Festival of Faith and Writing
The Festival of Faith and Writing is a biennial gathering held by Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan on even-numbered years while in the intervening years, the college hosts a Festival of Faith and Music). The Festival's goal is to provide a vibrant community where readers, editors, publishers, artists, and writers come together to discuss, celebrate, and explore the ways in which faith is represented in literature and how it plays out in the world today.
The Festival, started in 1990, will take place again April 17-19, 2008.
Festival Speakers
2008:
David Athey, Sefi Atta, Joan Bauer, Elizabeth Berg, Mischa Berlinski, Deborah Brevoort, Mary Louise Bringle, Davis Bunn, Scott Cairns, Michael Chabon, Hugh Cook, Barbara Crooker, Lawrence Dorr, Brian Doyle, Carlos Eire, Edward Ericson, Cathleen Falsani, Robert Finch, Mordicai Gerstein, Edward Gilbreath, Dorina Lazo Gilmore, Diane Glancy, Gail Godwin, Mary Gordon, Olga Grushin, Ingrid Hill, Kevin Huizenga, Nancy Hull, Alan Jacobs, Eric Jager, Rod Jellema, Patricia Johnson, Edward P. Jones, Beena Kamlani, Mary Karr, Haven Kimmel, John Leax, Paul Mariani, Charles Marsh, Yann Martel, Barry Moser, Jon J Muth, Kadir Nelson, Shauna Niequist, Kathleen Norris, Jeffrey Overstreet, David Paterson, Katherine Paterson, Steve Prince, Francine Rivers, James Schaap, Luci Shaw, Elizabeth Strout, Jon Sweeney, Daniel Taylor, Randy Testa, Phyllis Tickle, Krista Tippett, Brady Udall, Helena María Viramontes, Carole Boston Weatherford, Paul Willis, John Wilson, Franz Wright
2006 Keynote Speakers:
Luci Shaw, Alice McDermott, Salman Rushdie, Marilynne Robinson, Andy Crouch, Susan VanZanten Gallagher, Walter Wangerin, Jr.
2004 Keynote Speakers:
Katherine Paterson, Joyce Carol Oates, Barbara Brown Taylor, Leif Enger, Fredrick Buechner
2002 Keynote Speakers:
Stephen Dunn, Kay Gibbons, Ernest Gaines, Kathleen Norris, Jan Karon, Oscar Hijuelos
2000 Keynote Speakers:
Chaim Potok, Anne Lamott, Maya Angelou
Mission Statement
The Festival of Faith and Writing began as an exploration of the communities made and served by religious writing. Over the years, it has become a community itself—a gathering that encourages the many kinds of exchange that religious writing seems to occasion. Our intent is to bring together the different constituencies of this writing—authors, publishers, readers, and academics—for conversation and celebration.
In recent years, serious religious writing has gained an increasingly significant hearing in the literary world. Of course, not all such writing is done by Christians. Fortunately, the Reformed tradition balances strong confessionalism and a hearty confidence in the intellectual freedom afforded by grace. Calvin College is well suited to host a diverse array of writers, perspectives, and beliefs that allow for an earnest search for knowledge of God.
In this balance of confessionalism and freedom, then, we welcome a wide range of faithful writing, makers, and readers.
- We wish to locate, celebrate, and encourage serious imaginative writing by Christians of all denominations and communions.
- We welcome the work of writers in other faith traditions who acknowledge or seek spiritual understanding, grace, or transcendence.
Calvin College feels fortunate to host a Festival to which so many bring so much enthusiasm and personal warmth. This achievement owes much to the involvement of Calvin students, faculty, and staff, and the Festival hopes to retain this character. Here people come together for love of good writing, often because they have been invited by people like themselves.