My haul from Litfest today! Small but esoteric. The Great Lakes Tarot was only $20 which is very reasonable for a tarot deck; they also have a rust belt tarot and they publish fascinating books. The soccer book I bought from radical bookseller Haymarket Books. But the prize of the day is a secondhand slipcase box book called Rogues, Vagabonds, and Sturdy Beggars. It's a 1973 reproduction of Tudor pamphlets about sin and crime, and it has the most astounding woodcut reproductions.

Epic Rap Battles of History: We about to drop the hottest, and the most angsty, mixtape in all of Brightmoon (It's more of a disstrack)

You just can't see it, but I'm wearing Ralph Lauren socks to honor the fact that Adora would 10/10 be THE horse girl in a Modern AU

The Exeter LitFest, held for the first time in April, recently received approval as a 501c3 nonprofit organization with the intention of making the festival an annual event.

Spoken word poetry last February 11, 2017 hosted by Cebu litfest

Four years ago, I did not want to live my days out like this. I did not want to wake up from an hour of sleep not because I was too sleepy to start another day, not because my bed was too comfortable, but because my knees were weaker than they have been since my mother patched up my wounds; she told me "Child, rise when you fall." I did not want to sit in front of my desk with a pen and a paper not because my spine hurts when I slouch, or not because my desk had little space for my arms, but because my hands were cold and exhausted from constantly writing about this pain that pinned me down to my bedsheets every morning. I did not want to have my friends come over to my house. Not because I was just having a bad day. Not because I did not want to see them; but because I did not want them to see me slowly slipping away. I did not want to look at myself in the mirror for more than a minute; not because the glass distorted my face the longer I stared; not because I always had to rush out of the door and I did not have time to fix my hair, but because I did not want to watch the flashing memories of when I had my heart broken reflected in my eyes. I did not want to see my wounds when I slashed my wrists open and pierced my skin with my nails hoping that the blood that comes out washes away my guilt and shame-- I bled in places where no one could see me. I did not want to shut my eyes to watch my dreams; not because I was afraid of the ghosts that my grandfather made up when I was five, not because my dreams were stories of me chasing my breath and the light of the sun on the mountains, but because my dreams were always nightmares; strange tales of a little girl running away from the dwindling light in a tunnel and the monsters that creep in the darkness. My dreams made me hold my breath longer than I hold my breath underwater to live. I did not want to live. Until I did. Until you found me amidst the wars that I was battling. You took my hands and clasped them in yours. You told me I was beautiful and I didn't believe you until one night when you saw me drenched in tears and instead of screaming at me for being fragile, you traced your fingers on the intricate details of my skin, kissing my scars and you said, "I want to love you for the rest of my life."

Since less than four years ago, even in all the brokenness, I wanted to live a day longer, and longer, and another day longer. Not because someone else dictated that I should; Not because I ran out of sharp-pointed objects to slit my skin open to bleed; But because, love, you are the most beautiful thing that exists in the chaos of my mind. And I want to love you for the rest of my life.

Yes! Litfest is this weekend and it's GREAT. It's two blocks of books for sale right outside my front door, dotted about with organizations that like books and storytelling and local businesses that support same. I actually was super bummed because I thought it was next weekend, when I'll be in Texas for my birthday, but I found out like YESTERDAY that it's this weekend. So I will be roaming secretly within it like the cryptid I am.

Chicagoans, if you're going, please stop by the Chicago Public Library booth because they always have nice swag and sometimes free books, and also please stop by the booth for Stories Matter Foundation, which is a brilliant nonprofit that helps storytellers build skills, think critically about storytelling, and learn confidence in their craft.

"Seacoast residents are invited to join Exeter in celebrating its literary history; past present and future April 5-6 at the town’s first ever LitFest.

Renay Allen, an event organizer with the LitFest’s steering committee said Exeter is a regional hub of writers dating back to Colonial times. She said coming up with the programming and lining up speakers took nearly two years.

'Exeter is home to a stunning array of writers throughout history we wanted to celebrate,' Allen said. 'So we figured if we built it, people will come to learn about them.'

Kavita Rustom Kerawalla speaking at the VIBGYOR LIT fest at Malad East.