Exeter's annual literary festival hosts authors and poets from around New England and highlights the depth and breadth of literary talent in the Exeter area. Keynote authors for 2026 are:

Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, associate professor of physics and astronomy and a core faculty member in women's and gender studies at the University of New Hampshire. Dr. Weinstein's new book is "The Edge of Space-Time: Particles, Poetry, and the Cosmic Dream Boogie." Her earlier book, "The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime and Dreams Deferred" won a 2021 Los Angeles Times Book Prize, a 2022 PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Literary Award and the 2022 Phi Beta Kappa Award for Science.

Catherine Newman, the internationally bestselling author of the memoirs "Catastrophic Happiness" and "Waiting for Birdy," the middle-grade novel "One Mixed-Up Night," the kids’ craft book "Stitch Camp," the best-selling how-to books for kids How to Be a Person and What Can I Say?, the novel "We All Want Impossible Things," and the novels "Sandwich" and "Wreck," both instant New York Times bestsellers. Her books have been translated into fifteen languages and she has been a regular contributor to the New York Times, Real Simple, O, The Oprah Magazine, Cup of Jo, and many other publications. She writes the Crone Sandwich newsletter on Substack.

Spoken word artist and educator Durane West of Boston will present an original poem commissioned for the literary festival.

The festival also features two panel discussions, one about writing history, another about environmental writing. Exeter area teens will present poetry readings throughout the day.