Kweli Journal

Writers!

🚨 Today is the LAST DAY to REGISTER for Kweli International Literary Festival featuring workshops, craft talks and MORE, with award-winning authors of color and top industry agents & editors!

REGISTRATION CLOSES today, Thurs, OCT 16!

🎟️ SIGN UP on our website to get full access to !

Registration includes full-day, weekend-long OPENING PROGRAM, OCT 18-19

➕ CLOSING EVENT w/ NYT bestselling author Megha Majumdar on TUESDAY, NOV 18!

Megha’s novel, A GUARDIAN AND A THIEF, (released this week) has *already* been named a finalist for this year’s National Book Award and Kirkus Prize

…AND was just selected as Oprah’s Book Club Pick for October 2025 🌟

‼️ Seats for the closing event are LIMITED and only open to registered festival attendees. Megha’s keynote conversation will focus deeply on craft—so don’t miss your chance to learn from one of the most celebrated authors working today!

🎟️ REGISTER TO JOIN US:
https://www.kwelijournal.org/2025-international-literary-festival-main-page

As always, the festival features master classes, panels and conversations on the Novel, Memoir & more, tailored specifically for Black, Indigenous, People of Color ( ) writers, led by acclaimed authors of color, including:

✨ Keynote Speaker: Aaliyah Bilal (National Book Award Finalist)
✨ Keynote Speaker: Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (National Book Foundation “5 Under 35”)
✨Edwidge Danticat (MacArthur Fellow)
✨Sarah Aziza (Palestine Book Awards Finalist)
✨Nicole Dennis-Benn (National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Award Finalist)
✨Princess Joy L. Perry (Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Award)
✨Xochitl Gonzalez (Pulitzer Prize Finalist)
✨Honorée Fanonne Jeffers (National Book Critics Circle Award)
✨Martha S. Jones (Guggenheim Fellow)
✨Dinaw Mengestu (MacArthur Fellow)

See the program schedule and full roster of faculty and 🎟️ REGISTER NOW on our website at the link below 👇🏿👇🏾👇🏽👇🏼

https://www.kwelijournal.org/2025-international-literary-festival-main-page


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⏰ Writers of color, it’s your LAST CHANCE to REGISTER for Kweli International Literary Festival featuring workshops, craft talks and MORE, with award-winning authors of color and top industry agents & editors!

REGISTRATION MUST CLOSE Thurs, October 16!

🎟️ SIGN UP on our website to get full access to !

Registration includes full-day, weekend-long OPENING PROGRAM, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 18-SUNDAY, OCTOBER 19

➕ CLOSING EVENT w/ NYT bestselling author Megha Majumdar (megha.maj) on TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18!

Megha’s novel, A GUARDIAN AND A THIEF, (released October 14, aaknopf) has *already* been named a finalist for this year’s National Book Award and Kirkus Prize

…AND was just selected as Oprah’s Book Club Pick for October 2025 🌟

‼️ Seats for the closing event are LIMITED and only open to registered festival attendees. Megha’s keynote conversation will focus deeply on craft—so don’t miss your chance to learn from one of the most celebrated authors working today!

🎟️ REGISTER TO JOIN US:
https://www.kwelijournal.org/2025-international-literary-festival-main-page

As always, the festival features master classes, panels and conversations on Novels, Memoir & more, tailored specifically for Black, Indigenous, People of Color ( ) writers, led by acclaimed authors of color, including:

✨ Keynote Speaker: Aaliyah Bilal (National Book Award Finalist)
✨ Keynote Speaker: Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (National Book Foundation “5 Under 35”)
✨Edwidge Danticat (MacArthur Fellow)
✨Sarah Aziza (Palestine Book Awards Finalist)
✨Nicole Dennis-Benn (National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Award Finalist)
✨Princess Joy L. Perry (Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Award)
✨Xochitl Gonzalez (Pulitzer Prize Finalist)
✨Honorée Fanonne Jeffers (National Book Critics Circle Award)
✨Martha S. Jones (Guggenheim Fellow)
✨Dinaw Mengestu (MacArthur Fellow)

See the full program schedule and roster of faculty and 🎟️ REGISTER NOW on our website at the link below:

https://www.kwelijournal.org/2025-international-literary-festival-main-page

🎟️ Kweli International Literary Festival Registration is NOW OPEN!!

