Printers Row Lit Fest

Official Printers Row Lit Fest photos by Don Seeley 📸

We had 2 beautiful and packed days for the 41st Annual Printers Row Lit Fest 📖📚

Thank you everyone🙌

That’s a wrap! 📚

Thanks to everyone who helped make this year’s Printers Row Lit Fest a tremendous success: sponsors and partners, exhibitors, presenters, volunteers, the production team, attendees. We couldn’t be more grateful for the support!

What was your favorite thing about Printers Row Lit Fest 2026?

See you next year!

For more info visit
PrintersRowLitFest.org

Welcome to the 41st Annual Printers Row Lit Fest!

We are now OPEN for the 2026 Printers Row Lit Fest.

Come walk the streets of historic Printers Row Chicago and enjoy:

🎪6 stages
📚80 Literary Programs
📖200+ booksellers & exhibitors
🎙️250+ incredible presenters
🎟️FREE entry to Lit Fest & Programs

For more info visit
PrintersRowLitFest.org

This is the official kick-off to Printers Row Lit Fest 📚

Chicago native and “Godmother of Punk” Patti Smith was back in her hometown on Thursday night to receive this year’s Harold Washington Literary Award.

The award, named for the city’s first Black mayor, is intended to recognize “diverse and stimulating authors who address issues of contemporary life and whose literary achievements include a significant body of work that has touched the public mind and imagination,” according to the Near South Planning Board.

“When I’m on stage, or as I evolved very surprisingly to myself from a poet, a performing poet, to evolving to having a rock and roll band, it was still rooted in poetry,” she said.

Mayor Brandon Johnson also declared Sept. 10 to be “Patti Smith Day” in Chicago.

Photo by Robert Kusel

41st Annual Printers Row Lit Fest
Sept 12 + 13, 10am - 6pm

Don’t miss these Poet Laureates in the Printers Row Lit Fest programming!

Brenda Cárdenas, Wisconsin Poet Laureate 2025-2027
Mark Turcotte, Illinois Poet Laureate 2026 - 2029
Mayda Del Valle, Chicago Poet Laureate 2026-2027
avery r. young, Chicago Poet Laureate 2023 - 2025

1:30PM Saturday | Joseph & Bessie Feinberg Foundation Stage
Two Paths, Many Stories: A Poetry Reading and Discussion featuring Illinois Poet Laureate Mark Turcotte (Illinois Humanities) and Chicago Poet Laureate Mayda Del Valle (Chicago Public Library) in conversation with Adrian Matejka, Editor of Poetry magazine

4:30PM Saturday | Joseph & Bessie Feinberg Foundation Stage
RHINO’s 50th anniversary reading featuring Brenda Cárdenas (Wisconsin Poet Laureate), MJ Dean, Teresa Dzieglewicz, Paul Martinez-Pompa, Yolanda Nieves, Cynthia Dewi Oka, and Sandra Santiago
Emceed by Marcy Rae Henry

3PM Sunday | North Stage
Writing for the Stage featuring Rachel DeWoskin, Ban the Bans, Joe Meno, The Boy Detective Fails (musical), and avery r. young, safronia (opera) in conversation with Mark Larson

See the full line-up:
https://printersrowlitfest.org/schedule-grid/

41st Annual Printers Row Lit Fest
Saturday, Sept 12 & Sunday, Sept 13
10 AM - 6 PM
Chicago, IL
FREE

📚 Six stages.
80 programs.
250+ presenters.

One incredible weekend of books, ideas, and stories.
Get ready for the 41st Annual Printers Row Lit Fest! With six stages packed with programming all weekend long, there’s something for every kind of reader.
📖 Center Stage
📖 North Stage
📖 Joseph & Bessie Feinberg Foundation Stage
📖 Digital Realty Stage
📖 Grace Place, 2nd Floor
📖 Grace Place, 1st Floor

Not sure where to start? Start planning your Lit Fest schedule now! Scroll through for a snapshot of what’s happening on each stage Saturday and Sunday, then build your must-see list.

👉 Explore the full schedule: https://printersrowlitfest.org/schedule-grid

41st Annual Printers Row Lit Fest
📅 Saturday, Sept. 12 & Sunday, Sept. 13
⏰ 10 AM–6 PM
📍 Chicago, IL
🎟️ FREE

Cultural icon Patti Smith will receive the 2026 Harold Washington Literary Award ✨

The prestigious award honors the legacy of Harold Washington, a champion of the arts whose vision embraced the diversity of the American experience and recognizes distinguished literary achievement, artistic excellence, and a commitment to the written word.

Author, poet, songwriter, and visual artist, Patti Smith has long been one of the most influential cultural voices of her generation. “Patti Smith is unparalleled in her ability to create deeply literary work across mediums,” said Anne K. Ream, co-chair of the HWLA Selection Committee. “Her writing is marked by moral clarity, artistic rigor, and deep empathy. She exemplifies the spirit of the Harold Washington Literary Award.”

Hosted by the Near South Planning Board, the ticketed Harold Washington Literary Award ceremony and dinner on Sept. 10 will serve as the official kickoff to Printers Row Lit Fest weekend, one of the country’s largest free literary festivals and a celebrated gathering of book lovers from across the nation. 📚

Since 1989, the award has honored literary legends including Sandra Cisneros, Ray Bradbury, Gwendolyn Brooks, Saul Bellow, Kurt Vonnegut, and Studs Terkel.

For tickets and more details about the Sept. 10 ceremony and dinner: https://thenspb.org/our-events/harold-washington-literary-award-dinner/