The Lit Festival is Ireland’s first festival of reading and writing run by young people, for young people and has been run as part of Waterford Youth Arts’ offering of programmes since 2017. 

The project is spearheaded by fifteen ambitious young creatives who design, market, present, programme and run a full weekend of arts and cultural activities for their peers aged 14-19, and families. 

Since 2025, the project has been rebranded to refocus on the training and education of the young people running the project in equal tandem to producing the final public offerings with great success.  

There are many core activities offered by The Lit: 

• To provide world-class workshops, talks and seminars on literature and creativity as part of The Lit Festival weekend to young adults in accessible venues for free or at a significantly reduced cost. 
• To create a training ground for young people to learn how to produce a festival, engage with top national and international creatives, and support the future for young creative producers in Waterford. 
• To develop Waterford’s reputation as a City of Young Adult Literature, both nationally and internationally. 
• To provide a safe place in Waterford to encourage creativity and civic responsibility in young people. 
• To attract top national and international talent. To promote Waterford City venues and organisations, raising the profile of the city internally and beyond. 

Please note that the details of events listed above are provided by the relevant Local Authorities.