SARANAC LAKE — The Tri-Lakes region will celebrate writers, readers and storytellers of all ages in two concurrent festivals on Aug. 19-20 in the neighboring villages of Saranac Lake and Lake Placid.

On Aug. 19 and Aug. 20, the Adirondack Center for Writing will present the first annual Kick*** Writers Festival in locations all over Saranac Lake. Sponsored by over a dozen local organizations and businesses, this festival will include readings, workshops, talks, publishing programs, special performances, a book fair, attendee speed dating and more. Featured speakers include Pulitzer-prize winning playwright/novelist Ayad Akhtar, and Silvia Vasquez-Lavado, the first openly gay woman to climb the world’s seven highest summits, whose story is being turned into a film starring Selena Gomez.

On Saturday, Aug. 20, John Brown Lives! and numerous community partners will host the first Adirondack Family Book Festival at the John Brown Farm State Historic Site in Lake Placid. Among the dozen invited authors and artists are several Newbery and Caldecott honorees and New York Times bestsellers who will meet their fans of all ages, read aloud and talk about their work.

Between the Adirondack Family Book Festival’s focus on children’s literature, middle grade books and young adult novels, and the Kick*** Writer’s Festival’s broad inclusion of poetry, fiction, memoir, travel writing and comedy. The Adirondack Family Book Festival will include activities that pair beauty and discovery on the John Brown Farm’s 270 acres with select books and stories, while the Kick*** Writers Festival, happening all over the village of Saranac Lake, will celebrate how writing and storytelling — in all of their forms — are essential to art, entertainment and social change.

“I couldn’t be happier that these festivals are happening here,” Sarah Galvin, owner of Lake Placid’s popular Bookstore Plus, said. “Any day filled with stories, authors and illustrators is a gift! To have this lineup of talent coming to the Adirondacks is amazing!”

For more information about the Kick*** Writers Festival, visit adirondackcenterforwriting.org. For more information about the Adirondack Family Book Festival, visit johnbrownlives.org/events.