The Kingston Writers Festival is no more.

In a press release issued this month, the festival announced it was closing because of “mounting financial pressures,” caused in part by reduced attendance and increased operational costs.

“Kingston WritersFest brought exceptional literary programming to our community for sixteen years,” board chair Julie Leclerc said in a statement. “The decision to close came after exhausting all options to maintain our high-quality programming while working toward financial stability.”

The festival, which held events in different venues in Kingston and also hosted writing classes, launched in the eastern Ontario city in 2009, and held its last iteration in the fall of 2024.