08/14/2026
We read because we wonder about ourselves: who would I have been in that body, that country, that century, and what would I have done when the soldiers came, or the diagnosis, or the flood. Wonder is also the astonishment when a book answers.
This festival, the longest-running in the United States, has been making room for both since 1978, when it began as an Arts Reunion built on the premise that "every person is potentially an artist." Forty-nine years later the premise holds. Five days of readings and conversation, free and open, everyone welcome.
The theme is drawn from a line in "On Learning to Dissect Fetal Pigs," the poem by Renée Good (1988–2026) that won the 2020 Academy of American Poets Prize at Old Dominion University. We dedicate this festival to her memory.
—John McManus and Michael Weber; Co-directors, 49th Annual ODU Literary Festival
Join us October 4 - 8 for the 49th Annual ODU Literary Festival: Make Room for Wonder 💫
Learn more at odu.edu/litfest
🎨Lorraine Fink. Untitled. N.d. Watercolor and marker on paper. Gordon Art Galleries. Old Dominion University Art Collection 2024.01.05
Norfolk ARTS ODU English Department ODU College of Arts & Letters ODU Literary Festival The Slover Naro Video at ODU Libraries
