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The 2024 Baltimore Book Festival
Saturday September 28th and Sunday September 29th
In and around Waverly Main Street
Greenmount Avenue from 30th Street to 32nd Street
The Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts (BOPA), in partnership with the City of Baltimore, Waverly Main Street, Red Emma’s, CityLit Project, and Peabody Heights Brewery, announce the programming for the 25th Baltimore Book Festival, September 28th and 29th, 2024. The festival is also generously supported by Councilwoman Odette Ramos.
The Waverly neighborhood is home to a number of independent bookstores including partner Red Emma’s, Normals Books & Records, Urban Reads, and The Book Thing of Baltimore. Spanning six stages and more than 10 programming partners, this year’s Baltimore Book Festival will include over 100 presenting authors and literary personalities.
“As home to greats ranging from Edgar Allen Poe to Lucille Clifton, Baltimore recognizes literature as one of its most important art forms,” says Rachel D. Graham, chief executive officer, Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts. “As we mark 25 years of highlighting this culturally rich and brilliantly diverse genre, we are excited about how that diversity and the City’s love of the written word is reflected in this year’s festival.”
The Baltimore Book Festival 32nd Street Stage, presented in partnership with Red Emma’s, features celebrated authors such as adrienne maree brown and Alexis Pauline Gumbs alongside distinguished local creatives like author D. Watkins and Persia Nicole from 92Q/Fox 45. At 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, Charm City Books presents Hilton Carter discussing The Propagation Handbook, and at 4:00 p.m., in partnership with The Baltimore Beat, Lisa Snowden, Deyane Moses, Bilphena Yahwon, and Bry Reed talk about Preserving History & How the Black Press Safeguards the Past. The stage closes on Saturday with a conversation between bestselling writer adrienne maree brown and Ashindi Maxton, Co-Director of the Donors of Color Network. At noon on Sunday, Alexis Pauline Gumbs & Danielle Evans have a conversation about Survival Is a Promise: The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde followed by Mike Africa, Jr. & D. Watkins discussing On a Move: Philadelphia’s Notorious Bombing and a Native Son’s Lifelong Battle for Justice at 1:00 p.m.
On the 31st Street Stage on Saturday, CityLit Project features Roxana Robinson (Leaving) discussing late loving in the winter years with WYPR’s The Weekly Reader Marion Winik and founder of Well-Read Black Girl’s Glory Edim announcing her forthcoming work Gather Me with Leslie Gray Streeter (recently named Best Columnist by Baltimore magazine). In partnership with The Clifton House, poet/scholar Kazim Ali shares his new work Black Buffalo Woman about Maryland’s former Poet Laureate Lucille Clifton.
The 31st Street Stage showcases five organizations of women writers, including the national Wintergreen Women Writers Collective founded by Baltimore’s Dr. Joanne Gabbin of the renowned Furious Flower Poetry Center, CityLit’s own Scribente Maternum, and Baltimore’s Zora’s Den and Yellow Arrow Publishing, with aims to support women writers in multiple ways. The festival day ends with music by IAHIAL, formerly Like Water, and a poetry reading with Kazim Ali, Lady Brion, and an ensemble of poets in The Hunger I Felt hosted by Unique Robinson.
Sunday’s 31st Street Stage kicks off with The Ivy Bookshop spotlighting Writers in Baltimore Schools with The Playground: Voices from the Swingsets of Baltimore and closes the stage with Remembering the 300 Man March with photojournalist J.M. Giordano interviewing activist Darnyle Wharton on his remembrances with fellow activists of the Baltimore Peace Movement on this 10th anniversary. These events and more can be found on the 31st Street Stage.
Readings on the Peabody Heights Stage are presented by Charm City Books and the Maryland Romance Writers Association on Saturday and by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association on Sunday. At the stage presented by Normals Books & Records, enjoy some of Bruiser Magazine‘s finest on Saturday, and on Sunday, Normals presents a Cosmic Smorgasbord of Readings. Red Emma’s hosts readings inside their bookstore throughout the day on Saturday and Sunday, featuring disability rights activist and scholar Sunaura Taylor, among others. On 30th Street, Baltimore Read Aloud brings together two days of youth- oriented programming in partnership with Snug Books and Urban Reads Bookstore, including Newberry Award-winning author Carole Boston Weatherford, Max Meow author John Gallagher, and 2024 Baltimore Youth Poet Laureate Eriona Birts.
The 25th Baltimore Book Festival will kick off Friday, September 27th, at 7:00 p.m. with an opening reception at Peabody Heights Brewery, featuring readings by a collection of Baltimore poets, musical guests, and more.
Learn more about the 25th Baltimore Book Festival by following BOPA on social media (@promoandarts). See the full Baltimore Book Festival Stage Schedule here.
Join us at Peabody Heights for a special Friday night kick-off event at 7PM on 9/27!
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Do you have questions? We’re here to help!
Reach out via email at bookfest@promotionandarts.org or call 410-752-8632