Reginald Dwayne Betts headlines Tulsa LitFest with performance, talks

Tulsa LitFest 2025 is bringing a citywide celebration of creativity, literature and storytelling to Green Country starting Thursday.

The free, four-day festival features readings, workshops, competitions, craft talks, film screenings and a book fair, all open to the public.

Connecting local talent with local readers, this year’s lineup includes a packed slate of events designed to spark conversation and connection through the written word.

A spotlight on Reginald Dwayne Betts

The keynote speaker for this year’s LitFest is poet, author and lawyer Reginald Dwayne Betts.

Betts is the founder and director of Freedom Reads, a nonprofit that has created nearly 500 libraries in adult and youth prisons and shipped over 200,000 books to incarcerated readers.

He will be performing his one-man show " March Forth: An American Washi Tale" Friday night in the OSU-Tulsa Auditorium.

He will also be hosting a craft talk titled "Writing Under Constraints," as well as a Sunday morning coffee talk alongside filmmaker Yoruba Richen.

Other authors, artists and organizations hosting events at LitFest include OK Today Magazine, Oklahoma Center for Nonprofits, Tulsa Artist Fellowship, Nimrod Journal, filmmaker Yoruba Richen, poet Joshua Gottlieb-Miller, and novelists Lauren Smith and Alex Temblador

Events across Tulsa

From downtown to the arts district, festival events will take place at venues across the city. Offerings include:

1. Author readings and signings
2. Writing workshops for all levels
3. Independent film screenings
4. A Saturday book fair showcasing local publishers and vendors

A complete list of events, times and locations is available at tulsalitfest.org.