Santa Fe International Literary Festival celebrates the power of story
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The Santa Fe International Literary Festival returns for its fourth year with one-on-one conversations, readings and book signings by leading local and international authors.
鈥淲hat is so unique to Santa Fe and northern New Mexico is the level of literary and political engagement we have here,鈥� said Megan Mulry, the festival鈥檚 new executive director. 鈥淪ome of these authors are speaking to the largest audiences they鈥檝e ever spoken to live, while others have millions of followers on social media and are Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award winners.鈥�
Headliners include National Book Award winners Percival Everett and Colum McCann, Pulitzer Prize winners Viet Thanh Nguyen and Jonathan Eig, bestselling authors Miranda July, Michael Pollan and Amy Tan, and other esteemed writers, such as Terry Tempest Williams, Marie Arana, Gabrielle Zevin, Heather Cox Richardson and Deborah Jackson Taffa.
In addition to the Santa Fe Community Convention Center programming, the festival also hosts a number of offsite events and day trips, including a Kakawa Chocolate Immersion event, which explores Mesoamerican and Indigenous uses of chocolate, and a 鈥淲riting on the Rails鈥� workshop with Albuquerque poet Hakim Bellamy.
鈥淭hese are wonderful additions to the programming that really add texture to the weekend, and which have their own resonances back to the conversations on stage,鈥� Mulry said. 鈥溾�榃riting on the Rails鈥� is a new event this year, and I think it鈥檚 a really beautiful way to give rise to the creative energy in all of us. Hakim Bellamy is such a compassionate and inspiring presence, and the scenery and writing prompts conspire to lift us out of the everyday.鈥�
鈥淚 also think train travel 鈥� that sense of in-between-ness 鈥� fosters a sense of the liminal, which can be a very creative space to inhabit,鈥� Mulry added.
The Santa Fe International Literary Festival was founded in 2022 by the husband-and-wife team of Mark Bryant and Clare Hertel, who have extensive experience in the publishing industry, along with their friend, the award-winning author and Santa Fe native Carmella Padilla.
鈥淲hen they started talking about, 鈥榃hy isn鈥檛 there a (literary) festival in Santa Fe?鈥� certainly I was all in, and very engaged,鈥� Padilla said. 鈥淏ecause of the history of literature in the community and in the state, it was kind of a no-brainer.鈥�
New Mexico has been home to scores of celebrated writers over the decades, from D.H. Lawrence to Cormac McCarthy to Sandra Cisneros.
鈥淏ut when we talk about the literary history within the context of the festival, we really go back to before the written word,鈥� Padilla said. 鈥淲e think about the legacy of storytelling in New Mexico, which, of course, begins with Indigenous cultures, and oral history and oral storytelling traditions and rituals, which were also later practiced by the next waves of residents who were Spanish and Mexican. Every culture that has come here through time has a storytelling tradition, so there鈥檚 layers of it.鈥�
Although attendance has grown every year, Hertel said they鈥檝e worked hard to keep the festival from feeling impersonal.
鈥淎t last year鈥檚 festival, 15,000 seats were filled. I think this year, I鈥檇 be surprised if we don鈥檛 sell out, and it鈥檒l be closer to 20,000 seats,鈥� Hertel said. 鈥淏ut the convention center in Santa Fe is intimate in a lot of ways. We鈥檙e not like one of these sprawling book festivals. It feels very intimate and very curated, and I think that鈥檚 how we want to keep it.鈥�
Hertel compared the shared experience of unity, joy and exuberance at the festival to sociologist 脡mile Durkheim鈥檚 notion of collective effervescence.
鈥淭o me, that is what the festival feels like,鈥� Hertel said. 鈥淭he first one was right out of the pandemic, and we kind of wondered, is this (feeling) just a pandemic thing? Like everybody is so excited to be together again that you feel like the room is lifting, you know? But the second and third year felt even more like that. So, I think we鈥檒l have that again this year.鈥�
鈥淎nd God, we need that right now,鈥� she said.
Hertel alluded to the recent waves of book bans and other ongoing political attacks on literature and culture.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 why we feel it鈥檚 so important to have a festival like this. And literary festivals all over. I think we all like to say it鈥檚 sort of the light against the dark. Words and ideas and stories really capture the experience of being alive and remind us of our shared humanity,鈥� Hertel said. 鈥淚 really do feel like it lifts us. And this year in particular, to spend the weekend listening to some of the best writers of our time talk about things that they鈥檝e spent many years thinking and writing about, I really do think that鈥檚 going to be a real respite, a real salve, for a lot of people.鈥�
Hertel said she鈥檚 looking forward to meeting many of the authors at this year鈥檚 event.
鈥淚 am really excited to see Percival Everett. 鈥楯ames鈥� is one of my favorite books this year, and I think he鈥檚 definitely going to be one of the most important writers of our time,鈥� Hertel said. 鈥淎nd we鈥檝e wanted to get Michael Pollan for a while, so I鈥檓 super excited about him. He鈥檚 so thought-provoking.鈥�
Hertel also said she 鈥済rew up on Amy Tan鈥� but was especially charmed by Tan鈥檚 latest book, 鈥淭he Backyard Bird Chronicles,鈥� about the author鈥檚 life as a bird watcher. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a very sweet peek into who she is as a person and what her life is like,鈥� Hertel said.
One of the most anticipated events of the festival is a special tribute to the trailblazing Kiowa author N. Scott Momaday, who died in 2024. The first Indigenous author to win a Pulitzer Prize, Momaday later taught at the University of New Mexico and 鈥渨as very helpful and supportive鈥� of the festival from the beginning, according to Hertel.
鈥淔ew people represent the power of story and storytelling in the way that Scott did,鈥� Padilla said.
While many of the festival鈥檚 events are already sold out, Hertel emphasized that tickets are still available, including free tickets for students, educators, librarians and those with financial need.
Hertel also said she was surprised that tickets are still available for some of the headliners, including Jonathan Eig.
鈥淗is latest biography is about Martin Luther King (Jr.), and he is so amazing on stage,鈥� Hertel said.
Despite New Mexico鈥檚 well-deserved reputation as a haven for writers, New Mexico鈥檚 literacy rates remain the lowest in the nation, according to the .
That鈥檚 why the festival makes a special point to partner with schools and other educational institutions.
鈥淲hile we鈥檙e not a literacy organization, I personally equate the idea of being exposed to great writers to the idea of becoming a more literate community and creating more awareness of the power of storytelling,鈥� Padilla said. 鈥淪torytelling really binds us in our humanity and helps us develop empathy, and it also helps us explore other parts of the world and other experiences that we could probably never have in our lifetime.鈥�
Everyone involved in the festival emphasized the importance of storytelling in helping people make sense of their world.
鈥淲e鈥檙e living in complicated times,鈥� Mulry said. 鈥淟iterature can provide a respite and a place of contemplation, which we all can use right now! At the same time, books give us a sense of hope, which can spur momentum and action.鈥�
Santa Fe International Literary Festival celebrates the power of story
