Festival Submissions

Submissions for the 2025 Festival will open on December 1, 2024
and close on January 1, 2025.

Every May, Succeed2gether’s Montclair Literary Festival presents up to five days of programming featuring around 100 participants in panel discussions, solo book talks, readings, masterclasses, or something completely new and original, aimed at adults, children, or YA audiences. Most Festival programs offer panels with two to three speakers and a moderator. Book sales and signings immediately follow in-person programs and are held in the same venue. 

We select speakers through active recruitment as well as open festival submissions through December annually. During this time, we invite submissions of new, published books of adult fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, as well as books for the YA audience and young readers.

Books may be submitted by authors, illustrators, publicists, or other publishing professionals with permission. We encourage festival submissions by individuals from diverse backgrounds, including race and ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation, class, and/or abilities.

We would like to include local voices and give those who are under-represented in the mainstream literary world the opportunity to participate. We welcome festival submissions from Essex County and further afield in the Tri-State area, but please note we do not cover travel expenses.

In 2025, Succeed2gether’s Montclair Literary Festival will take place between Saturday, April 26 and Saturday, May 3 – with TWO Festival Days and events in between. We are planning to be in person inside and outside venues at Montclair State University and downtown Montclair. Other events and classes may be held indoors or online via Zoom or Crowdcast, as required.

Preference is given to books released either in hardback or paperback from January to May 2025. Books published only as e-books will not be considered.

All book sales are organized by our bookstore partner Watchung Booksellers.

Please submit the following:

• A succinct (one page or less) outline of your proposal including theme, content, brief participant bios, and how the event will contribute to the festival. 
• Author’s name/s, contact information, and bio of 150 words or less. Please include Speaker’s website and social media handles, including Twitter, Instagram, and/or Facebook.
• A synopsis of each book, with two (2) copies of a finished book/galley/ARC/manuscript available to be sent on request. Please do not send books unless requested.
• Authors with self-published books may submit work if 1) the book has a professional editor; and, 2) the book is available to booksellers with standard discount terms and returnable.
• We welcome proposals for a panel discussion combining two or three authors willing and available to participate in the festival.

Submission Deadline: January 1, 2025.

To submit, please email montclairliteraryfestival@gmail.com. Festival submission notifications will be provided by February 15, 2025.

Succeed2gether is a non-profit organization that addresses unequal access to educational resources by providing free, high-quality enrichment and academic programs to children in need from Montclair and Essex County. Succeed2gether’s Montclair Literary Festival is a community-wide event that promotes literacy and reading for all, encourages the exchange of ideas, and engages with different points of view. Heading into its sixth year, the Festival has expanded rapidly, with audiences growing from 1,500 in 2017 to over 7,200 in 2021. Past headliners include Frank Bruni, Ruth Reichl, Harlan Coben, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Ann Napolitano, Katie Kitamura, Salman Rushdie, Imbolo Mbue, Colm Tóibín, Isabel Allende, Malcolm Gladwell, Erik Larson, Nicholas Kristof, Bill Buford, Paul Krugman, Emily St. John Mandel, Douglas Stuart, Joyce Carol Oates, Sigrid Nunez, Patti Smith, Trevor Noah, Paul Auster, Anna Quindlen, Thomas Friedman, Tom Perrotta, Nathan Englander, Meg Wolitzer, Wesley Lowery, Jonathan Alter, Min Jin Lee, and many more. Details of the 2024 Festival can be found here.