Quill and Ink is a new literary festival that is organized, presented, and run by the student editors of the Grassroots Literary and Arts Magazine at Southern Illinois University. Quill and Ink aims to uplift marginalized voices and inspire creativity in our community and beyond through an interactive day filled with author-led workshops, virtual reality narratives, games, food, and a Drag Queen Story Hour for adults, all leading up to our student and community magazine release party that evening. The Grassroots editors hope not only to inspire and uplift writers and artists at Southern Illinois University, but members of the Carbondale community as well. We want to do this by bringing talented, published authors to SIU to educate and mentor creative writers of all levels of experience.

The Quill and Ink Literary Festival is a direct descendant of the Devil’s Kitchen Literary Festival, which was held at SIU for over 15 years until 2020. Allison Joseph and Jon Tribble pioneered the Devil’s Kitchen Literary Festival until Jon’s passing in 2019, when Allison subsequently stepped away from her role in the festival’s operation. With Allison’s blessing, Grassroots has created a new literary festival to carry out our mission of championing underrepresented voices while honoring Jon’s legacy and continuing to bring esteemed authors to the SIU campus.

Awards will be handed out to participating authors in the categories of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, with a special fourth award being given to a standout self-published manuscript.

For information on how to submit to the festival, see our submission guidelines here.

Date: Saturday, April 29th, 2023

Time: 9:30 a.m. – 10:00 p.m.

Location: SIUC Student Center in the Old Main Room

Contact: quillandinkfestival@gmail.com