Lansing LIT Festival comes to LCC

By Emmett Roman
Staff Reporter

The Lansing LIT Fest took place from Sept. 19 to Sept. 21 at multiple local Lansing bookstores and at Lansing Community College’s very own Dart Auditorium.

LCC hosted an event called “An Evening with Stars,” where faculty, students, staff and alumni read short excerpts from their published works. Melissa Ford Lucken and Melissa Kaplan organized the event, which was sponsored by LCC’s Creative Writing Department

Speakers at An Evening with the Stars included:

Holly Mayes, an LCC alumni who is published in several issues of the Washington Square Review—LCC’s literary journal—who read an excerpt from her memoir “Dream, Girl.”

Rob Edwards, who read an excerpt from his novella “The Friendship Effect: A Thanksgiving Novella.”

Dr. Veronica A. Wilkerson-Johnson, an LCC English professor, who read an excerpt from her nonfiction book, “A Sparkle in Their Eyes: Raising Talented, Diverse Students in STEAM Careers.”

Melissa Ford Lucken, an LCC English and Creative Writing professor, read from her scholarly essay, "Caveman for the Win: Power Dynamics and the Bootstrapping Narrative in Rocky" from the book, "'All I Wanna Do is Go the Distance': Essays on the Rocky Franchise and Its Enduring Cultural Impact."

Kenya Nelson, a professional writing assistant at the LCC Writing Center, read an excerpt from her novel, “Ungrateful.”

Nicole Hunt, a current LCC student, read from her award-winning "Sweet Pine Haze" from the Spring 2025 Washington Square Review .

Current LCC student Joseph Esper, who read from his novel “Follies Of Humanity.”

Christopher Manning, an English and Creative Writing professor at LCC, read from a work in progress.

Some other spots that also hosted events for the Lansing LIT Festival were the bookstores A Novel Concept, The Robin Books, Wayfaring Booksellers, Hooked and Schuler Books.

One event that was featured for this year’s Lit Festival was the Book Crawl, which gave attendees the option to win a Lansing LIT book tote.  According to the festival’s Facebook page, the Book Crawl encouraged attendees to visit each participating book shop, make a purchase of $1 or more, then get a stamp or signature on your bookmark at checkout. The completed bookmark could be redeemed at either Hooked or Wayfaring Booksellers for the tote bag.

The Lansing LIT Festival is planned by Sarah Reckhow—co-owner of Hooked Bookstore and Cafe—and Dylan Rogers—owner of The Robin Theatre and The Robin Books. This is the event’s second consecutive year.