About The Festival:

Mission Statement: To celebrate the power and beauty of the written word, bringing together those who create with those who appreciate, with special emphasis on fostering community involvement.

The Southwest Word Fiesta, originally known as the Southwest Festival of the Written Word, was created to celebrate authors who live and work in the Southwest. Festivals feature the heritage of writing and writers in the Southwest, showing how that deep history connects to the present. The festival reveals how the diverse literary genres and interests coalesce and relate. Writers who have produced outstanding work that deserves continued appreciation are honored. People of all ages who want to improve their writing or to make a career of putting words together are encouraged.

The Southwest Word Fiesta deliberately uses the word ‘celebrate’ in its mission statement because the power and freedom of ideas cast in words of subtle art always create, among other emotions, joy. Celebration is cause enough for a Southwest festival. Our festival also creates a crossroad where people from Arizona, Texas, Colorado and New Mexico meet and talk literature, publishing, and the myriad topics that engage writers and readers.