Litquake

Litquake is San Francisco's annual literary festival. Originally starting out as Litstock for a single day in the spring of 1999, it ran for two years under the same name before going dark in 2001 after the dot com collapse threw organizer's intentions to stage a third into disarray. It re-emerged in 2002 with a new name, determined to make the most of the fact that according to USA Today, San Francisco has the highest per capita consumption of both alcohol and books. Consisting of readings, discussions, and themed events held at different Bay Area venues, the annual festival features predominantly Bay Area authors but opens a limited number of slots for those from the outside, and kicks off during either the first or second weekend of October, depending on the year. The Litquake event has now expanded to Silicon Valley, boasting three consecutive years of the successful event at the JCC in Palo Alto.