One Of The Best Literature Festivals In The World Is Heading To Dallas

Whether it be an undersung arts scene, few citywide characteristics, or a far-too-often emphasis on the rich getting richer, many people give Dallas grief for its culture or lack thereof. Still, through all our gripes, similar to how you’d make fun of a family member but defend them if anyone else talked shit, one thing we’ll stay away from is the city’s literature scene.

Seriously, we’ve traveled and seen it ourselves. Aside from New York City (and maybe Portland), Dallas is a prime example of a highly functioning literary ecosystem, the kind that isn’t found in most other big American cities. It's especially powerful if you count the surrounding suburbs in North Texas.

You can find two internationally renowned publishing beacons right in the heart of Dallas, with Deep Vellum Books and The Wild Detectives. There’s a massive second-hand market, which includes the biggest Half Price Books in America (headquartered here, in fact) and quirky gems like Recycled Books in Denton and two Lucky Dog locations. Plus, the quality of small boutique bookstores here is fantastic, as the quantity seems to be growing every day.

All of the above-mentioned shops and their individual programming are open to check out every day in Dallas, and most of the year, that would be special enough. But next month, one of the world’s great arts festivals brings its decades-old literary revival to Dallas yet again.

The Hay Festival of Literature & Arts was founded by Peter Florence in 1988, named after Hay-on-Wye, a small town in Wales. Over the 37 years since its inception, the festival has blossomed into a traveling literature fair and online educational resource, hosting hundreds of authors at events all around the globe.

In 2018, the Hay Festival invaded Dallas for a “Hay Festival Forum” event at The Wild Detectives. It returned the following year, and by 2024, Hay Forum upped the ante on its capacity and offerings, expanding to events at the Texas Theatre, Whose Books and Apprentice Creative Space. Dallas is the only U.S. city to host a Hay Festival this year.

From October 17-19, the great literary revival returns to Dallas yet again with 18 unique events from a stellar lineup of authors and moderators.

The festival opens with Maltese-American journalist and cartoonist Joe Sacco in conversation with The Guardian columnist, Arwa Mahdawi. Last year, Sacco made headlines with his War on Gaza comic collection, which satirized and cast an unflinching light on the horrors of the Israel-Palestine conflict. It took home the 2025 Eisner Award for best single issue/one-shot.

Saturday, October 18, is loaded with forum discussions and interactive performances. The full list is available on the Hay Festival website, but we’re most looking forward to Pulitzer Prize-winning author Junot Diaz’s conversation with Paola Nagovitch. Diaz is one of the defining fiction writers of the 21st century, having already published multiple books we’d label as “classics,” including This Is How You Lose Her and The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. His event takes place at 3:30 at the Texas Theatre.

A particularly Dallas-centric event will follow, with Deep Vellum-published author Rodrigo Fresan and Mark Harber in conversation with Interabang Books owner Lori Feathers. At the same time, across the street, Mexican multihyphenate, Bocafloja, presents an interactive talk and live performance at the Wild Detectives, which is said to weave in hip-hop, poetry and “fragmented storytelling.”

Sunday, “Festiclip” is a collection of independently-made Argentinian music videos that will screen at the Texas Theatre beginning at 5 p.m.

Tickets for individual events are available for $10 each, or day passes that include all events, plus food and drinks. Saturday’s day pass is $65, and Sunday’s is $50. Whether you’re a reader, writer, or someone with aspirations to be either, the Hay Festival Forum is one of the finest cultural events that will be held in Dallas this year. Don’t take it for granted.