Santa Barbara Literary Festival writes first chapter May 2 & 3, 2026

SANTA BARARBA, Calif. (KEYT) The Santa Barbara Literary festival will write its first chapter on May 2 & 3, 2026.

Posters are going up all around Downtown Santa Barbara.

The festival will celebrate storytellers at multiple venues including the Lobero, the former Karpeles Manuscript Museum and the Environmental Hub.

It is the brainchild of local author, filmmaker and actor Leslie Zemeckis.

"It is the first one in Santa Barbara and I kind of modeled it off the film festival, Roger Durling is a great friend and to see what he has done for film in Santa Barbara, I want to do for books, not quite on his level, I mean, that is a few years out, " said Zemeckis, "but we have amazing authors and storytellers and screenwriters and it was really important to me to get this young element, so we have this big Romantacy panel with a hot actor, so I am very excited about that."

Actress and author Muriel Hemingway will moderate a Women's Health, Wealth & Happiness panel that includes author Leslie Lehr, who happens to be KEYT reporter Tracy Lehr's sister.

Leslie Zemeckis will appear the our News Channel morning show on April 28.

For ticket and author and panel information visit https://www.santabarbaraliteraryfestival.org