SARANAC LAKE — The Adirondack Center for Writing is planning to bring a new writer’s festival to Saranac Lake this summer.

On Aug. 19-20, the ACW will present the first annual Kick*** Writers Festival, featuring writers, poets, comedians, mountaineers and more. The festival will take place across various locations all over Saranac Lake and will include readings, workshops, talks, publishing programs, special performances, a book fair, speed dating and more. The Kick*** Writers Festival celebrates how writing and storytelling — in all forms — are essential to art, entertainment and social change.

The two-day event will kick-off Friday, Aug. 19 at Pendragon Theater with the 2021 New York state author, Ayad Akhtar, and the 2021 New York state poet, Willie Perdomo. The pair will be introduced by former New York state writer Russell Banks, along with the award-winning poet Chase Twitchell. This specific reading is the result of a collaboration with the New York State Writers Institute at SUNY Albany.

On Saturday, Aug. 20, ACW will present memoirist, feminist and humanitarian Silvia Vasquez-Lavado, the first Peruvian woman to climb Mount Everest, and the first openly gay woman to climb the Seven Summits, the highest mountains on each of the seven continents. Her debut memoir, “In the Shadow of the Mountain,” tells the story of how an early life of abuse and addiction led her to discover hiking as a method of healing. These pursuits transformed her life and empowered her to not only climb the world’s most challenging summits, but also to found the non-profit, Courageous Girls. Her memoir is currently being adapted into a major motion picture starring Selena Gomez.

Saturday evening’s events will include a showcase of festival authors such as Gwen Kirby, author of the wild debut collection of short stories, “Sh** Cassandra Saw.” Authors will be accompanied by comedian and musician Marcia Belsky, whose hilarious song, “100 Tampons” went viral in 2020. Belsky will perform a mix of stand-up comedy, storytelling and music alongside festival authors at the Waterhole to close out the festival on Saturday night.

“We’re proud to bring some of the most exciting writers in the country here to Saranac Lake,” ACW Executive Director Nathalie Thill said in a statement. “This festival — a partnership with the New York State Writers Institute, the Wild Center, Pendragon Theatre, Saranac Lake Free Library, SL Book Nook and the Adirondack Council — will be the same weekend as the Plein Air Festival, with whom we are working to cross-promote and even mirror some of their programs. It’s community teamwork like this that makes Saranac Lake the nucleus for the arts in the Adirondacks.”