Saturday, 2/1/2025

Sunday, 2/2/2025

Monday, 2/3/2025

A meeting of the writers house planning committee

5:30 PM in person

rsvp: register here to attend in person

Join us for a meeting of the Writers House Planning Committee (also known as "the Hub") — the core group of engaged students, staff, faculty, and volunteers who help make things happen at Writers House. Anyone is welcome to become a Hub member by participating in Hub activities and helping out. Members of the Hub plan programs, share ideas, and discuss upcoming projects.


Tuesday, 2/4/2025

Wednesday, 2/5/2025

Mystery novelist Jessica Goodman

in conversation with Kelsey McKinney

6:00 PM in person

rsvp: register here to attend in person

Kelsey McKinney (Normal Gossip) will host a conversation with Jessica Goodman, bestselling author of They Wish They Were Us and The Counselors, about her latest page-turning murder mystery, The Meadowbrook Murders. Set at a prestigious New England boarding school, The Meadowbrook Murders is a gripping story about the inextricable way power, privilege, and secrets are linked — and how telling the truth can come at a deadly price.

Jessica Goodman is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Counselors, The Legacies, They’ll Never Catch Us, and They Wish They Were Us. She is the former op-ed editor at Cosmopolitan magazine. Her work has also been published in Marie Claire, Entertainment Weekly, The Cut, and Glamour. Follow Jessica on Twitter @jessgood and on Instagram @jessicagoodman.


Kelsey McKinney is a reporter and writer who lives in Philadelphia. She is the host of Normal Gossip as well as a co-owner and features writer at Defector.com. She has worked as a staff writer at Deadspin, Fusion, and Vox, and her reporting and essays have appeared in The New York Times, New York Magazine, GQ, Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Vanity Fair and many others. Her first novel, God Spare the Girls, was published in the summer of 2021 by William Morrow.


Thursday, 2/6/2025

Friday, 2/7/2025

Saturday, 2/8/2025

Sunday, 2/9/2025

Monday, 2/10/2025

Tuesday, 2/11/2025

A Conversation with Penn Press Editor Walter Biggins

Applebaum Editors and Publishers Program

12:00 PM in person

hosted by: Julia Bloch
rsvp: register here to attend in person

Walter Biggins is editor in chief of the University of Pennsylvania Press. He acquires books in human rights, cultural studies of the U.S. and of the African diaspora, and print culture studies.

Wednesday, 2/12/2025

Thursday, 2/13/2025

Chili Cook-Off

5:30 PM in person

rsvp: register here to make chili or attend in person

It’s time for the revival of our annual Kelly Writers House Chili Cook-Off! Anyone can enter the competition and compete to win the title of best chili maker. The Cook-Off is open to teams and individuals. To participate, please make a big batch of your best chili and bring it to the KWH ready to eat by 5:30 PM for a community tasting. We’ll reimburse you up to $50 for ingredients (so hang on to your receipts).

Friday, 2/14/2025

Saturday, 2/15/2025

Sunday, 2/16/2025

Monday, 2/17/2025

Live at the Writers house

a monthly radio show produced in collaboration with WXPN

6:30 PM in person

rsvp: register here to attend in person

LIVE at the Writers House is a long-standing collaboration of the people of the Kelly Writers House and of WXPN (88.5 FM). Six times annually between September and April, the Writers House records a one-hour show of poetry, music, and other spoken-word art for broadcast by WXPN. LIVE at the Writers House is edited by Zach Carduner and produced by Alli Katz. The show is made possible through the generous support of BigRoc.

Tuesday, 2/18/2025

Wednesday, 2/19/2025

Thursday, 2/20/2025

Friday, 2/21/2025

Saturday, 2/22/2025

Sunday, 2/23/2025

Monday, 2/24/2025

A reading by Patti Smith

Kelly Writers House Fellows Program

6:30 PM in person

rsvp required: event full

Patti Smith is a singer, songwriter, poet, and musician who rose to fame in the 1970s through the New York City-based punk rock movement. One of her most widely know songs, “Because The Night,” co-written with Bruce Springsteen, reached 13th on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. In 2005, she was named a Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture. In 2007, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Her memoir Just Kids, chronicling her early years in New York and relationship to photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, won the National Book Award in 2010. The Rolling Stone magazine ranked her 47th on a list of 100 Greatest Artists of All Time in 2010. Her other books include Woolgathering (1992), M Train (2015), Devotion (2017), and Year of the Monkey (2019).


Tuesday, 2/25/2025

A conversation with Patti Smith

Kelly Writers House Fellows Program

10:00 AM in person

rsvp required: event full

Patti Smith is a singer, songwriter, poet, and musician who rose to fame in the 1970s through the New York City-based punk rock movement. One of her most widely know songs, “Because The Night,” co-written with Bruce Springsteen, reached 13th on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. In 2005, she was named a Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture. In 2007, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Her memoir Just Kids, chronicling her early years in New York and relationship to photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, won the National Book Award in 2010. The Rolling Stone magazine ranked her 47th on a list of 100 Greatest Artists of All Time in 2010. Her other books include Woolgathering (1992), M Train (2015), Devotion (2017), and Year of the Monkey (2019).


Wednesday, 2/26/2025

Thursday, 2/27/2025

Friday, 2/28/2025