Exhibitors
Meet the Festival Bookseller
All Good Books is bringing their book-loving expertise to Read Freely Fest. As Columbia’s go-to independent bookstore, they’ll be slingin’ books by the 40+ authors speaking at the festival, making it easy to grab a copy for signings and take home a new favorite. Find them on-site and stock up!
Artisans & Retail
Offering a collection of handcrafted items, including purses, wallets, and backpacks, each piece is made with care and attention to detail.
A love of books, coffee, wine, plants, and pets is reflected throughout the products, along with a focus on curating custom and personalized gifts.
Hand-poured candles, bookish stickers, and thoughtfully designed accessories created with care and inspired by a love of stories. These cozy items are made for readers who find comfort in pages and joy in the little details.
Glass can drinkware and punch needle art featuring playful designs and handcrafted details.
A constantly evolving artist works in this studio, creating expressive abstract paintings, mixed media pieces, neatly bound journals, collages, and beautiful hand-sewn creations.
A permanent jewelry vendor focused on superior service and personalized attention, offering thoughtfully crafted pieces designed to be meaningful, lasting, and uniquely yours.
A teacher-owned business offers custom-made clothing and home goods. Specializing in teacher tees, hedgehog-themed items, nurse tees, and personalized designs, it has grown into a favorite destination for unique creations.
Bold, unconventional polymer clay earrings designed for those who love to stand out. Each handcrafted pair features alternative and novelty designs that bring a touch of weird and whimsical flair to any style.
Block printed tea towels, bandanas, notecards, bookmarks, and other linens & paper goods.
Booksellers & Publishers
Celebrating 30 years in 2025, this independent literary press champions exceptional, underrepresented writers from the American South. With a focus on diverse voices and books outside the commercial mainstream, it offers a national platform to reshape the perception of the South in literature and beyond.
Since 2018, Good Printed Things has published work focused on connection – with ourselves, others, and the surrounding world. Specializing in small print runs, we proudly work with emergent and established writers and artists to seek out, explore, and celebrate the good.
Let's Say Gay: A Queer Youth Literary Journal
A group of queer students founded this publication to stand against censorship and create a space for LGBTQ+ youth. As writers, artists, and creators, we were driven to combat the isolation imposed by discriminatory regulations and the increasing number of book bans.
A bookstore that aims to spark collective action for liberation and community building among readers and book lovers by promoting stories from intersectional experiences.
Founded to make room for work that often struggles to find a sustained home in traditional publishing. We publish writers whose voices are shaped by the South and attentive to the pressures of living here now. Our goal is not to define Southern literature, but to expand its possibilities through careful editorial practice and long-term partnership with our authors.
Founded to introduce children to contemporary literature, this publisher creates joyful, meaningful reading experiences. The mission is to bring memorable, funny, and sometimes misunderstood characters into readers’ lives
Located in South Carolina, the state's only independent queer bookstore provides a safe haven for the queer community. The mission is to offer refuge from the world's worries while defining "queer" broadly to include all genders and sexualities.
Southern Momentum Publishing House
Not a traditional publisher or a self-publishing service provider, the organization is positioned between gatekeeper and author collaborator. As an independent publisher, it offers a boutique professional publishing experience for serious writers who want to maintain creative control.
University of South Carolina Press
Founded in 1944, this renowned publishing house offers over 1,200 titles in print and digital formats. It publishes around 35 new works annually, focusing on Southern history, literary studies, African American studies, civil rights, Jewish studies, and rhetoric.