Rancho Mirage Writers Festival

Past Fellows Event

The Rancho Mirage Writers Festival is a world-class gathering of the finest writers who contribute to the intellectual vitality of our time. The City of Rancho Mirage, California, welcomes 40 authors and 1,000 readers from around the globe to the Rancho Mirage Library and Observatory each January. Jamie Kabler, who wanted to bring a premier intellectual event to the Coachella Valley, founded the Festival in 2014 which has been described as “Coachella for the Brain.”

The Festival's mission is to bring readers a rich and diverse program with topics ranging from politics, history, humor, and health to genre and literary fiction. Writers are all experts in their field, distinguished historians, respected journalists and gifted story-tellers. Many are recipients of the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award and the Man Booker Prize as well as New York Times bestsellers.

When January 29 – 31, 2020
What Lecture/Seminar
Where Rancho Mirage Library & Observatory
71-100 Highway 111, Rancho Mirage CA
Rancho Mirage Library & Observatory, 71-100 Highway 111, Rancho Mirage CA
Discipline: Literature – fiction

Michael Chabon

Discipline: Literature – fiction
Region: Oakland, CA
MacDowell Fellowships: 1996, 1997, 1998, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2022
Discipline: Literature – nonfiction

Susan Orlean

Discipline: Literature – nonfiction
Region: Los Angeles, CA and Columbia County, NY
MacDowell Fellowships: 2010, 2015
Discipline: Literature

Doris Kearns Goodwin

Discipline: Literature
Region: Sheridan, WY
MacDowell Fellowships: 1973