 
• Please note that in order to present a dynamic and diverse festival each year, we try not to feature authors again if they have been part of the festival in the last 2-3 years. We do make some exceptions, especially when the author is celebrating a new publication or moderating an event, so please take that into consideration when sending us a submission.

Authors: If you’d like to be involved with Get Lit! 2026, please submit the following (as applicable):

• A CV that includes contact information, web address, list of publications, prizes and awards, and other relevant experience.
• Links to online publications.
• A brief cover letter explaining your event idea, why you are interested in being part of Get Lit!, and why your event will be of interest to Spokane writers and the writing community at large.
• If you are accepted, we may add you to other events that could benefit from your expertise. Please tell us if there are days during the in-person portion of the festival (April 17th - April 18th) that you will not be able to attend. Or, if you would not like to be considered for additional events, please note that in your submission.
• Please specify at the top of your cover letter whether you are submitting an event for in-person, virtual, or either. Please also write your geographic location and if you would be willing to travel to Spokane.*

*Remember that we are a non-profit with limited funding, and while we offer every participant a modest honorarium, it is not likely that it will cover travel costs.

Vendors/Orgs: If you are applying to be part of the book fair, please submit the following:

• A cover letter that tells us a little about your organization, and what you hope to get out of the book fair (ie: do you want to sell books, present hands-on activities, or simply raise awareness about your org).
• Participants should plan to bring their own table/chairs.
• There is a $100 charge for space at our book fair. The book fair in 2026 will run for one day, Saturday, April 18th. (Payment will only be due if your submission is selected.)
• You do NOT need to include your personal CV.

We do not accept writers looking to sell their own individual books at the book fair. But if you are a writer whose work is represented by a local press, we encourage you to suggest that your press apply to attend! In that case, you’d be welcome to work with that press to schedule a signing at their table.*Note that we cannot accommodate readings during the book fair.