Printers Row Lit Fest—the largest free outdoor literary showcase in the Midwest—is slated to return for its 36th year with 100% free programming for book lovers Saturday-Sunday, Sept. 11-12, 10 a.m.-6 p.m., in Chicago's historic Printers Row neighborhood.
The event will be headlined by New York Times best-selling author and National Book Award winner Ta-Nehisi Coates, recipient of the 2021 Harold Washington Literary Award. Coates will kick off Printers Row Lit Fest with a free public event on Saturday, Sept. 11 at 10 a.m. (location to be determined).
Past Harold Washington Literary Award recipients include Alex Kotlowitz (2019), Sara Paretsky (2012), Edwidge Danticat (2011), Scott Turow (2008), Walter Mosley (2007), Margaret Atwood (2003), August Wilson (2001), Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (1991), William Maxwell and Studs Terkel (1990), and Susan Sontag (1989), among others.
Coates is an author, journalist, screenwriter, executive producer and professor. He is the author of the bestselling books The Beautiful Struggle, We Were Eight Years in Power, The Water Dancer, and Between the World and Me, which won the National Book Award in 2015. In April 2018, Between The World And Me was adapted for the stage and premiered at the iconic Apollo Theater.
Coates will be honored at the 2021 Harold Washington Literary Award gala—a ticketed fundraiser that supports the not-for-profit Near South Planning Board's literary programs and officially launches Printers Row Lit Fest. The event will take place Friday, Sept. 10, at 6 p.m.; more information will be announced at thenspb.org .
Presented by the not-for-profit Near South Planning Board, the 2021 fest follows an unprecedented cancellation last year for the first time in the festival's 36-year history, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Plans for this fall's literary celebration will follow city guidelines, with all necessary safety precautions in place.
