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We are crowdfunding to pay for our Los Feliz Writers Festival 2026!
Los Feliz Writers Festival 2026 & 2027!
Finding your neighborhood in Los Angeles is a spiritual journey. Many of us who commune in Los Feliz are attracted to this gorgeous neighborhood because of its village-feel and almost European lifestyle; we have been for decades. From the avant-garde scene centered around The Onyx, The Dresden, and Chatterton’s to the present! At the heart of this is Barnsdall Art Park, celebrating its 100th anniversary next year.
Our festival centers the writers who live, work and/or play in Los Feliz and the businesses that make our lifestyle possible. We hope this festival will inspire other small neighborhood festivals and would love to help make that happen! 99 festivals and 99 poet laureates of the neighborhood perhaps?!
In addition, it is a hard time to be a writer and creative in the world, and especially Los Angeles! Many of us are struggling. The freelance and entry-level jobs that were available have been cut thanks to AI. We started this festival because we believe the writers in our neighborhood deserve a stage, a community, and a stable income. We believe literary festivals shouldn’t just happen in cities with huge budgets — they should happen on our own blocks, built by and for the people who live, work, and play here.
We are a women-led organization committed to lifting up voices that are too often pushed to the margins: LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, neurodivergent, and disabled writers. Last year we did this entirely on volunteer labor. This year, we’re asking our community to help us pay our people fairly — because sustainable art requires sustainable support.
Our goal is to pay for this festival, and our dream goal is to pay for next year too!
2026 Festival at a Glance
This year’s festival we are planning to be equally engaging and community oriented:
- 5 days of programming — August 19–23, 2026
- 13 free community events, designed for a fully inclusive, diverse group of writers
- 40+ writers performing, facilitating, and sharing their work
- 300+ attendees expected
- A 60-page print literary magazine and 100 pages digital, Radically Human, featuring 30+ writers — distributed free around the neighborhood, with a public reading as part of the festival
- 20+ community partners
Why We’re Fundraising
Every role on our team — from Festival Coordinator to Event Facilitator — is budgeted at fair pay, not volunteer rates. Here’s how it breaks down:
| Budget Area | Estimated Cost |
| Team & Talent (coordinators, planning committee) | ~$4,700 |
| Event Facilitators (14 events) | ~$1,680 |
| Magazine Printing & Design | ~$650 |
| Materials (stickers, flyers, sound equipment) | ~$200 |
| Venues | ~$300 |
| Total (2026) | ~$7,500 |
| Two-Year Sustainability Goal | ~$15,000 |
Support the Festival
Tier 1 – $25 – The Zinester
- Los Feliz Festival sticker
- Name in festival program (digital) and website
- Copy of a zine created by a Los Feliz Writer with thank you note!
- The Feminist Toilet #3 edited by Sammy Ginsberg and Brian Sonia-Wallace
- Happy Birthday Bitch by Sammy Ginsberg
- Happy 100th Birthday Frank, Allen, and Harper – a limited edition official afterparty zine for Los Feliz Writers Festival
- Poet Laureate of Los Feliz: Derrick C. Brown – a limited print zine to recognize our first Los Feliz Poet Laureate in July 2026 with Los Feliz recs!
- Confessions of a Sad Girl by Jennifer Vierge Baptiste
- Quiet Riot: A Revolutionary in the Making by Jennifer Vierge Baptiste
Tier 2 – $50 – The Reader
- Tier 1 rewards
- Instagram shout out
- Copy of a book from one of our Los Feliz Writers with thank you note!
- The Necessity of Certain Behaviors by Shannon Cain
- Diary of a Sad Girl and Diary of a Mad Girl by Nicole Levin
- Infinite Jeff by Ben Deeb
Tier 3 – $100 – The Poet
- Tier 1 & 2 rewards
- A custom typewriter poem from a Los Feliz Poet
- Lauren Yang
- Candice Margarite
- Sammy Ginsberg
- Ray Carroll
Tier 4 – $200 – The Writer
- Tier 1 & 2 & 3 rewards
- 30 minutes of feedback on your writing by one of our Los Feliz Writers OR your writing services listed on our website and shared on our email list and Instagram
- Shannon Cain (prose)
- Whitney Noziska (prose, screenwriting)
- Tracy Chabala (prose)
- Sammy Ginsberg (poetry, resumes, cover letters)
Tier 5 – $300 – The Literary It Girl
- Tier 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 rewards
- ONLY AVAILABLE UNTIL AUGUST 19! Open bar (wine & beer only) at our Poets are the New Pop Star event and early entry!
- Invite to private literary salon with our Los Feliz Poet Laureate 2026-2027 with Thai food and wine!
What We Created Last Year
Our first festival was a success:
- 6 free events for the community
- 33+ Writers performed in our 2025 festival
- launched Poet Laureate of Los Feliz with Derrick C. Brown!
- 20+ community partners
- 200+ attendees
- Featured in the USC Daily Trojan, the Griffith Globe, and Voice of Los Feliz Podcast
Get Involved
We want to engage the writers in our community and have created opportunities to do so.
- Open call for event proposals & planning team volunteers: June 27–July 7
- Open call for magazine submissions (“Radically Human”): June 27–July 20 — read our zine!
- Public planning meetings: July 8 & August 5 at 8:30pm at Big Bar Alcove
- RSVP to the festival: Partiful link
Our Team
Los Feliz Writers was founded in 2024 by Samantha Evans and DW Socha, and has since hosted over 40 events reaching 1,000+ people — including a weekly Shut Up and Write, a monthly Poetry night and open mic at Bar Covell, and a Los Feliz Writers porch at Porchfest. We also launched the Poet Laureate of Los Feliz with Derrick C. Brown as the first!
Festival Organizer: Sammy Ginsberg
Planning Committee: Laura Espinoza, Tayi Sanusi, Jackie Mansky, Tracy Chabala, Juan Amador, Helene Udy, Trevor Bashaw, Shannon Cain,
Event Facilitators: Aubrey Mayne, Laura Espinoza, Laura Fuller, Tayi Sanusi, Willa Needham, William J Meyer, Tracy Chabala, Nicole Levin, Rachel R. Carroll, Sammy Ginsberg, Phil Leirness
About Our Nonprofit Partner
Twenty-First Century Writers is a nonprofit founded by Samantha Emily Evans and Brian Sonia-Wallace whose mission is to advance the literary arts and creative expression through educational programming, public events, and creative initiatives that support writers (including underserved and emerging writers) and engage the general public thru events that are open and easily accessible.
Los Feliz Writers Festival 