Past Speakers at Spring Literary Festival at Ohio University
Since 1986, The Spring Literary Festival has featured some of the world's finest, most distinguished writers of poetry, fiction and non-fiction.
Past Spring Literary Festival attendees includePaul Auster, John Ashbery, Russell Banks, Frank Bidart, Billy Collins, Lydia Davis, William Gass, Donald Hall, Barry Hannah, Terrance Hayes, Elizabeth Hardwick, Amy Hempel, Tony Hoagland, Kenneth Koch, Denise Levertov, Barry Lopez, Heather McHugh, W.S. Merwin, Czeslaw Milosz, N. Scott Momaday, Lorrie Moore, Mary Oliver, Susan Orlean, Cynthia Ozick, Grace Paley, Francine Prose, Richard Rodriguez, Marilynne Robinson, George Saunders, Leslie Marmon Silko, Charles Simic, James Tate, John Edgar Wideman, Geoffrey Wolff.
Spring Literary Festival 2023
- Barrie Jean Borich
- Denise Duhamel
- Megan Giddings
Spring Literary Festival 2022
- Kim Addonizio
- Lauren Groff
- Ira Sukrungruang.
- See schedule and author details .
Spring Literary Festival 2021
- Chris Abani
- Nina Li Coomes
- Ada Limón
- Jason Schneiderman
- Lidia Yuknavitch
Spring Literary Festival 2019
- Stephanie Powell Watts
- Kiese Laymon
- Mark Doty
- Claire Vaye Watkins
- Laura Kasischke
Spring Literary Festival 2018
- Geoff Dyer
- Mary Gaitskill
- Alan Shapiro
- Aisha Sabatini Sloan
- Rosanna Warren
Spring Literary Festival 2017
- Sarah Shun-lien Bynum
- Mary Cappello
- Gerald Early
- Tom Sleigh
- Colm Toibin
Spring Literary Festival 2016
- Kelly Link
- Stuart Dybek
- Ellen Bryant Voigt
- Phillip Lopate
- Kevin Prufer
Spring Literary Festival 2015
- Dorothy Allison
- Brian Doyle
- Marie Howe
- Charles Johnson
- Robert Pinsky
Spring Literary Festival 2014
- Andrea Barrett
- Frank Bidart
- Sven Birkerts
- Ben Fountain
- Rebecca Solnit
Spring Literary Festival 2013
- Diane Ackerman
- Robert Olen Butler
- Bonnie Jo Campbell
- Sarah Lindsay
- Dean Young
Spring Literary Festival 2012
- Denise Duhamel
- Terrance Hayes
- Amy Hempel
- Susan Orlean
- Richard Rodriguez
Spring Literary Festival 2011
- Rosellen Brown
- Rita Dove
- Debra Marquart
- Padgett Powell
- Tobias Wolff
Spring Literary Festival 2010
- Lydia Davis
- Robin Hemley
- Mary Ruefle
- George Saunders
- Tim Seibles
Spring Literary Festival 2009
- Kim Addonizio
- Peter Ho Davies
- David Kirby
- Maggie Nelson
- David Shields
Spring Literary Festival 2008
- Lee K. Abbott
- Thomas Glave
- Michael Griffith
- Kathryn Harrison
- Tony Hoagland
Spring Literary Festival 2007
- Kofi Awoonor
- Ron Carlson
- Chenjerai Hove
- Nawal El Saadawi
- Charles Simic
- Trinh T. Minh-ha
Spring Literary Festival 2006
- Rick Bass
- Claire Bateman
- Billy Collins
- Francine Prose
- Susan Stewart
Spring Literary Festival 2005
- Brigit Pegeen Kelly
- Leonard Kriegel
- Gregory Orr
- Marilynne Robinson
- Ellen Willis
Spring Literary Festival 2004
- Carl Dennis
- Al Lingis
- Steven Millhauser
- Sharon Olds
- Mary Robison
Spring Literary Festival 2003
- Molly Haskel
- Ann Hood
- Yusef Komunyakaa
- Howard Norman
- Loudon Wainwright III
Spring Literary Festival 2002
- Stephen Dunn
- Andrea Dworkin
- Susan Griffin
- Jim Harrison
- Eleanor Wilner
Spring Literary Festival 2001
- Frank Bidart
- Mary Daly
- Lynn Emanuel
- Barry Hannah
- Amy Hempel
Spring Literary Festival 2000
- Albert Goldbarth
- Heather McHugh
- Antonya Nelson
- Andrew Sarris
Spring Literary Festival 1999
- Anne Beattie
- Anne Carson
- Richard Ford
- Vivian Gornick
- Mark Strand
Spring Literary Festival 1998
- Rosellen Brown
- Ron Hansen
- Kenneth Koch
- Susan Ludvigson
- Reg Saner
Spring Literary Festival 1997
- Russell Banks
- Jorie Graham
- Galway Kinnell
- Barry Lopez
- Mary Lee Settle
Spring Literary Festival 1996
- Paul Auster
- Eavan Boland
- Phillip Levine
- Bharati Mukherjee
- Richard Selzer
Spring Literary Festival 1995
- Charles Baxter
- Nancy Mairs
- Lorrie Moore
- Mary Oliver
- James Tate
Spring Literary Festival 1994
- John Ashbery
- Gretel Ehrlich
- Susan Howe
- Grace Paley
- Padgett Powell
Spring Literary Festival 1993
- Cynthia Ozick
- William Stafford
- Jean Valentine
- John Edgar Wideman
- Geoffrey Wolff
Spring Literary Festival 1992
- Denise Levertov
- Oliver Sacks
- Leslie Marmon Silko
- Josef Skvorecky
- Adam Zagajewski
Spring Literary Festival 1991
- Lucille Clifton
- Robert Creeley
- Elizabeth Hardwick
- Czeslaw Milosz
- N. Scott Momaday
Spring Literary Festival 1990
- Fred Chappell
- Donald Hall
- Josephine Jacobsen
- Laura Kalpakian
- Jane Miller
- Wright Morris
Spring Literary Festival 1989
- A.R. Ammons
- Carlos Fuentes
- Louise Gluck
- Peter Matthiessen
- Mary Robison
- Charles Simic
Spring Literary Festival 1988
- Rosellen Brown
- Rita Dove
- William Gass
- Jesse Lee Kercheval
- William Matthews
- W.S. Merwin
Spring Literary Festival 1987
- Stanley Elkin
- Mary Gordon
- Stanley Kunitz
- Gerald Stern
- Joy Williams
- Charles Wright
Spring Literary Festival 1986
- Carolyn Chute
- Andre Dubus
- Jorie Graham
- Michael S. Harper
- Robert Hass
- Stanley Plumly
- Tobias Wolff