Following the success of the first festival in 2022, the Adoptee Literary Festival returns on March 22, 2025. It will again be virtual and free to attend. This is an all volunteer, all adoptee-run event, featuring adoptee writers who are on the frontline of adoptee representation in literature.

The mission of the Adoptee Literary Festival is to bring together writers who self-identify as having been adopted, fostered, or otherwise displaced to share their stories, make their voices heard, and reshape the narrative of adoption which has for too long been dominated by adoptive parents and the adoption industry. Covering all genres, the festival highlights writing that makes adoptees the subject, rather than the object, of their own stories. Respectful of diverse opinions, the festival recognizes that every adoption story is different, and celebrates all genuine voices that seek to educate, engage, and nurture.

The keynote speaker is educator, academic, editor, award-winning author and long-time adoptee advocate Shannon Gibney, author of The Girl I Am, Was, And Never Will Be: A Speculative Memoir of Transracial Adoption, among many other books. Her keynote address will start the festival at 11 am ET.

Featuring writers such as Susan Ito, Eric Smith, Sarah Myer, Nicole Chung, and Mariama Lockington, the program offers four cross-genre panels open to all registrants, and four workshops open only to adoptees. Topics include publishing as an adopted person, writing about estrangement, queer and adopted writers, ghost kingdoms, and much more.

In addition, a sizzle reel of established and emerging adoptee writers reading their work, produced by the adoptee documentarian Shelby Kilgore, will premiere on the Adoptee Literary Festival’s YouTube channel at 2:20 pm ET. Finally, the festival will close with a live roundtable reading by many of the day’s presenters.

Adoptee-owned Loyalty Bookstores is again the official bookseller. To truly make this an all adoptee event, only adoptee-run organizations were solicited for donations, with a robust response. Many individual adoptees have donated as well, reflecting the appreciation for an event that validates adoptee voices. After paying administrative expenses, all the money raised will go to honoraria for the presenters.

The complete program is available at AdopteeLitFest.com. Registration is open now.