Chautauqua Literary Arts

04/11/2025

🚨 Announcement! 🚨

Chautauqua Literary Arts is happy to announce the return of the ✨️ Young Writers' Institute at Chautauqua Institution ✨️ this summer!

The Young Writers' Institute is a five-day immersive, multi-genre creative writing camp for students 9 to 12 years old and 13 to 17 years old. We have two exciting workshops for our young writers this summer! Learn more at writers.chq.org!

All writing workshops will go on sale with Special Studies courses at the end of this month.

We can't wait to write with you!

04/10/2025

We are thrilled to announce the ✨️ 11 finalists ✨️ for our 2025 Chautauqua Janus Prize.

🎉 Congratulations 🎉

📚Eva Allison, “Dear Harper”

📚Hunter A. Allund, “Your Very Own Sun”

📚Stefan Bindley-Taylor, “Bread, Meat, and Water”

📚Sarah Rose Cadorette, “Museum of Hurt”

📚Jai Dulani, “An essay on shadows, in alphabetical form”

📚Tiffany Fritz, “North American Union v. Exergy-Petroline Corporation”

📚Aziza Kasumov, “World’s Best Ex-Girlfriend"

📚Jason Lipeles, “In the Beginning...”

📚Vivian Montgomery, “Four People Who Remember Sally Shilton”

📚Kelan Nee, “Irrigation”

📚Daniel Uncapher, “Smouldering Fagots”

Thank you to our independent jury of readers for their hard work during another record-breaking year of entries for our prize and to our donors for their support of emerging, innovative writers.

Read more about this year's finalists and their work at janus.chq.org!

04/09/2025

Announcing our CLSC Week Nine selection!

🚨 ANNOUNCEMENT🚨
Week Nine of our Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle Presentations welcomes Debra Magpie Earling to discuss her book The Lost Journals of Sacajewea on Aug. 21.

In The Lost Journals of Sacajewea, acclaimed Indigenous author Debra Magpie Earling reimagines the life of the legendary figure, highlighting her strength and resilience. Written in lyrical, dreamlike prose, she tells an untold story of perseverance and survival—the Indigenous woman’s story that hasn’t been told.

Chautauqua Literary Arts

04/08/2025

🚨 Announcement! 🚨

We're thrilled to share the ✨️ Chautauqua Writers' Center Faculty ✨️ for the summer of 2025!

Check out our in-person workshops in fiction, poetry, memoir, writing for TV/film, creative nonfiction, children's literature, and more.

Workshops will go on sale with Special Studies courses later this month. You can find out more about this summer's offerings at writers.chq.org

We hope you'll join us!

04/03/2025

We cant wait to talk about this forthcoming anthology with you all!

Pre-order your copy via the Chautauqua Bookstore today!

🚨 ANNOUNCEMENT🚨
On July 3, our Week Two Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle Presentation features That’s How They Get You: An Unruly Anthology of Black American Humor, edited by Damon Young.

This groundbreaking anthology, featuring essays, short stories, and rants from an all-star lineup including Hanif Abdurraqib, Mahogany L. Browne, Wyatt Cenac, Kiese Laymon, and more, explores the unique and powerful nature of Black American humor. Damon Young, the critically acclaimed author of What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker, brings together a collection that’s funny, political, and deeply insightful.

📖 Pre-order your copy today at the Chautauqua Bookstore
https://www.chautauquabookstore.com/book/9780593317112

Chautauqua Literary Arts

03/26/2025

Authors friends, this is for YOU. Writing a book? Need to jumpstart your career? Got a story to tell? 📖✨

Join us to discover yours at the annual 2025 Kwame Alexander Writers’ Lab in Washington D.C. taking place October 23–25, 2025, in partnership with American University and MahoganyBooks!

This year, we are celebrating and featuring writers in Memoir, Poetry, Children’s Lit, and Fiction, including Clint Smith, Maggie Smith, Angie Kim, Lauren Francis-Sharma, Katherine Marsh, Lamar Giles, Ruth Forman, Tim Siebles, Glory Edim (Well-Read Black Girl), Marie Arana, and many more!

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN. For more information, visit writerslab.chq.org.

03/18/2025

Join us in Washington DC for the 2025 Kwame Alexander Writers' Lab & Conference this year!

Learn more and register at writerslab.chq.org!

