2026 Festival of Faith and Writing: Full Schedule

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2:30pm EDT

Thursday April 16, 2026 2:30pm - 3:15pm EDT

What does it mean to take our pain and make something out of it? What is the process of turning our grief into a gift? Who is the one who emerges from the community to lead the ceremony? Mixing comedic narrative, honest storytelling, and image curation, artist and author Scott Erickson walks us through the inevitable invitation to become the wounded healer. 

Book signing follows in the Covenant Fine Arts Center Lobby 

Speakers

Scott Erickson

Scott Erickson is a touring painter, performance speaker, creative curate, and author. Scott's work has appeared on CNN, National Geographic, and in various magazines and newspaper outlets. He is the author of Say Yes: Discover the Surprising Life Beyond the Death of a Dream, Hon... Read More →

Thursday April 16, 2026 2:30pm - 3:15pm EDT
Covenant Fine Arts Center, Auditorium

Concurrent Session, Solo Session

2:30pm EDT

Hope in the Wake of History

Thursday April 16, 2026 2:30pm - 3:15pm EDT

Chapel

Ayana Mathis reflects on the themes of freedom, idealism, and disappointment in her fiction, exploring how hope meets history and how storytelling makes space for both possibility and the truths that challenge it.

Book signing follows in the Chapel Narthex

Speakers

Ayana Mathis

Mathis's bestselling debut, The Twelve Tribes of Hattie, was an Oprah's Book Club selection. Her newest, The Unsettled, is a searing multi-generational novel set in a historically Black town in Alabama and racially and politically turbulent Philadelphia. Mathis was the first Black woman to be a permanent faculty member at the Iowa Writers' Workshop... Read More →

Thursday April 16, 2026 2:30pm - 3:15pm EDT
Chapel

Concurrent Session, Solo Session

2:30pm EDT

Inside the Issue: The Art and Ethics of Curating Literary Journals

Thursday April 16, 2026 2:30pm - 3:15pm EDT

Prince Conference Center, Willow Room

In conversation, Jacob Schepers and Alan Koppschall discuss the craft of shaping a literary journal—from selecting work and nurturing emerging voices to balancing editorial vision with community care.

Speakers

Alan Koppschall

Plough

Alan Koppschall is an editor and the event coordinator at Plough. He is a member of the Bruderhof and lives with his wife, Marilyn, at the Woodcrest Bruderhof in Rifton, New York. He previously worked as a journalist for Catholic News Agency's Vatican Bureau... Read More →

Jacob Schepers

Jacob Schepers is cofounder and coeditor of Ballast, a 501(c)(3) non-profit online literary magazine, and the author of the poetry collections A Bundle of Careful Compromises and Ugly Ground Swell Moss, and the chapbooks Connections & Choreography and Shipwreck Abstracted... Read More →

Thursday April 16, 2026 2:30pm - 3:15pm EDT
Prince Conference Center, Willow Room

Concurrent Session, Conversation

2:30pm EDT

Shaping the Past for Young Minds

Thursday April 16, 2026 2:30pm - 3:15pm EDT

Gezon Auditorium

In conversation, authors Dana VanderLugt and Kate Albus explore the craft of writing historical fiction for young readers, reflecting on the interplay of research and imagination, the power of storytelling to recover the past, and the ways stories can invite young readers to see themselves within the larger human story.

Book signing follows in the Spoelhof Atrium

Speakers

Kate Albus

Kate Albus writes historical fiction for young readers. Her novels A Place to Hang the Moon and Nothing Else But Miracles have been recognized by the NY Public Library, Kids Indie Next, SCBWI, Bank Street College of Education, JLG, CCBC, the ALA's Association for Library Service to Children, and state reading lists around the country. Kate lives with her family in rural Maryland... Read More →

Dana VanderLugt

Dana VanderLugt descends from a family of apple growers and storytellers. Her debut novel in verse, Enemies in the Orchard, is inspired by German POWs who worked on her family orchard during WWII. A former English teacher, she now works as a literacy consultant in Michigan, where she lives with her husband, sons, and spoiled golden retriever. And yes, she makes a mean apple pie... Read More →

Thursday April 16, 2026 2:30pm - 3:15pm EDT
Gezon Auditorium

Concurrent Session, Conversation

2:30pm EDT

The Beauty in Broken Things: Writing Sadness with Grace

Thursday April 16, 2026 2:30pm - 3:15pm EDT

Covenant Fine Arts Center, Recital Hall

In conversation, poets Todd Davis and Kiki Petrosino explore how sorrow can be rendered with clarity, tenderness, and artistic precision, revealing how writing about sadness can open space for truth, connection, and unexpected forms of healing. 

