There are many literary events taking place regularly in Tartu. Some of them have a long history, some are initiatives of the recent years. All types of events have their own schedule but the organisers collaborate to avoid overlapping as much as possible.

Literary Tuesdays
Organised by the Tartu Department of the Estonian Writers' Union, the Literary Tuesdays take place every week at Tartu Literature House, often in cooperation with various other organisations. This series of events have a more than 10-year-old tradition and the programme is diverse, ranging from book presentations and poetry readings to seminars and discussions as well as concerts and theatre performances.

Literary Cafés at Tartu Public Library
Among various other literary events and exhibitions, Tartu Public Library organises monthly literary cafés since 2007. Every month a book is selected for the next month's gathering so the readers have time to read the book before coming together on the last Thursday of the next month to discuss it with other readers as well as guest speakers. Since 2014 the library organises a monthly pop-up literary café for the youth. A series of literary events dedicated to travel books also take place in cooperation with the publishing house Petrone Print.

Tartu Poetry Slam TarSlämm 
Initiated by the poet Jaan Malin and currently organised by NPO Lavaluule TarSlämm has become the biggest poetry live show in Estonia with poetry slam nights taking place from autumn to spring at the restaurant-club Vilde ja Vine. The finale is organised during the Literary Festival Prima Vista. The slam nights take place every two months and attract a diverse audience. Over the years TarSlämm has built various international links, including participation in the international spoken word project Borderlines in Spring 2019. Foreign authors are often invited as guest performers, most of whom also lead a creative writing workshop during their visit.

Literary quizzes
Initiated in 2014 the regular literary quizzes at Tartu Literature House Culture Club Salong have been very popular among the students as well as writers and critics. Everybody can participate in teams of up to 5 members and the regularly attending teams also take turns compiling the quizzes. There are usually one or two quizzes per month and they always take place on Saturday evenings.

Literary salons
Since 2016 literary events in the form of a salon have become more and more popular in Tartu. Offering a way of experiencing more informal gatherings, readings and discussions on literary topics the salons at the bookshop Utoopia attract different generations and, depending on the performer or topic, also people with different interests.