Writers & Readers Festival

Save the date for the next Writers & Readers Festival featuring Alice Hoffman ’73, ’02 (Hon.): April 4 and 5, 2025.

Join us Friday, April 4, and Saturday, April 5, 2025, at the Adelphi University Garden City campus for the second annual Writers & Readers Festival.

Join fellow readers and writers for two days of everything literary. Inspired and founded by Adelphi alumna and novelist Alice Hoffman ’73, ’02 (Hon.), author of more than 40 works of fiction, including Practical Magic, The Dovekeepers and When We Flew Away, Adelphi’s Writers & Readers Festival shares the pleasures of reading and writing with students, teachers, librarians, emerging writers, and the local Garden City community and beyond. Attendees are able to get an inside look at the art of writing and the business of publishing, and connect with fellow book lovers

The two-day event includes:

Panels and keynotes with bestselling authors.
Professional development workshops with literary agents, book editors, writing coaches and Adelphi professors.
Conversations with writers and publishing insiders about the art and business of publishing.

Alice Hoffman ’73, ’02 (Hon.) New York Times bestselling author

About the 2025 Writers & Readers Festival

At our 2025 festival, attendees will have the opportunity to meet bestselling authors including Adriana Trigiani, Ann Leary, Elinor Lipman, Lise Olsen, Jennifer Baker, Matthew Klam, Lisa Genova, Alvin Hall, Lee Woodruff, Laura Zigman, and Alice Hoffman.

What attendees had to say about the 2024 festival

“As an aspiring novelist, this event exceeded all my expectations.”

“Best book festival I’ve experienced–intimate but substantive.”

“All the talks and readings filled my soul—I felt energized, encouraged, and excited about my writing and teaching practice.”

“Each of the sessions was thoughtfully designed and intellectually stimulating. The festival was a testament to the power of shared narratives and nurtured the craft of storytelling.” –The Nassau Reading Council

2024 Conference Recap

Festival Program

See All the Photos

2024 Writers & Readers Festival

Hosted by Adelphi alumna Alice Hoffman ’73, ’02 (Hon.), author of “Practical Magic” and 40 other works of fiction, the Writers & Readers Festival welcomed close to 300 guests for two days of workshops, panel discussions and addresses by bestselling authors. Launch Gallery

A close-up of Hoffman’s book The Invisible Hour. You only see the author’s hands as she signs the title page of the novel.

13 Photos

2024 Writers & Readers Festival

Bestselling authors Adriana Trigiani (holding microphone) and Alice Hoffman. The moderator, the author Laura Zigman, is at right.
Adriana Trigiani, Alice Hoffman and Laura Zigman.
The award-winning master of speculative fiction Victor LaValle discusses his work in an evening keynote moderated by the poet, writer and Adelphi adjunct faculty member Jacqueline Jones LaMon, JD.
Liana Finck, a cartoonist and author of three graphic novels and the memoir Passing for Human, speaking at the Art of the Memoir panel. She is flanked (left to right) by Ada Calhoun, Kermit Frazier, and René Steinke, novelist and director of Adelphi’s MFA in Creative Writing program.
Kermit Frazier, author of the memoir First Acts: A Black Playwright Comes of Age, speaking at the Art of the Memoir panel.
Poet and novelist Robin Gow, MFA ’20, author of Dear Mothman: A Novel, speaking at the Queering Young Adult Literature panel discussion. Next to him is fellow panelist and author Sharian Lewitt ’75.
The poet and writer Puja Shah ’03 and novelist Kim Coleman Foote (holding microphone) at the Breaking In and Breaking Through discussion.
Panelists and guests from the Syllabus: Writing and Teaching discussion (L-R): the poet Matt Pasca; attendees Jamilah Musa and LynAbby Bogard; poet, writer and Adelphi adjunct faculty member Jacqueline Jones LaMon, JD; writer Rebecca Chace; and poet Andy Powell.
Matt Pasca, author of two full-length poetry collections—A Thousand Doors and Raven Wire.
Andy Powell, author of the poetry chapbook My Heart Is a Public Park, reads at the Syllabus: Writing and Teaching panel.
Charles Leehrsen (Down and Out in Paradise: The Life of Anthony Bourdain), Kevin Baker (The New York Game: Baseball and the Rise of a New City), Lisa Belkin (Genealogy of a Murder), Scott James ’84 (Trial by Fire: A Devastating Tragedy, 100 Lives Lost, and a 15-Year Search for Truth)
Adriana Trigiani, whose 20 works of fiction and nonfiction are published in 38 languages, signs a copy of her novel The Good Left Undone.
Alice Hoffman ’73, ’02 (Hon.), signs a copy of her most recent novel.