To read a writer is for me not merely to get an idea of what he says, but to go off with him and travel in his company. -- Andre Gide
Australia
Melbourne Writers' Festival
August 27-September 5
Melbourne
http://www.mwf.com.au/
Melbourne Writers Festival is the city's premier literary festival featuring over 400 writers from around the world. Literary banquets, debates, readings, performances, film screenings and workshops are just some of the events you'll enjoy at this year's festival.
Canada
British Columbia
Sunshine Coast Festival of the Written Arts
August 12-15
Rockwood Centre, Sechelt
http://www.writersfestival.ca
Join Canada's longest running summer gathering of Canadian writers and readers, featuring established literary stars and exciting, new voices... with opportunities for writers and readers to mingle amidst Rockwood's heritage gardens.
Dominica
The Nature Island Literary Festival and Book Fair 2010
August 6-8
UWI Open Campus, Elmshall Road, Roseau
http://www.facebook.com/NatureIslandLiteraryFestival
The festival began in 2008 and is a registered non-profit organisation. It's purpose is not only to showcase recognised regional talent, but also to encourage new talent and publicise the work of local writers and poets.
New Zealand
Going West Books & Writers Festival
August-September
Waitakere, West Auckland
http://www.thebigidea.co.nz/news/whats-on-show-reviews/2010/jul/72826-going-west-books-and-writers-festival-2010
Two theatre seasons, the first-ever West Auckland Pecha Kucha event, the popular Book Market and Poetry Slam, as well as a line-up of leading contemporary New Zealand writers, all feature as part of Going West Books and Writers Festival 2010.
Scotland
Edinburgh International Book Festival
August 14-30
Edinburgh
http://www.edbookfest.co.uk
We are the largest public celebration of books in the world. Taking place every August in a leafy Georgian garden in Scotland's beautiful capital city, the Edinburgh International Book Festival brings writers and thinkers from across the planet together to rub shoulders with you, the audience.
United States
California
Steinbeck Festival
"Journeys: Steinbeck Around the World"
August 5-8
Sallinas
http://www.steinbeck.org/Festival.html
This summer, set out for the open road. Your destination: the world--today and at key moments in history, with John Steinbeck as your guide. Eat, drink, and dream of far horizons. Go behind the Iron Curtain in the 1960s and wander through Moscow, Krakow, Budapest. Stand at the Berlin Wall. Visit Mexico during the Mexican Revolution, 100 years ago this year. See literary landmarks around the globe. Drive through the Badlands of North Dakota with a large poodle. Create your own journey.
New York
Fort Greene Park Summer Literary Festival
August 21
Fort Greene Park, Brooklyn
http://www.nywriterscoalition.org/events/fort-greene-park-summer-literary-festival/
Six weeks of outdoor creative writing workshops for young people (ages 7 to 17) will culminate in our 6th annual free outdoor reading. This literary festival will feature NYWC's young writers from the workshops reading alongside six poets who have appeared at the Calabash International Literary Festival and in the anthology So Much Things to Say: Swame Dawes, Gregory Pardlo, Willie Perdomo, Carl Hancock Rux, Patricia Smith, and Cheryl Boyce Taylor. This exciting event brings several generations of writers together to build on the rich literary traditions of the neighborhoods surrounding the beautiful Fort Greene Park.
Read books. They are good for us. -- Natalie Goldberg
