SMU’s Dallas Literary Festival is bringing a blue-ribbon list of authors to Dallas on Saturday, March 4, for a day packed with discussion and inspiration.

Hear from Dallas best-selling authors with February 2023 releases, like Kathleen Kent and Deborah Crombie, as well as memoirist Kendra Allen, poet Destiny Birdsong and short story writer LaToya Watkins. Classical musicians and mystery writers Rosalyn Story and Brendan Slocumb also will discuss combining their musical passions with writing whodunits. Slocumb’s book, The Violin Conspiracy, is Good Morning America’s February Book Club pick. For those who want to become published authors, a panel that includes a literary agent, an editor and a publisher will round out the day of discussions.

The free festival is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in McCord Auditorium on the third floor of Dallas Hall, 3225 University Blvd., SMU campus.

Authors will appear in one-hour panels by genre, including mystery writers, poets, Dallas writers, best-selling authors and publishing experts.

Panel moderators will lead candid conversations between book lovers and authors. The moderators – literary experts in their own right – include David Hale Smith, literary agent for Inkwell Management; Jerry Hawkins, executive director of Dallas Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation; Timothy Diovanni, Dallas Morning News arts and entertainment editor; and Noelle LeVeaux, D Magazine publisher.

Other events include a student writer track, featuring SMU and Austin College students, a children’s book author panel and a musical wrap-up.

“The theme for the festival is ‘identity,’” says Sanderia Smith, SMU executive director of the festival. “We’re all trying to find out who we are after the pandemic,” she says.