Free literature and language events
Readings, book launches and talks on literature, writing, poetry, translation and the languages we speak.
184 upcoming events, 18 of them you can join online
Coming up
Events 1–20 of 184, soonest first
Tuesday 27 October
- 4:15 PM-6:00 PM in OsloIn person
Hibernia rescribens: Latin historiography in seventeenth-century Ireland
University of Oslo · GM 452
Erlend Østrem Myklebust (University of Oslo)
- 5:00 PM-7:00 PM in the UKIn person
Symposium launch of Paul Mitchell's Gaskell and the Law
Queen Mary University of London · Room 313, School of Law, Queen Mary University of London Mile End Road London E1 4NS
Criminal Justice
- 6:30 PM-7:30 PM in the UKIn person
Storytelling: The State of Water with Kirsten Milliken and Peter Chand
University of Aberdeen · The Sir Duncan Rice Library, Fl. 7, Craig Suite
Part of the Scottish International Storytelling Festival Go Local Programme and the Aberdeen and Beyond Storytelling Festival
- 7:00 PM-8:00 PM in the UKOnline
Brunel Writers Talking: Jamila Gavin
Brunel University of London
As part of Brunel's Writers Talking series, Jamila Gavin, Winner of the Nero Book Awards Children's Fiction Category joins us in conversation.
- 5:00 PM-6:00 PM in Rochester, New YorkIn person
Plutzik Reading Series: Lauren Acampora
University of Rochester · Rush Rhees Library, Welles-Brown Room, 755 Library Road, Rochester, NY 14627
The 64th season of the Plutzik Reading series welcomes author Lauren Acampora. She will read from her recent works, answer questions and sign copies of her books, which will be available for purchase.
- 5:00 PM-6:30 PM in RaleighIn person
Rainbow Reading: Thriller, Horror and Romance
Division of Academic and Student Affairs · Talley Student Union, LGBTQ Pride Center (5230), Raleigh, NC 27606
The African American Cultural Center librarian has partnered with the LGBTQ Pride Center to create a series of community spaces to learn about and explore Black LGBTQ populations through reading and…
- 5:30 PM in ProvidenceIn person
Ibtisam Azem – a literary reading and conversation
Literary Arts · 70 Brown Street
Ibtisam Azem is a Palestinian novelist, short story writer, and journalist, based in New York. She was born and raised in Taybeh, near Jaffa, the city from which her mother and maternal grandparents…
- 5:30 PM-7:00 PM in ProvidenceIn person
Penelope Geng, “Before Ablenationalism: Race, Disability, and Citizenship in Shakespeare and Early Modern English Law and Literature”
Cogut Institute for the Humanities · Cogut Institute, Andrews House
What forms of compulsory able-mindedness existed before the rise of the nation state — before what disability scholars David Mitchell and Sharon Snyder term “ablenationalism”?
- 5:00 PM-7:00 PM in ChicagoIn person
Poetry Reading: Nathalie Quintane & Jonathan Larson
Program in Creative Writing · Logan Center for the Arts
The Program in Creative Writing, the Department of Comparative Literature, the Department of English Language & Literature, the Department of Romance Languages & Literatures, and the France Chicago…
- 5:00 PM in BoulderIn person
2026 Sadler Lecture Series - A Talk by the Senegalese Novelist, Ken Bugul
University of Colorado Boulder · Eaton Humanities, HUMN 135, 1610 Pleasant Street, Boulder, CO 80309
Join FRIT and Ken Bugul for a talk on language and knowledge transmission in the age of new technology.