Join us this fall. Our hybrid festival features virtual and in-person readings and conversations with debut and award-winning BIPOC writers, craft talks, workshops and much more. KweliLitFest25 is the year’s best opportunity to connect with agents, editors, and fellow creatives of color during the opening weekend of the festival.

As always, it’s our honor to invite longstanding beloved authors of color to speak alongside recent debuts and rising stars who are generous enough to share their honest publishing journeys with you, as well as shine a light on the most urgent issues of the day through their art.

It is our privilege to share that this year’s keynote speakers will be:

🌟 Aaliyah Bilal (National Book Award Finalist),
🌟 Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (National Book Award Finalist)
🌟 Megha Majumdar (Finalist for Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence and National Book Award Finalist)

They will join us for opening and/or closing events in October.

Festival Opening Weekend will be held on Sat, OCT 18 - Sun, OCT 19, in-person at New York Law School (NYLS) in New York City.

The weekend program will include Sarah Aziza (2025 Palestine Book Awards Finalist), Edwidge Danticat (2009 MacArthur Fellow), Yohanca Delgado (2021 - 2023 Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford University), Nicole Dennis-Benn (2016 Finalist for National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Award), Xochitl Gonzalez (2023 Pulitzer Prize Finalist in Commentary), Martha S. Jones (2025 Guggenheim Fellow), Dinaw Mengestu (2012 MacArthur Fellow), along with other highly acclaimed writers, as well as groundbreaking debut authors.

Multimedia readings and performances will take place at Akwaaba in Brooklyn throughout the fall.

AND the festival continues virtually through November 15 with the Art of the Novel and Art of the Essay Craft Talks and Master Classes curated for writers of color by teaching artists, Honorée Fanonne Jeffers (2022 National Book Critics Circle Award), Princess Joy L. Perry (winner of the Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Award),
+ MORE.

See the full program schedule, faculty, and registration info at the Kweli website
👇🏿👇🏾👇🏽

https://www.kwelijournal.org/2025-international-literary-festival-main-page

📣 writers, Find STRENGTH in COMMUNITY this summer!

JOIN us for the next cycle of Kweli's Art of the Short Story Workshop, led by Laura Pegram.

This six-week intensive for short story writers & novelists of color features in-class writing exercises, close study of acclaimed works, detailed peer review, and most importantly, a safer space for all people of color, including Black, Indigenous, SWANA, AAPI, Latine and LGBTQ+ writers at all levels to create and connect in community, as well as to receive close attention from an editor who has worked with several celebrated authors of color.

Enrollment is limited so REGISTER today on our website:

👉🏿 https://www.kwelijournal.org/the-art-of-the-short-story-workshop-junejuly-2025

📆 DATES: 6/16, 6/23, 6/30, 7/14, 7/21, 7/28
🕰️ TIME: 6:30PM-8:30PM EST
👩🏾‍💻 FORMAT: Online

Lit fam, please SHARE with your people!

⏰ TONIGHT!

There’s still time to join us for Kweli’s SING THE TRUTH Book Tour with award-winning author Susan Muaddi Darraj at eastcitybookshop in DC today, THURSDAY 6/12 @ 7PM.

In-person & streamed online so you can tune in from anywhere!

🎟️ 𝐑𝐒𝐕𝐏 𝐭𝐨 𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐮𝐬 𝐚𝐭 ➤

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/hybrid-event-sing-the-truth-laura-pegram-tickets-1360952859639?aff=authorlink

We’re honored to present this evening of reading, Q&A, and community conversation w/ SING Editor & Kweli Founder, Laura Pegram, and contributing author, Susan Muaddi Darraj, the author of American Book Award–winner, A CURIOUS LAND, and a finalist for a Palestine Book Award. A United States Artists’ Ford Fellow and past winner of the Maryland State Arts Council’s Independent Artist Award, she is also the author of FARAH ROCKS, the first children’s book series to feature a Palestinian American character 🍉

Susan’s brilliant short story and groundbreaking voice exemplifies the spirit of this collection.

All proceeds from this anthology directly benefit Kweli Journal, supporting its mission to nurture emerging writers of color and foster a vibrant literary community.