About Us
The New Era
Since its inception, we've hosted engaging events – from workshops to meet-and-greets with established authors – fostering creativity and expression among teenagers. The festival enables youth to engage in play, creation, and celebration of literature every year, with 15 dedicated co-organisers overseeing program development to ensure a truly youth-led experience.
A History
Established as the first festival of its kind in Europe, in 2017
The Lit Young Writers' Festival started with a vision to bring young people together through literature, no matter where they were at.
The brainchild of Waterford Youth Arts, creative writing facilitators and a rambunctious bunch of young adults in Creative Writing class, The Lit has been internationally lauded for its innovative structure as a youth-led celebration of literature.
With a mission to nurture the next generation of artistic curators, The Lit has brought award-winning and internationally known writers and creatives to Ireland's South East.
The festival has also acted as a launch pad for young creatives looking to get a foothold in their artistic careers.
Our Lasting Impact
Through our festival, we inspire thousands of young individuals, encouraging them to express themselves through writing and literature.
We're keen to support young people as they transition from enthusiasts to artists to programmers, and keep the links between those young people who helped build the programme to our new cohort of co-organisers.
Waterford is our venue.
Youth Arts is our home.
We are proudly a Waterford Youth Arts project since our early foundations. The Arch is where we have our biggest, bluest-sky ideas and the team there support us in achieving our goals as young festivalmakers.
Waterford Youth Arts do so many incredible things for young Déise and have been doing so for over forty years – check out their additional projects.
say hi to the alleged grown-ups
The Lit is led by young people (and always will be), however, sometimes you need adults on hand to advocate for teens. This is what these lovely people do, whether it is answering an email, building a poll, picking up meeting snacks or playing games, these are the committed grown-ups who want to give young people the power to tell their own stories.
Alana Daly Mulligan
Programme Coordinator
Charlie Goodman
Workshop Support / Welfare
Collette Rockett Dalgarno
Workshop Support / Volunteer Liaison