About Events

About Loft Events

The Loft offers a diverse array of literary events, reading series, book launches, and more. Please see our calendar listings—we encourage everyone to participate. Expand your literary network, get inspired, be entertained, or just support your local and global literary community.

Annual Events
Wordplay & Wordsmith

Each year, the Loft presents two major annual events—Wordplay and Wordsmith. Wordplay is a festival for readers of all kinds to come together, connect, and celebrate the year in books. Wordsmith is a career, connection, and craft conference for writers at all levels.

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Wordplay Wordsmith
Loft Themes
The Loft Presents If

Through the theme of If, the Loft will explore the most powerful question in starting a story: "What If?"

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Loft If Theme Graphic
Signature Events and Series

The Loft's signature, recurring events include the Mentor Series, Equilibrium, and Big Ideas. Learn more below.

Mentor Series Marker
Loft Mentor Series

The Loft Mentor Series holds six readings and craft conversations throughout the course of the program. Two emerging writers read from their work, along with one of the nationally acclaimed authors who is mentoring the participants. Readings are a blend of all three genres on which the Mentor Series focuses: fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.

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EQ Marker
Loft Equilibrium (EQ)

Equilibrium, EQ for short, is the Loft's ground-breaking and wildly successful series devoted to spoken word artists and audiences of color. Acclaimed as one of the nation's top spoken word venues, EQ combines an intimate, engaging atmosphere with energetic, packed houses. EQ has created a space where national talent shares the stage with local emerging artists.

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Big Ideas Graphic
Loft Big Ideas

Big Ideas is a series from the Loft that puts literature at the center of dynamic conversations and brings together readers and writers to explore the most pressing issues and questions facing our society today.

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Upcoming Events
Apr
7
2020
Olympic Training: Live Talk and Workout with Gold Medal Winner Jessie Diggins

The Loft's Wordplay kicks off with Olympian Jessie Diggins giving a live talk and Q&A about her memoir Brave Enough. Immediately following the Q&A join Jessie for a 15 minute gold medal workout. The only equipment you'll need to participate is a book!
Apr
9
2020
Charles Yu in Conversation with Bao Phi
In one of the most anticipated releases of the year, award-winning author Charles Yu (Interior Chinatown) delivers a biting commentary on racism and pop culture in America through the darkly humorous, ironically apt form of a screenplay. Yu is joined by beloved Minnesota author Bao Phi as they examine the realities of Asian Americans living in a land indoctrinated with stereotypes against them and the damage these pervasive, narrow-minded roles can have on an individual's sense of self and belonging.
Apr
10
2020
UnCHARTed Territory: Claire Comstock-Gay's weekly chart and chat Wordplay series, this week features C Pam Zhang

Every week of Wordplay 2020, Claire Comstock-Gay will read a Wordplay author’s star chart and do a mini interview with that author. This week, Comstock-Gay will speak with Capricorn C Pam Zhang in the first installment of this series.
Can I Read at the Loft?

The Loft is committed to providing authors and audiences with unique events that deepen their understanding of the craft of writing, and engage them in lively and thought-provoking discussions. We strive to produce events that encourage crowd participation, build audiences for diverse authors, and offer learning opportunities to the more than 4,000 students who take our classes. These goals are the foundation of our programming.

We receive many more requests than we can accommodate to produce events. Read on to learn about the types of events we host and sponsor, how to rent our performance hall for your own reading or event, and other ways we help promote authors' books.

Can I Read at the Loft?