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Local artists from the mile-high mountain community of Wrightwood are putting together the town’s fourth annual literary festival the last weekend of September.

Guest faculty this year include novelist and publisher Yi Shun Lai (author of Not a Self-Help Book: The Misadventures of Marty Wu), the cross-genre poet Nicelle Davis (The Walled Wife), and journalist-poet Alejandro Escudé (My Earthbound Eye), with a keynote presentation and conversation with award-winning Young Adult author and poet Ron Koertge (Shakespeare Bats Cleanup).

In addition to the usual fiction, poetry, and editing workshops, the festival features new classes in parody songwriting, news poetry, community building, and the business of being an author. Some workshops are geared toward experienced writers, while others are offered for more casual readers.

For $55, festival registration includes any two workshops, lunch, the keynote presentation, and free entry into the annual “soapku” contest and Wrightwood Poetry Slam. Saturday night and Sunday festivities are free to the public, including the guest faculty reading, a group hike, presentation of the annual Young Authors Award, and a poetry slam, where poets will compete in a rowdy contest of verse for a $200 prize. Find more at https://www.wrightwoodlitfest.com