Chautauqua Literary Arts

06/19/2026

✨️ Explore Week Four with Chautauqua Literary Arts ✨️

Start your week with the Chautauqua Writers' Center Faculty Reading and CLSC Young Readers Author Presentation featuring Angela May and Mary Alice Monroe!

📅 Sunday, July 19
⏰️ 3:30 PM
📍Hall of Philosophy

Take a writing workshop with Angela May on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, or a workshop with Mary Alice Monroe on Tuesday and Thursday. Learn more about both workshops and register at writers.chq.org

Then, join us for the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle (CLSC) Author Presentation featuring Mary Alice Monroe and her most recent novel, Where the Rivers Merge!

📅 Friday, July 24
⏰️ 2:00 PM
📍 Hall of Philosophy

Learn more at clsc.chq.org

Finally, wrap up your week with the 2026 Chautauqua Prize Presentation featuring Susan Choi and her award-winning novel, Flashlight!

📅 Friday, July 24
⏰️ 3:30 PM
📍Hall of Philosophy

Don't miss this exciting week of our summer assembly season!

06/18/2026

✨️ Explore Week Three with Chautauqua Literary Arts ✨️

Start your week with the Chautauqua Writers' Center Faculty Reading featuring Lauren Francis-Sharma and Sony Ton-Aime!

📅 Sunday, July 12
⏰️ 3:30 PM
📍Hall of Philosophy

Take a writing workshop with either writer on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Learn more about both workshops and register at writers.chq.org

Then, wrap up your week with the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle (CLSC) Author Presentation featuring Marie Arana and her sweeping historical account, LatinoLand: A Portrait of America’s Largest and Least Understood Minority

📅 Friday, July 17
⏰️ 2:00 PM
📍 Hall of Philosophy

Learn more at clsc.chq.org

Don't miss this exciting week of our summer assembly season!

06/17/2026

✨️ Explore Week Two with Chautauqua Literary Arts ✨️

Start your week with the Chautauqua Writers' Center Faculty Reading featuring Noah Falck and Sunita Puri!

📅 Sunday, July 5
⏰️ 3:30 PM
📍Hall of Philosophy

Take a writing workshop with either writer on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Learn more about both workshops and register at writers.chq.org

Then, wrap up your week with the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle (CLSC) Author Presentation featuring Stefan Fatsis and his study of words and the modern dictionary, Unabridged: The Thrill of (and Threat to) the Modern Dictionary!

📅 Friday, July 10
⏰️ 2:00 PM
📍 Hall of Philosophy

Learn more at clsc.chq.org

Don't miss this exciting week of our summer assembly season!

06/16/2026

✨️ Explore Week One with Chautauqua Literary Arts ✨️

Start your week with the Chautauqua Writers' Center Faculty Reading featuring Stephanie Ginese and Annmarie Kelly-Harbaugh!

📅 Sunday, June 28
⏰️ 3:30 PM
📍Hall of Philosophy

Take a writing workshop with either writer on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Learn more about both workshops and register at writers.chq.org

Then, wrap up your week with the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle (CLSC) Author Presentation featuring Anna North and her most recent novel, Bog Queen!

📅 Friday, July 3
⏰️ 2:00 PM
📍 Hall of Philosophy

Learn more at clsc.chq.org

Don't miss the exciting start to our summer assembly season!

06/12/2026

🚨 Announcement! 🚨

Chautauqua Literary Arts is pleased to share the 2026 CLSC Young Readers and Early Readers selections!

Enjoy a summer of reading with kids of all ages. Early Readers selections include picture books and chapter books for readers ages 0 – 8 and Young Readers selections include middle grade books for readers ages 9 – 14. We’ve even included a few books that are great for readers 15+.

For more information about CLSC Young Readers programming and each 2026 selection, visit youngreaders.chq.org

We look forward to reading with you this summer!

06/05/2026

Gratitude to our guest judges and congratulations to Susan Choi!

🏆 Announcement!🏆

Chautauqua Institution proudly announces Flashlight by Susan Choi as the 2026 winner of The Chautauqua Prize. Award annually since 2012, The Chautauqua Prize celebrates a book of fiction, literary/narrative nonfiction, or poetry that provides a richly rewarding reading experience and honors the author for a significant contribution to the literary arts.

Flashlight is an expansive, ambitious, multigenerational novel that is equal parts historical fiction, family saga, and bildungsroman. It is a story of secrets, shadows, and absences that reverberate across time and continents. As the novel progresses, shifting perspective from one character to the next, we learn more about a family who has not only lost a husband and father, but has been severed from their pasts in unfathomable ways.

Gratitude to our independent jury of guest judges, Oliver de la Paz, Glory Edim, Jillian Hanesworth, and Kao Kalia Yang, for your time and expertise and to the donors who make this Prize possible!

Learn more: https://www.chq.org/announcements/susan-chois-flashlight-wins-2026-chautauqua-prize/



Susan Choi
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Poet Jillian Hanesworth
Kao Kalia Yang
Oliver de la Paz

05/29/2026

Check out this interview with the 2025 Chautauqua Janus Prize winner, Stefan Bindley-Taylor!

Read the full interview here: https://www.chautauquajournal.com/post/writing-toward-the-potentials-an-interview-with-stefan-bindley-taylor

05/26/2026

Congratulations to the 2026 Chautauqua Prize Finalists!

🚨 ALERT! 🚨

Chautauqua Institution is pleased to announce 7 exceptional books as the 2026 finalists for The Chautauqua Prize, now in its 15th year:
Universality: A Novel by Natasha Brown (Random House)
Flashlight: A Novel by Susan Choi (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
O Sinners! A Novel by Nicole Cuffy (One World)
Old School Indian: A Novel by Aaron John Curtis (Zando - Hillman Grad Books)
Perfect Victims: And the Politics of Appeal by Mohammed El-Kurd (Haymarket Books)
The River is Waiting: A Novel by Wally Lamb (Scribner)
This is Your Mother: A Memoir by Erika J. Simpson (Scribner)

Awarded annually since 2012, this award draws upon Chautauqua Institution’s considerable literary legacy to celebrate a book that provides a richly rewarding reading experience and to honor the author for a significant contribution to the literary arts. The winning book will be selected from this list of finalists and announced in early June. Read more at: https://bit.ly/4dNuu34.

All these books are available for purchase in-person and online at The Chautauqua Bookstore: https://bit.ly/4nRMyxP

Chautauqua Literary Arts

05/18/2026

Don't miss the opportunity to engage with two of the selections before the Chautauqua summer assembly season begins!

This Wednesday, May 20, join Chautauqua Literary Arts and Chautauqua Common Grounds to discuss the Spring selection, Dreamt I Found You by Jimin Han. This event is free and open to the public.

⏰️ 3:30 PM
📍The Smith Memorial Library

Next Wednesday, May 27, join us for a discussion of the CHQ County Book Read, LatinoLand by Marie Arana. All CHQ County Book Read discussions are free and open to the public. Registration is encouraged. Learn more via YWCA Jamestown.

⏰️ 5:00 PM
📍The Smith Memorial Library



Register for individual book discussions in May and June here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeNNVs6NBJT4cvpZhjOLAHkFAN2oUH7tLMSi6SzZaEa0gxVOw/viewform

05/13/2026

YWCA Jamestown and Chautauqua Institution selected “LatinoLand: A Portrait of America’s Largest and Least Understood Minority” by Marie Arana as the common read book.

For information about the CHQ Book Read and to register to attend the book discussion, please visit the link below:
https://www.ywcajamestown.com/chqbookread