Charleston Literary Festival: Opening Party
Sat, Nov 5, 2022 at 8pm
Join the Charleston Literary Festival’s opening party on November 5th to celebrate the power of literature. Enjoy entertainment from award-winning talent Wycliffe Gordon and His International All-Stars and Chef Tonya Mitchell’s Lowcountry cuisine.
At the Charleston Literary Festival, we embrace powerful creative experiences to encourage big ideas and spark conversations.
This year’s festival opening party will take place on Saturday, November 5th at College of Charleston’s Rivers Green. Set against the backdrop of the Addlestone Library, we invite our literary friends to come together—eat, talk, and dance—under the stars accompanied by the swinging sound of Wycliffe Gordon & His International All Stars.
Wycliffe Gordon’s award-winning talent on trombone, slide trumpet, and other brass instruments is astonishing. An original member of Lincoln Center’s Jazz Orchestra and a veteran member of the Wynton Marsalis Septet, Gordon has toured the world performing hard-swinging, straight-ahead jazz. He has won the Jazz Journalists Association “Trombonist of the Year” Award for 15 years.
Wynton Marsalis says, “just his presence is a creative experience.”
Chef Tonya Mitchell, the College of Charleston’s Campus Executive Chef, graduated from the Culinary Institute of America, and has appeared on the Food Network show Chopped. Tonya’s roots have strong influences on her cooking style; she was raised in Georgia by a Black father and a Japanese mother. Her love of Southern cuisine was shaped by her grandmother, aunt, and mother, who served “nothing but soul food” at home. For the opening party, Chef Tonya is cooking all locally-sourced foods.
Our friends at Charleston Jazz have collaborated with us on a jazzy cocktail—featuring bourbon and sweet tea—for the evening.
At its core, Charleston Literary Festival encourages people to come together to engage and explore. This celebratory opening night party is a chance to commune with like-minded book enthusiasts, authors, and people curious about big ideas.
