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College of Charleston Named Academic Partner for Charleston Literary Festival

Published

2 years ago

July 30, 2022

By: CofC Media

For the second consecutive year, the College of Charleston has been chosen as the exclusive academic partner for the Charleston Literary Festival. The internationally renowned festival, which runs Nov. 4-13, 2022, will feature a host of world-class writers and thinkers exploring today’s most pressing issues and ideas.

“The College of Charleston is honored to partner with this extraordinary festival again,” says Suzanne Austin, executive vice president for academic affairs and provost. “This collaboration offers a unique opportunity for our students, faculty and staff to connect with a wide range of top-quality speakers promoting the power of great writing, ideas and creativity.”

As the academic partner, the College of Charleston and its Alumni Association will provide financial, promotional and logistical support to the festival. In addition, the College’s faculty members will be among the interlocutors in the conversations. And in keeping with festival tradition, students will have the opportunity to intern, volunteer and attend the programs.

Lastly, the College will provide guest housing for lecturers and host the festival’s Opening Night party in the Cistern Yard featuring award-winning jazz trombonist Wycliffe Gordon on Nov. 5, 2022. In August, information on sponsorships and ticket packages will be available on the festival website, charlestonliteraryfestival.com.

Leading topics of the festival will include utopian to bohemian societies, racial injustice, challenges to democracy, generational trauma, the war in Europe, combating misinformation, what humans can learn from apes, and the survival story of a royal family, among many others. Most of the events will be held in person at iconic Charleston venues, including the Circular Congregational Church, Dock Street Theatre and the Charleston Library Society. Programming revolves around lively conversations between authors and interviewers and encourages audience participation.

“To partner with the College of Charleston, a nationally recognized liberal arts and sciences university redefining education through innovation, aligns seamlessly with our mission to bring important ideas not only to the Lowcountry community but to a national audience as well and do it in a meaningful way,” says Walter Fiederowicz, president of the Charleston Literary Festival.

The preliminary list of confirmed authors includes:

Sandy Hook, from The New York Times writer Elizabeth Williamson, is a landmark investigation of the aftermath of a school shooting, the work of Sandy Hook parents who fought to defend themselves, and the truth of their children’s fate against the frenzied distortions of online deniers and conspiracy theorists.
The Palace Papers, Tina Brown, award-winning writer and editor of Tatler, Vanity Fair and The New Yorker, picks up where The Diana Chronicles left off, revealing how the royal family reinvented itself after the traumatic years when Diana’s blazing celebrity ripped through the House of Windsor like a comet.
Eddie S. Glaude Jr., author of Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and its Urgent Lessons for Our Own, is one of the nation’s most prominent scholars and passionate educator, author, political commentator and public intellectual who examines the complex dynamics of the American experience. Named one of the best books of the year by Time, The Washington Post and the Chicago Tribune, Begin Again is where Glaude finds hope and guidance in James Baldwin as he mixes biography with history, memoir and poignant analysis of our current moment to reveal the painful cycle of Black resistance and white retrenchment.
By Pulitzer Prize-winning author Geraldine Brooks, Horse is based on the true story of record-breaking 19th-century thoroughbred Lexington, who became America’s greatest stud sire. It is a novel of art and science, love and obsession, the bond between people and animals, and an unfinished reckoning with racial injustice throughout different American history periods.
The Latecomer, by Jean Hanff Korelitz, The New York Times bestselling author of The Plot, touches on grief and guilt, generational trauma, privilege and race, traditions and religion, and family dynamics. It is a profound and witty family story from an accomplished author known for the depth of her character studies, expertly woven storylines and plot twists.

The Charleston Literary Festival is an independent 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with a distinct transatlantic focus. The festival takes place each November in Charleston, South Carolina, and has a distinctive international ethos that offers attendees the opportunity to engage with renowned authors in unique settings and to contribute to conversations that revolve around outstanding books and illuminating ideas.