Printers Row Lit Fest

A celebration of literature and community, the two-day festival with over 100 exhibitors and more than 70 author presentations takes place in the Printers Row Historic District. On five city blocks of downtown Chicago, cars are replaced with tents and tables, indoor and outdoor stages, a children’s storybook parade, and free admission and programs for all ages.

Streets will be lined with exhibitor tents featuring booksellers, indie presses, local publishing houses, individual independent authors and artists, literary organizations and others with ties to books. Readers will find a variety of genres including children’s works, romance, politics, and more.

Longtime Chicago-based independent businesses Sandmeyer’s Bookstore and The Book Cellar are the official booksellers for PRLF programming and will be selling the most recent works of authors who will be featured on the festival’s stages.

The headliner for the 2024 Printers Row Lit Fest will be Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith. Smith, author of works such as “Life on Mars,” “The Body’s Question,” and “Duende” was recently named as this year’s recipient of the Harold Washington Literary Award. This award is a program of the Near South Planning Board, a not-for-profit community-based organization.

Printers Row Lit Fest’s major sponsors include the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, Joseph & Bessie Feinberg Foundation, Alphawood Foundation Chicago, The Chicago Public Library Foundation, and ReadersMagnet. Event sponsors are Grace Episcopal Church, and Hotel Blake. Media sponsors are the Chicago Sun-Times and WBEZ 91.5 FM Chicago and Newsweb.