Book signing follows in the Covenant Fine Arts Center Lobby

Speakers

Todd Davis

Todd Davis is the author of eight books of poetry, most recently Ditch Memory: New & Selected Poems and Coffin Honey. He also edited A Literary Field Guide to Northern Appalachia and Fast Break to Line Break: Poets on the Art of Basketball. His writing has won the Midwest Book Award and the Gwendolyn Brooks Poetry Prize. He teaches environmental studies at Penn State University... Read More →

Kiki Petrosino

Kiki Petrosino is the author of four books of poetry, including White Blood: a Lyric of Virginia. She holds graduate degrees from the University of Chicago and the University of Iowa Writer's Workshop. Her memoir, Bright, was released from Sarabande in 2022. She is a Professor of Poetry at the University of Virginia... Read More →

Thursday April 16, 2026 2:30pm - 3:15pm EDT
Covenant Fine Arts Center, Recital Hall

Concurrent Session, Conversation

2:30pm EDT

The Invitation of Desert Literature: Meeting Ourselves and God in Bleak Places

Thursday April 16, 2026 2:30pm - 3:15pm EDT

Prince Conference Center, Board Room

Deserts are often places of God encounter–in Scripture, literature, and our hearts. Novelist and Flannery O’Connor Award winner A. Muia discusses the lure of the desert as a space where we come to the edge of ourselves and wait for God. Muia uses published works of desert literature to illustrate how characters (and perhaps we ourselves) find good news, even in the bleakest of landscapes.

Book signing follows in the Prince Conference Center, Fireside Room

Speakers

A. Muia

A. Muia is the 2024 winner of the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction for her novel, A Desert Between Two Seas. Her fiction has appeared in journals throughout the U.S. She holds a degree in Spanish language, a master's in teaching English to speakers of other languages, an... Read More →

Thursday April 16, 2026 2:30pm - 3:15pm EDT
Prince Conference Center, Board Room

Concurrent Session, Solo Session

4:00pm EDT

About a Million Blessings a Day

Thursday April 16, 2026 4:00pm - 4:45pm EDT

Covenant Fine Arts Center, Recital Hall

A poetry reading and writing practice is, by its very nature, a mindfulness practice. It can become a spiritual practice as well. In the tradition of William Stafford, poet Carrie Fountain has, over twenty-five years, developed an early morning writing and reading ritual that has become a kind of sleight-of-hand prayer practice. Fountain discusses how developing such a habit can, again and again, root one in the real world and attune one to the many miracles of the everyday. 

Book signing follows in the Covenant Fine Arts Center Lobby

Speakers

Carrie Fountain

Carrie Fountain is the author of three books of poetry: The Life, Instant Winner, and Burn Lake; the YA novel I’m Not Missing; and the children’s book The Poem Forest. She is currently adapting I’m Not Missing for the screen, working on a second YA novel, and finishing a th... Read More →

Thursday April 16, 2026 4:00pm - 4:45pm EDT
Covenant Fine Arts Center, Recital Hall

Concurrent Session, Solo Session

4:00pm EDT

AI in the Literary Arts

Thursday April 16, 2026 4:00pm - 4:45pm EDT

Prince Conference Center, Willow Room

It can seem our culture is all-in on AI replacing the creative arts. From writing and the visual arts to film production and music, AI is ascendant. Is AI merely another tool in the artist’s toolbox, or is it an idol to which we are outsourcing our humanity? Join veteran audiobook narrator (and nerd) Adam Verner in exploring this very timely issue.

