Our Vision
The 215 Festival is a celebration of the richly diverse, historically significant literary community of the greater Philadelphia area. We bring local and regional writers alongside nationally-touring authors in an annual day-long festival of discussion panels, readings, literary performances, social events, and host a marketplace for presses and literary organizations to connect with readers and writers alike.
Our Values
Our programming is all-inclusive and prioritizes the work of Philadelphia-based writers, writers of color, queer and trans writers, womxn writers, writers with disabilities, and working-class writers. We aim to appeal to readers of all ages and to highlight the literary arts across the page, stage, and screen.
History
The 215 (two-one-five) Festival showcases the vibrant talent of the literary community in Philadelphia. Past events have featured local writers such as poets Ras Mashramani, Lillian Dunn, Warren Longmire, Catie Rosemurgy, Jenn McCreary, Pattie McCarthy, Thomas Devaney, and novelists Asali Solomon, Ken Kalfus, Annie Liontas.
We have also welcomed to the city an array of the nation’s most award-winning and bestselling authors, including Jonathan Lethem, Ben Greenman, Jaamil Olawale Kosoko, John Hodgman, J. Robert Lennon, Jon Ronson, Legs McNeil, Harvey Pekar, George Saunders, Sarah Vowell, Zadie Smith, Jeffrey Eugenides, Patti Smith, among many, many others.
Our events include author readings, literary crawls, book-themed dance parties, literature-informed musical events, book fairs, film screenings, and panel discussions in venues as diverse as Jim’s Steaks on South Street, garden center Urban Jungle on Passyunk Avenue, the Philadelphia Art Alliance on Rittenhouse Square, Fishtown Tavern, and the Shambles at Head House Square.
The festival was founded in 2001 by author Neal Pollack as McSweeney’s Festival. Over the years, the 215 Fest has changed names and leadership, but it has never stopped being one hell of a good time.
Press
LITHUB - “Literature Should Be in the People’s Hands: Opening Night at Philly's 215 Fest”
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER - “215 Festival: Urban rave, literary fest, dance-party freakout”
UWISHUNU - “The Annual 215 Festival Spotlights Philadelphia’s Literary Scene On South Street This Weekend, October 23-26”
PASSYUNK POST - “The 215 literary festival ‘takes over’ East Passyunk for the first time”
WXPN’S THE KEY - “Philebrity’s Joey Sweeney on taking the reins at the 215 Festival”
Projects
LITERARYPHILLY.ORG
LiteraryPhilly.org is a free, public calendar created for Philly’s literary community to share their events free of charge. Alongside an ever-growing list of resources (including independent bookstores, literary organizations, writing workshops, reading series, and more), anyone can use this resource to explore the dozens of literary events that occur in the greater Philadelphia metropolitan area each month.
PHILADELPHIA WRITERS EMERGENCY FUND
The Philadelphia Writers Emergency Fund was a donation-based resource to provide aid to writers, independent booksellers, and those who work at independent presses that were affected by the coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic. With the help of 145 donors and a group of Philadelphia writers, we raised over $20,000. Click here to view the final report.