2026 Festival of Faith and Writing: Full Schedule

2:30pm EDT

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

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

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

9:00am EDT

Shared Roots: Converging Faiths in Care for the Earth 

Friday April 17, 2026 9:00am - 9:45am EDT

Gezon Auditorium

In conversation, Robin Wall Kimmerer and Kyle Meyaard-Schaap discuss how distinct spiritual traditions—Indigenous wisdom and Christian climate activism—meet in a common call to love, protect, and learn from the earth.

Book signing follows in the Spoelhof Atrium

Speakers

Robin Wall Kimmerer

Robin Wall Kimmerer is a mother, scientist, decorated professor, and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. She is the author of Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants; Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of ... Read More →

Kyle Meyaard-Schaap

Rev. Kyle Meyaard-Schaap is the Executive Director of the Association for a More Just Society-US. His work has been featured in news outlets such as PBS, NPR, CNN, NBC News, the New York Times, and more. He was named a Yale Public Voices Fellow on the Climate Crisis in 2020 and to the Grist 50 Fixers cohort in 2022 or for his work on climate change education and advocacy... Read More →

Friday April 17, 2026 9:00am - 9:45am EDT
Gezon Auditorium

Concurrent Session, Conversation

10:30am EDT

Rewriting the Record: Literature, Memory, and the Histories We Inherit

Friday April 17, 2026 10:30am - 11:15am EDT

Gezon Auditorium

In conversation, Laurie Halse Anderson and Ayana Mathis discuss how literature can illuminate, challenge, and reshape historical narratives—especially those marked by racial injustice.They explore storytelling as an act of truthtelling and repair, revealing how writers help readers reckon with the past while imagining more honest, humane futures. 

Book signing follows in the Spoelhof Atrium

Speakers

Laurie Halse Anderson

Laurie Halse Anderson is a New York Times bestselling author whose writing spans young readers, teens, and adults. Combined, her books have sold more than 8 million copies.

Two of her novels, Speak and Chains, were National Book Award finalists, and Chains was short-listed for the... Read More →

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 →

Friday April 17, 2026 10:30am - 11:15am EDT
Gezon Auditorium

Concurrent Session, Conversation

11:45am EDT

The Power of Parable: Personal Story-telling as a Tool for Advocacy in the Church

Friday April 17, 2026 11:45am - 12:30pm EDT

Gezon Auditorium

As a Palestinian Episcopal priest, deeply committed to a Church that fails her own people, Leyla King grapples with the impact such dissonance has on her faith and her vocation. From that space, she discusses the power of telling her own family's stories as parables that dismantle systemic and personal defensive structures of the Church to open ears, hearts, and minds.

Book signing follows in the Spoelhof Atrium

Speakers

Leyla K. King

Leyla K. King is a Palestinian-American Episcopal priest and author. She is a founding member of both Palestinian Anglicans and Clergy Allies (www.palestiniananglicans.org) and The Small Churches Big Impact Collective. She writes about her experiences as a Palestinian, a clergywo... Read More →

Friday April 17, 2026 11:45am - 12:30pm EDT
Gezon Auditorium

Concurrent Session, Solo Session

2:30pm EDT

A Conversation with Carrie Fountain

Friday April 17, 2026 2:30pm - 3:15pm EDT

Gezon Auditorium

Join us in a conversation with Carrie Fountain, interviewed by Abram VanEngen.

Book signing follows in the Spoelhof Atrium

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 →

Abram VanEngen

Abram Van Engen is the Stanley Elkin Professor of the Humanities at Washington University in St. Louis. His books include City on a Hill: A History of American Exceptionalism (2020) and Word Made Fresh: An Invitation to Poetry for the Church (2024), named Best Book of 2024 in Cul... Read More →

Friday April 17, 2026 2:30pm - 3:15pm EDT
Gezon Auditorium

Concurrent Session, Interview

4:00pm EDT

Drawing Stories Together: Writers and Illustrators in Creative Partnership

Friday April 17, 2026 4:00pm - 4:45pm EDT

Gezon Auditorium

In conversation, Aimee Reid and Larissa Theule discuss the collaborative art of creating children’s picture books, exploring how writers and illustrators bring a shared story to life. This conversation will touch on communication, trust, and the joyful surprises that emerge when visual and written imagination meet, shaping books that resonate with young readers and their grownups. 

Book signing follows in the Spoelhof Atrium

Speakers

Aimee Reid

Children's author Aimee Reid learned to read through frequent story times with the Beginner Books from Random House. She soon read her way through the books in her Kindergarten classroom and received entrance to the big school library. It was special to release her first picture book... Read More →

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 →

Friday April 17, 2026 4:00pm - 4:45pm EDT
Gezon Auditorium

Concurrent Session, Conversation

9:00am EDT

Playing with Fire: Christian Poets Reflect on Faith and Practice

Saturday April 18, 2026 9:00am - 9:45am EDT

Gezon Auditorium

David Clark and L.S. Klatt discuss the publication journey of their new edited collection Playing with Fire: Christian Poets Reflect on Faith and Practice. In this session, they talk about the genesis of the project, the community of writers they cultivated in exploring what a Christian poetics might look like, and the special challenges and graces they encountered in putting together a theologically diverse collection of essays.

Book signing follows in the Spoelhof Atrium

Speakers

George David Clark

George David Clark is the author of Reveille (winner of the Miller Williams Poetry Prize, Arkansas) and Newly Not Eternal (LSU), and coeditor, with Lew Klatt, of Playing with Fire: Christian Poets Reflect on Faith and Practice. The editor-in-chief of 32 Poems, David teaches creative writing at Washington & Jefferson College... Read More →

Saturday April 18, 2026 9:00am - 9:45am EDT
Gezon Auditorium

Concurrent Session, Conversation

10:30am EDT

Acts of Translation, Acts of Justice

Saturday April 18, 2026 10:30am - 11:15am EDT

Gezon Auditorium

What does it mean to do justice to a text as a translator? What does it mean to do justice in the world? This talk will explore the attention, responsibility, and respect that this work calls us to. 

Book signing follows in the Spoelhof Atrium

Speakers

Alejandra Oliva

Alejandra Oliva is an essayist, embroiderer and translator. Her book, Rivermouth: A Chronicle of Language, Faith and Migration, was published by Astra House, and received a Whiting Nonfiction Grant. She was the Yale Whitney Humanities Center Franke Visiting Fellow in Spring 2022... Read More →

Saturday April 18, 2026 10:30am - 11:15am EDT
Gezon Auditorium

Concurrent Session, Solo Session

2:30pm EDT

4:00pm EDT

9:00am EDT

10:30am EDT

11:45am EDT

2:30pm EDT

4:00pm EDT

9:00am EDT

10:30am EDT

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