- 5:00 PM-6:30 PM in CaliforniaIn person
An Evening of Poetry with Fady Joudah
Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies · Humanities Center, Levinthal Hall, 424 Santa Teresa Street, Stanford, CA 94305
Join us for a reading and conversation with Palestinian American physician, poet, and translator Fady Joudah. Joudah is the author of […]. He has also published seven other collections of poems: The…
Wednesday 28 October
- 6:30 PM-7:30 PM in MelbourneIn person
Indonesian Translation Slam
Faculty of Arts · Forum Theatre (153), Arts West - North Wing (148A)
Ever wondered how translation works? In this literary showdown, our translators will go head-to-head, each translating the short story Dua Pengantin from Indonesian novelist and sociologist Okky…
- 10:00 AM-3:30 PM in the UKIn person
Poetry in the Making: Education in a Cost-of-Living Crisis
University of Manchester · Manchester Cantral Library, St Peter's Square, Manchester M2 5PD
What does education feel like during a cost-of-living crisis? Drop in to this creative, participatory event and explore that question through conversation, poetry and illustration.…
- 4:00 PM-6:00 PM in the UKIn person
Writing Wrongs Live!: Language and Economic (In)justice
Aston University · West Midlands Police Museum
Writing Wrongs Live! is an in-person live recording of an episode of our true crime forensic linguistics podcast in front of a public audience. Each episode of Writing Wrongs focuses…
- 7:00 PM-8:00 PM in BeirutIn person
The Work of the Late Elias Khoury: A Formative Figure in the Evolution of the Modern Arab Novel
American University of Beirut · OIB | Zuqaq Al-Blat
Audience: Alumni,Faculty,Graduate,Public,Undergraduate Event Type: Lecture
- 6:30 PM-8:00 PM in the UKIn person
Screening: Iorram (Boat Song)
University of Aberdeen · MacRobert Building, MR051
Ethnographic Film Series
- 2:00 PM-4:00 PM in ChicagoIn person
A Conversation and Lunch Reception with Poets Nathalie Quintane and Jonathan Larson
Program in Creative Writing · Logan Center for the Arts, Room 801
The Program in Creative Writing, the Department of Comparative Literature, the Department of English Language & Literature, the Department of Romance Languages & Literatures, and the France Chicago…
- 5:00 PM-7:00 PM in Rhode IslandIn person and online
Poetry Reading by Joy Harjo
College of Arts and Sciences · Edwards Auditorium, Auditorium, 64 Upper College Rd, Kingston, RI 02881, USA
Joy Harjo is a three-term U.S. Poet Laureate, acclaimed multidisciplinary artist of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, and National Humanities Medalist.
- 5:00 PM-6:30 PM in ChicagoIn person
Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar Lecture: Sarah Rivett, “Before ‘The Raven:’ Indigenous Literature and the American Canon”
Department of English Language and Literature · Rosenwald Hall, Room 405
The Department of English Language and Literature welcomes Sarah Rivett for the 2026 Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar Lecture, “Before ‘The Raven:’ Indigenous Literature and the American Canon.” The…
- 7:00 PM in BostonIn person
Poetry Days Presents: An Evening with Victoria Chang
Boston College · Gasson Hall, 100, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467
Victoria Chang, acclaimed poet, joins the Lowell Humanities Series.
Recently held
The kind of literature and language events universities open to the public. These have finished.
- Mon 26 OctPast eventAnne Carson, A Poet in Fragments · University of British Columbia
- Mon 26 OctPast eventBreaking the Spell: Dark Truths in Classic Lore · University of Minnesota Twin Cities
- Mon 26 OctPast eventJCB Reads: Erika Valdivieso, author of Empire’s Companion Virgilian Epics from Colonial Iberoamerica · Brown University
- Mon 26 OctPast eventWorld Literature Lecture Series: Lecture on Rumi, Presented by Aun Hasan Ali, Associate Professor of Islamic Studies · University of Colorado Boulder
- Sun 25 OctPast eventBook spells · Stanford University
Where these events come from
- Brown University (17)
- Stanford University (16)
- University of Chicago (16)
- Manchester Metropolitan University (8)
- University of Glasgow (8)
- Cornell University (6)
- Boston College (5)
- Central European University (5)
And 42 more universities: see them all in the catalogue.