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Las Positas College’s Literary Arts Festival is set to return for its fifth annual gathering of best-selling authors and poets for a day of writing sessions, a poetry slam and a publication ceremony.
Scheduled to host panels, workshops and talks this weekend are authors including Thrity Umrigar, Daniel Handler, Julissa Arce and Tamim Ansary.
Additionally, writers and artists behind the 2025 edition of Havik, the Las Positas College Journal of Arts & Literature, will have their time to shine as the school celebrates the publication and names award-winners.
“This event is truly special as it allows Las Positas College to showcase the incredible programs we have here while bringing world-class authors and speakers to our festival,” said Martin Nash, LPC English professor and founder of the festival. “We’re really excited about the variety in this year’s lineup. We think there’s something for everyone.”
To kick off the festival, Dera R. Williams — author, editor and researcher — is scheduled to lead a workshop on the process of publishing one’s work.
Shortly after, Umrigar is set to give the festival’s keynote speech followed by a book signing. As the best selling author of ten novels including “Bombay Time” and “The Space Between Us”, Umrigar’s most recent novel “The Museum of Failures” was recognized as the Best Book of 2023 by NPR, Harper’s Bazaar, BookRiot and more.
Later on during the festival, Umrigar is set to host a writing workshop on character development.
Handler, also known as Lemony Snicket and the author of “A Series of Unfortunate Events”, is set to host a writing workshop as well called “How to Write Like a Burglar”. Having sold over 70 million books worldwide, he too will hold a book signing after the workshop.
Other festival speakers include Arce, a best-selling Mexican-American author of books including “You Sound Like a White Girl” and “My (Underground) American Dream”, as well as Ansary, an Afghan-American author of nine books including “Truther Narratives: Conspiracy Theory Explained”.
Ansary facilitated the San Francisco Writers Workshop for over 20 years, and has produced work that won the 2010 Northern California Book Award and was selected for San Francisco’s One City One Book reading event.
“It’s not every day that we get to be around such a diverse group of people united by a passion for literature and writing,” Nash told Livermore Vine.
In addition to panels and workshops, the festival will also include LPC’s 22nd annual poetry slam, hosted by performance poets Bri Blue and Natriece (Tri) Spicer. The audience will have a chance to read their original poems too, with top-scoring LPC poets winning prize money.
The festival is scheduled to wrap up with a publication and award ceremony for the 2025 edition of Havik. For four years running, this award-winning journal has won Best of Show in Literary Magazines at the annual Associated Collegiate Press.
“It would be understandable to keep doing things the same way”, Nash said amid the journal’s string of accolades. “This year’s staff of Havik was fearless in their vision.”
The free, public event is scheduled to run from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday (May 10) at LPC’s Mertes Center for the Arts. For more information and tickets, visit laspositascollege.edu.
