Printers Row Lit Fest to feature two Pulitzer Prize winners

Every year, Printers Row Lit Fest, one of the three largest and oldest literary festivals in the United States, is a vibrant gathering of authors, readers, book sellers, publishers and literary enthusiasts. The celebration this year will take place on Saturday, Sept. 9 and Sunday, Sept. 10 (from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.) in Chicago’s historic Printers Row neighborhood. 

The Fest, which annually attracts more than 100,000 people and is completely free for visitors, will stretch across five blocks, along South Dearborn Street from Ida B. Wells Drive to Polk Street and then to State and Clark Streets.

Presented by not-for-profit Near South Planning Board, the Fest, in its 38^th year, will feature over 100 bookseller and exhibitor tents presenting a variety of genres, including children’s works to romance to politics, and more. There will be multiple children's events including face painting, a treasure hunt, and a story-telling hour which will spotlight Miss Friendship Ambassador Amy Xie who will tell the folkloric story of “Chang'E and Houyi Goddess of the Moon.”

A children’s parade, led by the Yin He Dancers in partnership with the Chinatown Chamber of Commerce and the Chicago Public Library’s Great Horned Owl, will open the festival. Children are encouraged to come wearing their favorite costumes for the parade.

This year’s Lit Fest will feature 70-plus programs overall and feature national and local award-winning writers; new and emerging novelists, journalists and poets; children’s authors and illustrators; historians, scholars, comedians, and musicians.

Two of this year’s headliners are 2023 Pulitzer Prize Nonfiction category winners Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa who will discuss their work His Name Is George Floyd: One Man’s Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice with WBEZ’s Natalie Moore. 

Among the celebrated novelists who will participate in panel discussions are Lisa Hsiao Chen of “Activities of Daily Living;” Talia Lakshmi Kolluri of “What We Fed to the Manticore'' and Antoine Wilson of “Mouth to Mouth,” a personal favorite of President Barack Obama. There will be a round-table of fiction writers representing the local scene. Those participating will be Ling Ma of “Bliss Montage: Stories,” and Rebecca Makkai of “I Have Some Questions for You” and “The Great Believers.” 

The fest will also include 2009 Harold Washington Literary Award recipient Dave Eggers, author of the children’s book “The Eyes and the Impossible” on the programming schedule. In September, the Near South Planning Board will honor Pulitzer Prize winner and National Humanities Medal recipient, Isabel Wilkerson, as the 2023 Harold Washington Literary Award winner at its literary gala in Chicago on Thursday, Sept. 7 at the Union League Club of Chicago.

PRLF Founder Bette Cerf Hill shared, “Printers Row Lit Fest is one of the largest and most diverse in the country and it is completely free. We started the Printers Row Lit Fest to bring booksellers, writers and book lovers out into the sunshine to celebrate ideas, literature, and knowledge together. Lit Fest is the opposite of banning books. It has been a joyous celebration of books for a long time for everyone.”

(For programming and more information about the fest, click here.)