The high desert has long attracted and inspired writers, but it hasn’t always offered literary opportunities that match the diversity and talent of the writers who live and write there.
Now, thanks to fresh venues, a multitude of publications and a new weekend-long literary festival, there are more opportunities than ever for writers and literature-lovers in the high desert to connect with each other, share their work and build community.
The inaugural Hi-Desert Lo-Fi Lit Weekend is a free festival that features panels, workshops, readings and performances. It will be held in venues throughout the Morongo Basin from Friday, March 20, to Sunday, March 22, and features writers who have made the desert central to their work, such as Claire Vaye Watkins, Ivy Pochoda, Tod Goldberg and Ruth Nolan, as well as performances that merge literature and music, by Red Light Lit, C’est Claire, and Mike Watt and the Missingmen.
Co-organizer Gina Frangello describes the weekend as a “movable feast of a festival” with an ethos of “no tickets, no wristbands, no bullshit.” The festival will open on Friday with performances at the Palms in Wonder Valley, continue on Saturday with panels at Z Club in Joshua Tree and bands at Mojave Gold in Yucca Valley, and conclude on Sunday with readings and panels at Corner 62 and a closing party at Tin Town in Twentynine Palms.
Frangello lives in Wonder Valley with her husband, writer Rob Roberge. They previously organized the Bombay Beach Lit Fest, but they decided to create a new iteration of the festival in the high desert, because, “We live here; we love it here; and we want to champion our own community.”
That high desert is rapidly developing a vibrant literary ecosystem for writers of all kinds, Frangello said.
“One of the things I really love about the desert literary community is that it’s non-hierarchical,” she said. “Established and emerging writers appear side by side at the same venues and events. Everyone knows each other, and the festival is cool, because it’s a chance to bring everyone together.”
Jean-Paul L. Garnier—writer, publisher and owner of Space Cowboy Books in Joshua Tree—has long been one of the pillars of the high desert literary scene. His store features a wide variety of books, with a special focus on science fiction, and recently celebrated its 10th anniversary. A decade ago, there were writers’ groups such as Cholla Needles and Mojave Sage Writers, and there was Raven’s Books in Twentynine Palms, but no bookstore in Joshua Tree.
“There wasn’t a lot of literary programming and places for authors to come hang out,” Garnier said. “Immediately I saw that’s a gap I needed to fill. Since then, there are a ton of different literary offerings of various flavors.”
The pandemic reshaped the high desert literary landscape. It brought the closing of both of Yucca Valley’s used bookstores, but an influx of new resident writers to the area.
After arriving in Joshua Tree in 2017, writer Susan Rukeyser launched the Desert Split Open, an open mic and reading series for writing that is “queer, feminist and otherwise radical.” She began the series because “I wanted to have a shame-free place for people who are writers, and those who did not identify primarily as writers, because they had a story to tell.”
The pandemic reshaped the high desert literary landscape. It brought the closing of both of Yucca Valley’s used bookstores, but an influx of new resident writers to the area. Rukeyser began holding events outside during the pandemic, and now there are “a lot of new, cool venues that are sheltered from the elements and well-equipped, which has expanded the possibilities for literary events,” Rukeyser said.
Rukeyser has since broadened the Desert Split Open to include book launches for local and visiting authors, and readings during Pride month and Banned Books Week. On March 22, Rukeyser will host a Desert Split Open reading at Corner 62 as part of the Lo-Fi Lit Fest. With new venues and residents coming to the high desert, Rukeyser said the genre of “desert writing” is becoming more inclusive.
“It’s not just writing about the desert anymore, and it’s not necessarily a masculine environment,” Rukeyser said.
For desert writers, there is a growing cadre of literary journals that features both local and national writers. Natalie Raymond is the managing and poetry editor for Jackrabbit Journal, a new literary journal that will highlight queer writers. With the first issue coming out this year, Jackrabbit Journal will join the ranks of Howl, the long-running literary journal from Copper Mountain College in Joshua Tree, and publications like the literary arts-focused Beyond the Last Estate and the science-fiction- and paranormal-inspired PO Box Outer Space.
Raymond is a photographer and a poet who moved to the high desert in 2024. After volunteering at the Twentynine Palms Book Festival and attending local book clubs, she found she was quickly embraced by a community of writers. According to Raymond, Jackrabbit Journal aims to bridge the gap between generations and genres of writers in the high desert, while also incorporating visual art.
“I do see that there’s a divide between people who have been here for a long time, and newer people to the high desert,” she said, adding that she hopes Jackrabbit Journal can play a role in helping literary groups come together. Raymond noted the “importance of having something for the whole community, to be less separated and to be a part of building creative communities throughout the basin.”
An emphasis on community in all its forms was important to each of the writers I spoke to for this piece. Garnier said he hopes high desert writers will do more to give back as the scene grows. He highlighted initiatives such as Spark Growth, a local nonprofit that supports books and arts for local children, and Books to Prisoners, noting, “I would love to see the more recent import literary scene get behind projects like these, because together, we can make a bigger impact.”
Frangello struck a similar tone, noting that the high desert is just starting to develop a literary infrastructure that nurtures, lifts up and gives back to writers every level, noting that an event like the Hi-Desert Lo-Fit Lit Weekend is “a chance to get in on the ground floor on a literary scene that’s large and inclusive.”
The Hi-Desert Lo-Fi Lit Weekend will be held Friday, March 20, through Sunday, March 22, at venues throughout the high desert. For a full schedule and more information, visit circeconsulting.net/hdlf.
Space Cowboy Books is located at 61871 Twentynine Palms Highway, in Joshua Tree. Learn more at spacecowboybooks.com.