Welcome to the Charleston to Charleston Literary Festival! In our inaugural year, we’re thrilled to announce a unique and exciting new partnership between like-minded organizations from opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean.
Charleston Farmhouse, in the rolling South Downs of the Sussex, England countryside, has long been home to some of Britain’s greatest creative thinkers. Beginning with the world famous Bloomsbury Group of English writers and artists including Virginia Woolf, Vanessa Bell, and E. M. Forster, the Farmhouse now hosts the annual Charleston Festival every May. By bringing together internationally influential writers and intellectuals, Charleston Farmhouse is truly a place where books, ideas and creativity bloom.
Here in the United States, the Charleston Library Society is an organization equally dedicated to supporting creative culture and lifelong learning for its members and the community. Established in 1748 by a group of nineteen young men in who wanted to stay abreast of the latest publications from London, the Society has existed in various locations throughout the city until moving to its permanent home at 164 King Street, in the heart of historic downtown Charleston. It is currently the second oldest circulating library in the United States and the oldest cultural institution in the South. With a vault full of early American periodicals and claiming the former membership of DuBose Heyward, Josephine Pinckney, and many other members of the Charleston Renaissance, the Charleston Library Society is a haven for historians and bibliophiles alike.
Thus, it makes perfect sense for the two Charlestons (Farmhouse and Society) to join together to create a brand new literary festival. The Festival is being coordinated by the Charleston Library Society, the newly formed Charleston to Charleston, Inc., a nonprofit corporation organized by the Charleston Trust that supports the Sussex Festival, as well as a group of dedicated South Carolinians committed to bringing a world-class literary festival to Charleston, South Carolina. Together, this partnership is dedicated to building the premier festival in the United States where books, ideas, and creativity will flourish.