MANI LIT FEST
We are currently in the planning stage of the eighth Mani Lit Fest which will be held from 1st to 3rd October 2026.
History of the Event
The first Mani Lit Fest took place in October 2018, and expanded to a two day event in October 2019. Unfortunately the 2020 event was cancelled due to the difficulty of planning and arranging travel during that, but has taken place every September/October since then.
Where are we?
The Mani is a peninsula in southern Greece, the middle 'finger' of the three fingers of the Peloponnese region. The Lit Fest takes place at Patriko Cafe-Bar in the village of Stoupa, approximately 50km away from the city of Kalamata, the regional capital, where the nearest airport (KLX) is located.
Funding
We are a community grassroots festival, without any funding other than from the very generous donations we receive, from a few fund-raising events we do during the year and from our very popular sale of donated second-hand books at the Lit Fest.
The team which organises and runs the festival and all of the writers and artists who participate all do so on a voluntary basis. This enables us to keep the Mani Lit Fest a completely free event.
Our costs are low, other than for the purchase of equipment which is ongoing, but we do need some funding for publicity, website and hospitality costs.
We would like to say a big thank you to everyone who has donated this year and over the years, including the Kardamili Jazz Festival who made a big contribution to the equipment we purchased this year. Click the logo to learn more about the twice yearly Jazz Festival.
If you enjoy Mani Lit Fest and would like to help support its contribution to the culture of the Mani, we are still accepting donations on our Just Giving page (click link or use QR code to access).
How it Began ...
The idea for a free literary festival began one day in summer 2018, with a cup of coffee in the shady garden of Patriko Bar in Stoupa, and a conversation between Theresa Stoker, Melanie Wicks and Carol McGrath. A part-time resident of the area, Carol had previously done a 'Meet the Writer' event at the bar, where she had talked about her first novel 'The Hand-Fasted Wife' (book one of her Daughters of Hastings trilogy). Carol having just published her fourth novel, 'The Woman in the Shadows' (now retitled as Mistress Cromwell), she was interested in doing another similar event at the bar. Less than an hour later, the idea had grown into a full day event of workshops, talks and performances, and that October the first Mani Lit Fest took place.
How do I Book?
Mani Lit Fest is currently a free event open to everybody, so just check our full programme (finalised closer to the date) and come along to the venue. No need to reserve, except for the creative writing workshops. We do also take bookings for the pub quiz which has proved to be very popular.
Due to the nature of the writing workshops, we do have to limit the number of participants.
See our workshops page for more details.
