Hickory Literary Festival
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Hickory Public Library will host the second annual Hickory Literary Festival on April 25-26, 2026, on the SALT Block.
Presented by Corning in partnership with Redhawk Publications, My Chapter House, and The Center for Creative & Compassionate Communities, this free community festival is designed for all ages to celebrate reading, books, and creativity.
The festival will offer a variety of vendors, activities, author talks, a writing workshop, and entertainment at different locations across the SALT Block.
Festival Merchandise
Festival Highlights
Author Talk with Virginia Evans
Virginia Evans is an American author known for her debut novel, "The Correspondent," published in 2025 and chosen as the official 2026 selection for the Hickory Reads one-book, one-community initiative. The novel delves into themes of connection and meaning through the art of letter writing, chronicling the transformation of a 73-year-old woman. Evans attended James Madison University for her bachelor’s in English literature. After starting a family, she went back to school for her master’s of philosophy in creative writing at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, where she had the good fortune to study under Carlo Gébler, Eoin McNamee, Claire Keegan, Harry Clifton and Kevin Power. She now lives in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, with her husband, Mark, two children, Jack and Mae, and her Red Labrador, Brigid.
Reserve your seat for this author talk.
Reserve your seat for this author talk.
Author Talk with Meagan Church
Meagan Church is the instant New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of "The Mad Wife," "The Girls We Sent Away," and "The Last Carolina Girl." Her emotionally charged, empathy-driven fiction explores women’s inner lives and the silencing of their stories. Meagan holds a B.A. in English from Indiana University and is an adjunct for Drexel University’s MFA in creative writing program. A Midwesterner by birth, she now lives in North Carolina with her high school sweetheart, three children, and a plethora of pets.
Reserve your seat for this author talk.
Reserve your seat for this author talk.
Up Close and Personal
Join author Etaf Rum and musicians Grace Lin Anderson and Jennifer Curtis in the Hickory Choral Society Rehearsal Hall on Sunday, April 26, for a special ticketed event from 3-5 p.m.
Learn more and purchase your ticket.
Learn more and purchase your ticket.
Festival Schedule
Author Talks
Drendel Auditorium
11 a.m. | Virginia Evans
12:30 p.m. | Joy Callaway and Vanessa Miller
2 p.m. | Meagan Church
3 p.m. | Ron Rash & Friends: A conversation about writing, editing, and publishing with David Dickson, Tim Peeler, Patty Thompson, and Rhonda Browning White.
Writing Workshop
Patrick Beaver Memorial Library
1 p.m. | Writing workshop with Dale Bailey called Beginning with the Beginning: A Workshop in Getting Your Story Started. What does the beginning of a story look like—whether you’re writing fiction or creative nonfiction? There are many answers to this question, of course, and they're never the same answers. But this workshop will start with the basic premise that the first sentence, paragraph, page, and scene of your story is the most important sentence, paragraph, page, and scene of your story—because unless all those things work, your reader will never get to the second scene of your piece, much less the last scene, page, paragraph, sentence, and word. We’ll look at several strategies for beginning a story, try them out for ourselves, and discuss the openings we produce. Reserve your seat.
Redhawk Poetry Sessions
Keiser Room
11:30 a.m. | Poetry Discussion with Joseph Bathanti, Al Maginnes, & Chris Nelson
1:30 p.m. | A Sharing of Poems with Hickory Poet Laureate Scott Owens & Friends. Hear original poetry from JoJo Barrett, Suzette Clark Bradshaw, Cory Bragg, Bud Caywood, Patricia Deaton, Narya Rose Deckard, Maeve Fox, R. Steve Martin, Doug McHargue, Arlene Neal, Gary V. Powell, Jonathan K. Rice, and Marlo Scheitler.
Family Activities
SALT Block
10 a.m. - 4 p.m. | Free Admission to Catawba Science Center
10 a.m. - 4 p.m. | Children's Activities on the North Lawn
1:30 p.m. | Melanie Sue Bowles, author of "Liberty Biscuit" and "Little Pearl"
Entertainment
Library Outdoor Stage
10 a.m. | Welcome & Festival Announcements
10:30 a.m. | Hickory Suzuki School
12 p.m. | Hickory Music Factory
1 p.m. | The New Horizons Orchestra
2 p.m. | Hickory Public Library Songwriting Club with Andrew Massey
Related Events
Wednesday, April 22 | 7:30 p.m. | The Little Read Stage Adaptation at Lenoir-Rhyne University
Thursday, April 24 | 6:15 p.m. | Writers’ Market at Taste Full Beans Coffeehouse
Saturday, April 25 | 10 a.m. | The Little Read Author Talk at Lenoir-Rhyne University
Presenting Sponsor
Corning is proud to be the presenting sponsor of the 2026 Hickory Literary Festival.
Sponsors
Hickory Public Library continues to seek additional sponsors for the 2026 Hickory Literary Festival. Click the buttons below to view sponsorship levels and download the pledge form. Online donations can be made here.
2026 Sponsorship Information 2026 Sponsor Pledge Form
Contact
For additional information about the Hickory Literary Festival, or to discuss sponsorship and vendor opportunities, contact Library Director Sarah Greene at sgreene@hickorync.gov or (828) 304-0500, ext. 7275.