Speakers

Adam Verner

Adam is a full time narrator and has recorded over 700 titles for publishers and authors large and small. Winner of a 2017 VoiceArts award and multiple Earphones Awards, he holds his MFA in Acting from Roosevelt University. He lives with his wife and family in beautiful Colorado... Read More →

Thursday April 16, 2026 4:00pm - 4:45pm EDT
Prince Conference Center, Willow Room

Concurrent Session, Solo Session

4:00pm EDT

Cultivating Curiosity with Picture Books

Thursday April 16, 2026 4:00pm - 4:45pm EDT

Prince Conference Center, Board Room

Children’s book author Larissa Theule believes that stories shape the world one young reader at a time. She discusses how the art and craft of picture books cultivate children’s curiosity, prompting them to think critically and engage with life in meaningful, creative ways.

Book signing follows in the Prince Conference Center, Fireside Room

Speakers

Larissa Theule

Larissa Theule is the author of critically-acclaimed fiction and nonfiction books for children, including Tove Under the Tree, illustrated by Julie Benbassat, Kafka and the Doll, illustrated by Rebecca Green, and the Material Marvels. She lives and writes in Pasadena, California... Read More →

Thursday April 16, 2026 4:00pm - 4:45pm EDT
Prince Conference Center, Board Room

Concurrent Session, Solo Session

4:00pm EDT

Holding Both: Navigating Grief and Hope Together

Thursday April 16, 2026 4:00pm - 4:45pm EDT

Chapel

In conversation, Hillary McBride and J.S. Park explore the tender, often difficult work of carrying grief and hope at the same time, inviting us to live honestly without abandoning the possibility of joy.

Book signing follows in the Chapel Narthex

Speakers

Hillary McBride

Dr. Hillary McBride is a registered psychologist, a researcher, and podcaster, and mother, with expertise including trauma, embodiment, psychedelic psychotherapy, and the intersection of spirituality and mental health. Hillary makes her home in Victoria, Canada.

J. S. Park

J.S. Park is a hospital chaplain, published author, and online educator. He serves a 1000+ bed hospital and Level 1 Trauma Center, providing grief support and end-of-life care.

J.S. has been interviewed by CNN, CBS News, Good Morning America, and The Today Show for his work in dea... Read More →

Thursday April 16, 2026 4:00pm - 4:45pm EDT
Chapel

Concurrent Session, Conversation

4:00pm EDT

How the Stories Find Us

Thursday April 16, 2026 4:00pm - 4:45pm EDT

Covenant Fine Arts Center, Auditorium

Ariel Lawhon never intended to write historical fiction. She was just lucky enough to be paying attention when a great idea found her. Twelve years and six novels later, she understands that the creative works we undertake are the ones meant specifically for us. Lawhon discusses how faith and observation and an insatiable curiosity are the keys to a fulfilling life in the arts.

Book signing follows in the Covenant Fine Arts Center Lobby

Speakers

Ariel Lawhon

Ariel Lawhon is the New York Times bestselling author of The Frozen River as well as several other works of historical fiction, including I Was Anastasia and Code Name Hélène. The Frozen River was an instant paperback bestseller, rapidly ascending the New York Times bestseller... Read More →

Thursday April 16, 2026 4:00pm - 4:45pm EDT
Covenant Fine Arts Center, Auditorium

Concurrent Session, Solo Session

4:00pm EDT

Writing in Place

Thursday April 16, 2026 4:00pm - 4:45pm EDT

Gezon Auditorium

In a world where we are increasingly pressured to write and compete for a global audience, what does it mean to write and create IN place and FOR place in all its particularities? Opelt explores how place and embodied community shapes our writing, and how we, in turn, shape place and community with our words.

Book signing follows in the Spoelhof Atrium

Speakers

Amanda Held Opelt

Amanda Held Opelt is a speaker, songwriter, and author of the books Holy Unhappiness and A Hole in the World, which was selected by Publisher's Weekly as one of the best books of 2022. Amanda spent 15 years serving in the non-profit and humanitarian aid sectors. She lives in the mountains of Western North Carolina with her husband and two young daughters... Read More →

Thursday April 16, 2026 4:00pm - 4:45pm EDT
Gezon Auditorium

Concurrent Session, Solo Session

2:30pm EDT

2:30pm EDT

2:30pm EDT

2:30pm EDT

2:30pm EDT

2:30pm EDT

4:00pm EDT

4:00pm EDT

4:00pm EDT

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4:00pm EDT

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