Everyone has a story to tell. 📖✨ Join us to discover yours at the annual 2025 Kwame Alexander Writers’ Lab in Washington D.C. taking place October 23–25, 2025, in partnership with American University and MahoganyBooks!

This year, we are celebrating and featuring writers in Memoir, Poetry, and Fiction, including Clint Smith, Maggie Smith, Angie Kim, Lauren Francis-Sharma : Author, Glory Edim (Well-Read Black Girl), Marie Arana, Kwame Alexander, and many more!

Bring your story to the page and sign up now. Registration opens TODAY Tuesday, 📆March 18! For more information, visit writerslab.chq.org.

Learn more with the blog 🔗 below
https://www.chq.org/announcements/announcing-the-2025-kwame-alexander-writers-lab-conference/

Chautauqua Literary Arts

03/13/2025

🚨 Alert! 🚨

Don't miss this FREE CLSC Unbound event featuring Victoria Christopher Murray and Marie Benedict in conversation with Kwame Alexander today at 4 p.m. ET!

We'll discuss women in history, the muses of historical fiction, and dive into Murray's and Benedict's newest books, Harlem Rhapsody and The Queens of Crime.

Register here: https://chq1874.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_wWZNnjEESeepbl_ckCZLsQ #/registration

Chautauqua Institution

03/10/2025

Join the Chautauqua Literary Arts staff this summer! Find out about the variety of opportunities available here: https://recruiting.ultipro.com/CHA1002CHAUT/JobBoard/cd5faba0-05bd-417a-a0ab-c8b2a479b7b0/?q=&o=postedDateDesc

🌟 We’re Hiring! 🌟
Looking for a seasonal opportunity that’s flexible, rewarding, and mission-driven? Here are the Top 4 Reasons why you should join us this season:

1. Make a difference through our mission-driven work
2. Enjoy exclusive perks like free access to events & parking
3. Earn a $500 Employee Referral Bonus
4. Flexible scheduling options to suit various work styles

Apply now to be a part of our 2025 Summer team! 💼✨
https://www.chq.org/employment/

03/07/2025

🚨 Event! 🚨

We're less than a week away from our first CLSC Unbound event featuring Victoria Christopher Murray and Marie Benedict in conversation with Kwame Alexander!

Join us on Thursday, March 13, at 4 p.m. ET via Zoom to discuss the significance of historical fiction, women in history, and each of their newest novels – and 2025 CLSC selections – Harlem Rhapsody (Penguin Random House) and The Queens of Crime (St. Martin’s Press).

Register for this FREE event here: https://chq1874.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_wWZNnjEESeepbl_ckCZLsQ #/registration

Purchase your copies of these exciting historical fiction novels via the Chautauqua Bookstore or pick up a copy at The Smith Memorial Library or your local library and join us for a great conversation with two of our newly beloved CLSC authors.

Chautauqua Institution

03/06/2025

🚨 Alert! 🚨

Awarded annually since 2012, The Chautauqua Prize celebrates a book of fiction or literary/narrative nonfiction that provides a richly rewarding reading experience and honors the author for a significant contribution to the literary arts. New this year, the Prize also accepted nominations of full-length poetry collections for consideration. Books published in 2024 were accepted as submissions for the 2025 Prize from September to December 2024. The 2025 Prize finalists and award-winning book will be selected from a long list of 394 entries read and reviewed by 118 volunteer Chautauquans who are writers, publishers, educators, editors, librarians, and avid readers. This year, Chautauqua Institution is honored to share that the Prize jury will include two guest judges: award-winning writer Andrew Krivák and renowned literary scholar Gena E. Chandler.

They join our jury of readers in the selection process for The Chautauqua Prize, including Kwame Alexander, the Michael I. Rudell Artistic Director of Literary Arts; Stephine Hunt, Managing Director of Literary Arts; Sara Toth, editor of The Chautauquan Daily; Emily Carpenter, Prize administrator and Department of Education coordinator; and Jordan Steves, Emily and Richard Smucker Chair for Education.

Krivák and Chandler will be featured within the Masters Series programming during this year's Summer Assembly.

Read the full announcement here: https://www.chq.org/announcements/announcing-the-2025-guest-judges-and-jury-for-the-chautauqua-prize/

02/19/2025

02/19/2025

🚨 ANNOUNCEMENT🚨
Chautauqua welcomes Elizabeth Camarillo Gutierrez for a Week Four Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle Presentation featuring My Side of the River: A Memoir.

