The Charleston Literary Festival has four days left at the Dock Street Theatre, 135 Church Street, and the weekday afternoons and evenings are sold out. At the start of November, every Thursday session from 2 p.m. on and every Friday session from 5 p.m. on was listed as sold out. Every session before those cutoffs still had seats. If you can walk over on a weekday morning, you have the best odds of getting in this month. The same pattern carries into December, when Charleston Stage takes over the room for A Christmas Carol.
Thursday and Friday Sell Out From the Afternoon On
The festival runs Nov. 6 through 15 at Dock Street. It's organized by an independent nonprofit led by executive director Sarah Moriarty. Here is how the festival program lays out today and tomorrow:
| Day | Time | Session | Status at start of November |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thu., Nov. 12 | 10 a.m. | Ada Ferrer | Open, $30 |
| Thu., Nov. 12 | Noon | Jim Shepard and Kurt Andersen | Open, $30 |
| Thu., Nov. 12 | 2 p.m. | Daniel Kraus | Sold out, $10 livestream |
| Thu., Nov. 12 | 4 p.m. | Catherine Ostler | Sold out, $10 livestream |
| Thu., Nov. 12 | 6 p.m. | Hernan Diaz | Sold out, $10 livestream |
| Fri., Nov. 13 | 11 a.m. | Sarah Churchwell | Open, $30 |
| Fri., Nov. 13 | 1 p.m. | Sue Stuart-Smith | Open, from $30 |
| Fri., Nov. 13 | 3 p.m. | Liaquat Ahamed | Open, $30 |
| Fri., Nov. 13 | 5 p.m. | Curtis Sittenfeld | Sold out, $10 livestream |
| Fri., Nov. 13 | 7 p.m. | Barbara Kingsolver | Sold out, $10 livestream |
Thursday's split comes earlier, after the noon session. Friday holds until 5 p.m. Either way, the open sessions are the ones a person with a desk job would have trouble reaching. For someone a few blocks from Church Street, they're the easiest of the week. On the festival's TicketSpice page, a $30 seat comes to $32.33 with fees. Kingsolver's Friday ticket was $50 with a book included and is already gone.
The sold-out evenings still have a way in. Each comes with a $10 at-home livestream, $11.63 after fees. So you can spend Thursday morning in the theater with Ada Ferrer and Thursday night at your kitchen table with Hernan Diaz, for less than one in-person ticket covers.
The Weekend Mixes It Up
Saturday and Sunday don't split as cleanly, and the open seats move around. Saturday starts with Eric Litwin and Pete the Cat at 9 a.m., already sold out. Children's tickets for that session were free with registration and general admission was $25. Kwame Onwuachi's 9:30 a.m. session, $35, is the one weekend event at the Gaillard Center, not Dock Street. Here's what was still open at Dock Street at the start of the month:
- Sat., Nov. 14, 11 a.m.: Hermione Lee, $30
- Sat., Nov. 14, 5 p.m.: Paul Goldberger, $30
- Sat., Nov. 14, 7 p.m.: Jeanette Winterson, $30
- Sun., Nov. 15, 1 p.m.: Jung Chang, $30
- Sun., Nov. 15, 5 p.m.: James Lasdun, $30
The sold-out weekend sessions fall in between. On Saturday, that's Michael Cunningham at 1 p.m. and Eric Ripert with Nigel Parry at 3 p.m. On Sunday, it's Jenna Bush Hager with Lucy Tan at 11 a.m., Tim Berners-Lee at 3 p.m., and Freshwater: A Comedy closing the festival at 7 p.m. The weekend is the only part of the final four days that still had evening seats. Paul Goldberger at 5 p.m. Saturday, Jeanette Winterson at 7 p.m. Saturday and James Lasdun at 5 p.m. Sunday were all open.
Seat status changes by the hour once a festival is this close, so check the TicketSpice page before you head over.
Two Weeks to Turn the Room Over
Fourteen days after Freshwater, the same stage opens in Victorian London. Charleston Stage's A Christmas Carol runs Nov. 29 through Dec. 20, 2026. It uses Julian Wiles's stage adaptation, with direction by Marybeth Clark and music direction by Misha Pekar. The company calls it a return, and the history goes back a long way.
Wiles founded the company in 1978 as the Young Charleston Theatre Company. It became Charleston Stage in 1993. In the company history he wrote, he describes how it all started:
"Our first show in 1978 at the Dock Street Theatre was a production of A Christmas Carol. Greens brought down from the Calhoun County farm where I grew up decorated the lobby and stairs."
He goes on to describe two ceiling-high Christmas trees in the lobby and smilax wound around the grand staircases. Cast members built sets and sewed costumes because the budget was thin. The company has been in residence at Dock Street ever since. The Post and Courier counts 2026–27 as its 49th season: five MainStage plays, one holiday show, and three Family Series productions. The holiday show is the one that started it all.
December 2 Works the Same Way
The best-priced way into this year's Carol also favors people who live nearby and can decide late. On Wednesday, Dec. 2, Charleston Stage holds its PNC Pay-As-You-Please performance. Those tickets go on sale online only, 24 hours before the curtain. If you live a short walk from Church Street, that one-day window is easy to use. You can buy on Tuesday and be in your seat Wednesday without parking or planning around a drive. The show page links to the special ticket listing for that night.
That's the same pattern as the festival's final weekdays. The seats easiest to come by belong to people who can show up in the middle of the week on short notice.
Before the Curtain and After It, a Block Away
With a 10 a.m. festival session or a weekday matinee, it helps to have a few stops lined up nearby. Here are the dates and stops to know through the run of Carol:
- Cafe Lucca, 225 Meeting St. This pop-up café inside the cocktail bar Doar Bros. opened in September 2026. Owner Jonathan Doar named it for his young son. It serves espresso, Italian cream sodas, matcha, and fresh juices, plus a small house-made breakfast menu with breakfast sandwiches, a prosciutto panino, and French toast. Pastries rotate in from local bakeries. That's plenty before an 11 a.m. Hermione Lee session.
- Little Pine at Little Palm, 237 Meeting St., Nov. 9 through Jan. 5. The après-ski pop-up has reservable ski huts, fire pits, and seasonal cocktails, steps from the French Quarter's Meeting Street edge. It's a natural stop after a Saturday at Dock Street.
- First Friday ArtWalk, Fri., Dec. 4. The Charleston Gallery Association lists its December walk for the first Friday of Carol's run. Participating galleries generally open 5 to 8 p.m., and the route is self-guided. A gallery loop before an evening performance fits easily into that window.
From the festival's last weekend through Dec. 20, the Dock Street Theatre has two big draws back to back. Most of the weekday evening headliners went fast. The daytime sessions, the livestreams, and the Dec. 2 performance are still there for neighbors who can get there on a weekday or buy a day ahead.
If you're looking at a second home within walking distance of a stage like Dock Street, or wondering how a French Quarter address fits the way you spend your evenings, Crossman & Co would be glad to walk Church Street with you and talk it through. Schedule your free consultation.
