Santa Barbara Literary Festival brings authors and readers together

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) The first Santa Barbara Literary Festival is happening this weekend.

Festival founders Leslie Zemeckis and Lorissa Rinehart are using locations all over downtown.

The first panel brought crime writers together at the Lobero Theatre on Saturday morning.

They talked about the kinds of stories they tell.

"It was a great experience anytime you can get authors together as a group especially as a diverse group like this it is really magical," said "We Were Never Friends" author Kaira Rouda.

A "Bad Girls" panel followed at the former Karpeles Museum space.

Sunday's lineup include romantacy

"To be here inaugural Santa Barbara literary festival is absolutely huge I feel so honored I am very excited. I think it is really fun that we are featuring romantacy in this way," said "Cursebreaker" author R. M. Gray.

Leslie Zemekis looked out at a standing room only crowd and then signed books.

She intends to make the festival an annual event.

For more information visit https://www.santabarbaraliteraryfestival.org/