“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”

― Maya Angelou

We are a group of locals with a love of stories and of our coastal communities in equal measure. We see ample opportunity for literature and writing to be more prominent in daily life here. To expand our efforts to do just that, we’ve formed Coastal Literary Arts Movement as a nonprofit, public benefit corporation based in Half Moon Bay, California.

Our purpose is to foster a wide variety of literary endeavors, including local reporting, authorship, theater, film, student journalism and most any other verbal expression. While we are a new group, we are already reaching far into the coastal communities to learn where we will have the most benefit.

We are steadfast in our determination to create literary programs that are actually needed by our communities. You know your needs better than we do. We want to listen to your ideas.

Coastal Lit grew out of new ownership of the Half Moon Bay Review in 2018. As the new owners formed a for-profit corporation called Coastside News Group, Inc. (CNGI) to take over the Review and its assets, an idea for a literary nonprofit developed. That became Coastal Lit, a separate, independent group that shares no owners or directors with CNGI. Coastal Lit is a 501(c)(3) registered charity with the IRS and state of California and donations to us are deductible to the full extent allowed by law.

Board Members

We are a group of locals who love words and want to help literary experiences flourish in our coastal communities. Though Coastal Lit board membership is an unpaid position, we find the results of the work itself to be amply rewarding.

Louis H. “Louie” Castoria

Founder, CEO

Mr. Castoria has been a volunteer journalist for over 20 years, while maintaining his full-time employment as a partner in two sequential law firms. He served for twelve years on a nonprofit’s (Insurance Educational Association) Board, six of them as Chair. He is a 1976 graduate of the University of San Francisco (Valedictorian, Student Body President, and Editor-in-Chief of the USF Foghorn newspaper). His legal training was at Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California at Berkeley (J.D. 1980).

Brigid O’Farrell

Board Member

Ms. O’Farrell is an independent scholar, biographer, and author or editor of seven published books, the most recent being She Was One of Us: Eleanor Roosevelt and the American Worker, in which she recounts how Eleanor Roosevelt’s deep and enduring commitment to workers and the labor movement developed and how she translated that commitment into action. A sociologist by training (M.A., Harvard University), Ms. O’Farrell is a member of the American Sociological Association, the Industrial and Labor Relations Association, and the National Writers’ Union, UAW Local 1981.

Abraham Escalante

Board Member

Mr. Escalante has a Bachelor’s degree in Spanish, with a minor in journalism from San Jose State University, after studying English literature at Merced College. He is working toward a degree in Library Science, and is employed by the San Mateo County Library system. He has been an on-air personality and a Board Operator/Producer in radio stations KSJS and KSJO, respectively. Abraham perfectly matches CoastalLit’s goals of bilingual journalism and literary appreciation, and its collaboration with Coastside radio stations KPDO (Pescadero) and KHMB (Half Moon Bay).

Do you have questions?
Want to help with your time or donation?
Please contact us:
LetsTalk@CoastalLit.org