The Penn Humanities Forum was launched with a "Celebration of Philadelphia Writers," a spring weekend in 1999 in which sixty local novelists, poets, and scholars assembled in historic and cultural venues throughout the city.

Over 2000 Philadelphians attended the readings, walking tours, performances, and lectures, and thousands across the country saw these re-broadcast on C-Span. The Celebration epitomizes the Forum's mission: to use humanistic knowledge and expertise to promote an ongoing cultural conversation involving the range of university disciplines and the general public.   More detail...