Literary events in the past have included Black Ink: The Charleston African-American Book Festival; the 2018 MOJA Festival forged partnerships with the inaugural Free Verse Festival and the NEA Big Read to present an incredible lineup of literary events. Annual offerings include a poetry and storytelling series with numerous local and regional poets such as Carolos Johnson and the Speak Freely Foundation, Damon Fordham, Regina Duggins, Horace Mungin, and many others. Other featured literary events are our annual Swahili Workshop, outreach in local schools with a 4th Grade Readout day and Children’s programming at the main branch library.
The festival was also awarded an NEA Big Read Grant (2022-23) for the novel Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi. Several discussions were hosted at Charleston County Public Library branches, and a juried art exhibition was opened to the community and on view at City Gallery from November 11, 2022 to January 29, 2023.