In this captivating and tender memoir, Gutierrez reveals her experience as the U.S.-born daughter of immigrants and what happened when, at fifteen, her parents were forced back to Mexico.

Born to Mexican immigrants south of the Rillito River in Tucson, Arizona, Elizabeth had the world at her fingertips. She was preparing to enter her freshman year of high school as the number one student when suddenly, her own country took away the most important right a child has: the right to have a family. My Side of the River explores separation, generational trauma, and the toll of the American dream. It’s also, at its core, a love story between a brother and a sister who, no matter the cost, is determined to make the pursuit of her brother’s dreams easier than it was for her.

Learn more with the 🔗 below!
https://www.chq.org/event/elizabeth-camarillo-gutierrez/

Chautauqua Literary Arts

01/26/2025

Check out the January edition of the Chautauqua Literary Arts newsletter!

Stay up to date on all things literary at Chautauqua by signing up for our newsletter featuring month postings September – June and weekly postings throughout the summer assembly season. Sign up today at poetry.chq.org

https://mailchi.mp/chq/literary-arts-newsletter-2688995?e=9f53615695

For almost 150 years, the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle (CLSC) has served as a foundational program fulfilling Chautauqua Institution’s mission of lifelong learning. Building upon this history with a continued, active role in our programmatic life, Chautauqua Literary Arts presents CLS...

01/25/2025

✨️We can't wait for you to join us for this CLSC Unbound event! ✨️

🗓 Thursday, March 13, 2025
🕙 4 p.m. ET

Both newly beloved CLSC Authors, Victoria Christopher Murray and Marie Benedict will join us online via Zoom Webinar in conversation with Kwame Alexander. Together, they’ll talk about their new books, women in history, the muses of historical fiction, and more!

Both books will be named CLSC selections for the 2025 reading season and will count toward your reading goals with the CLSC. You can pre-order your copies today:

Harlem Rhapsody by Victoria Christopher Murray (forthcoming Feb 4, 2025) from the Chautauqua Bookstore: https://www.chautauquabookstore.com/book/9780593638484

The Queens of Crime by Marie Benedict (forthcoming Feb 11, 2025) from the Chautauqua Bookstore: https://www.chautauquabookstore.com/book/9781250280756

Register for this CLSC Unbound event today: https://chq1874.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_wWZNnjEESeepbl_ckCZLsQ

🚨 ANNOUNCEMENT🚨
Join bestselling authors Victoria Christopher Murray and Marie Benedict via Zoom on Thursday, March 13, 2025, at 4:00 p.m. ET for a captivating conversation on historical fiction, women in history, and their latest novels—Harlem Rhapsody and The Queens of Crime.

In this CLSC Unbound webinar, Murray will delve into Harlem Rhapsody, the remarkable story of Jessie Redmon Fauset, the woman who ignited the Harlem Renaissance. Her counterpart Benedict will share insights into The Queens of Crime, a genre-bending tale starring Dorothy Sayers and Agatha Christie that blends classic mystery, historical fiction, and true crime.

🌟 Register now and be part of an inspiring discussion that brings history and storytelling to life!
https://chq1874.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_wWZNnjEESeepbl_ckCZLsQ #/registration
Chautauqua Literary Arts

01/15/2025

🚨 Deadline Extended for the 2025 Chautauqua Janus Prize! 🚨

We're happy to share that we have extended the submissions and nominations deadline for the 2025 Chautauqua Janus Prize to:

🗓 Friday, January 31, 2025.

This Prize encourages and celebrates writing that challenges conventional presentation and publication of fiction/nonfiction in the English language by an emerging writer.

These works of short, innovative prose must be authored by an emerging writer and must be either unpublished or published no earlier than April of 2024.

Works may be nominated by the authors themselves for a small submission fee via Submittable or on the author’s behalf by editors, creative writing program directors, or professors/faculty in creative writing programs.

The Chautauqua Janus Prize will be awarded for the eighth time this summer, selected by our Guest Judge, Marita Golden, author of How to Become a Black Writer: Creating & Honoring Black Stories That Matter (forthcoming March 2025 from Shakespeare and Company Paris). In addition to receiving a $5,000 award plus a travel and lodging stipend, the winner will be celebrated during an awards ceremony on the grounds of Chautauqua Institution during the summer assembly season, during which they will give a combined talk and reading.

For more information and submission details, visit: janus.chq.org