Full schedule by stage
All talks and panels are 100% free to attend!
Saturday, September 28th
31st Street Stage
Presented by CityLit Project
11:00 AM
Late-Life Love and Heartbreak
Roxana Robinson in conversation with Marion Winik
12 NOON
Praisesong for the Books that Cradled Me
Glory Edim in conversation with Leslie Gray Streeter
1:30 PM
The Queendom of Literary Women
Tyechia Thompson, Annie Marhefka, Victoria Kennedy, Rachel Berg Scherer, Glory Edim, & Bry Reed presenting Wintergreen Women Writers Collective, Yellow Arrow Publishing, Zora’s Den, Scribente Maternum, & Well-Read Black Girl
3:15 PM
Wish You Were Here: Baltimore Women Writers Introduce Yellow Arrow’s Vignette
Brigitte Winter, Trish Broome, Kay White Drew, Jennifer Martinelli Eyre, Barbara Westwood Diehl, Anna Slesinski, Tracy Dimond, Cherrie Woods (aka Cherrie Amour), Robin L. Flanigan, Diane Y. Macklin, My-Azia Johnson, & Tonee Mae Moll
4:30 PM
The Poetry and Poetics of Lucille Clifton
Kazim Ali in conversation with Joël Díaz presented by The Clifton House
5:45 PM
A Moment to Pause – musical guest artist
IAHIAL (formerly Like Water/Christen B)
6:15 PM
The Hunger I Felt: An Ensemble of Illustrious Poets
Kazim Ali with Kim Jensen, Lady Brion, Sylvia Fox, & Unique Robinson
32nd Street Stage
Presented by Red Emma’s
10:00 AM
Drag Queen Story Hour with Hazel
Presented by Absolutely Dragulous
11:00 AM
Hilton Carter, The Propagation Handbook
Presented by Charm City Books and But Make It Books Podcast
12 NOON
Margaret Killjoy
The Sapling Cage
1:00 PM
Nico Lang & Jabari Lyles
American Teenager: How Trans Kids are Surviving Hate and Finding Joy in a Turbulent Era
2:00 PM
Céline Semaan & Jennifer White Johnson
A Woman Is a School presented by Slow Factory.
3:00 PM
Hoke S. Glover, III, V. Efua Prince, and Dwayne Reginald Betts
Crazy As Hell: The Best Little Guide to Black History
4:00 PM
Preserving History How the Black Press Safeguards the Past
Lisa Snowden, Deyane Moses, Bilphena Yahwon, and Bry Reed presented by The Baltimore Beat
5:00 PM
A Conversation with Hammer & Hope
Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò, Derecka Purnell, & Astra Taylor
6:00 PM
adrienne maree brown & Ashindi Maxton
Loving Corrections
30th Street Kids Stage
Presented by Baltimore Read Aloud
10:30 AM
John Gallagher, author of the Max Meow Series
Presented by Snug Books
11:30 AM
Megan Wagner Lloyd,
author of Squished and Super Pancake
Presented by Snug Books
12:30 PM
Andrew Auseon, author of the Spellbinders series
Presented by Snug Books
1:30 PM
Eriona Birts, Baltimore Youth Poet Laureate
Presented by DewMore Baltimore
2:30 PM
Ashley Palmer, author of Boys Do Cry: A Book About Boys and Their Feelings
3:30 PM
Readings from CHARM: Voices of Baltimore Youth
Presented by Urban Reads
4:30 PM
Brittany Wilson, author of Jade the Mediator
Presented by Urban Reads
Peabody Heights Stage
401 E 30th Street
Presented by Maryland Romance Writers Association
11:00 AM
When Did You Fall in Love With Romance? The Process & Canon Texts
B.K Borison, Thien-Kim Lam, Andie J. Christopher, Anna Harbom, Nikki Payne, Mia Sosa
Presented by Charm City Books
12 NOON
Romance Writing is Feminist: How a Genre Has Evolved
B.K Borison, Thien-Kim Lam, Mia Sosa, JJ McAvoy, Sharon Cooper, Presleysa Williams
Presented by Charm City Books
1:00 PM
Black Love and Black Romance Writing: An Act of Resistance & Rebellion
Nikki Payne, Presleysa Williams, JJ McAvoy, Naomi Rivers, Sharon Cooper
Presented by Charm City Books
2:00 PM
Secrets of Successful Self-Publishing
Cate C. Wells, Kristie Wolf, J.S. Living
3:00 PM
Chocolate & Romance 101
Lea Nolan, Nancy Yeager, Emily Duvall, Ranell Lewis
4:00 PM
Creating New Worlds
Christi Barth, Mona Shroff, Margaret Bates
5:00 PM
How to Sell More Books!
Golden Angel, Mary Tilghman, Meg Fitz
6:00 PM
Romancing the Tropes
Elizabeth Watson, Rebecca Rivard, M.K. Hale
Normals Books & Records Stage
425 E. 31st Street
Normals presents a day of Bruiser Magazine‘s finest
1:15 PM
Aeon Ginsberg
1:30 PM
Tim Kabara
1:45 PM
Lily Herman
2:00 PM
Sylvia Jones
3:00 PM
Tim Paggi
3:15 PM
Edgar Kunz
3:30 PM
Dave K
3:45PM
Anna Crooks
Charm City Cultural Cultivation
3100 Greenmount Avenue, Suite A
12 NOON
Independents’ Day: Finding and Claiming Liberation as an Indie Writer
Tracy Chiles McGhee, A.C. Arthur, & Odessa Rose
2:00 PM
Count It All Joy: Tracy Chiles McGhee & Gerald Leavell II in Conversation
5:30 PM
The Fire Inside Vol. 3 Launch & Celebration
Victoria Adams-Kennedy, Sharea Harris, Jalynn Harris, & Jordan McMillian
Red Emma’s Stage
3128 Greenmount Avenue
12 NOON
I Am Maroon: The True Story of an American Political Prisoner
Kanya D’Almeida, Sharon Shoatz, Russell Shoatz III, & Paul Coates
1:00 PM
Richard Gilman-Opalsky & Vanessa Wills
Imaginary Power, Real Horizons: The Practicality of Utopianism
2:00 PM
Charm City Speakers
Hosted by Bakari Jones
3:00 PM
Sunaura Taylor & Heather Hax
Disabled Ecologies: Lessons from a Wounded Desert
6:30 PM – 8:30PM
GBCA, Baker Artist Portfolios & BmoreArt present A Literary Soiree
Join Baker Artist Portfolios and BmoreArt at Red Emma’s for a reception and mixer for Baltimore’s literary artists and creative community. Featuring beverages curated and created by Cane Collective!
Enoch Pratt Free Library
400 E. 33rd Street
11:00 AM
Shadra Strickland, author of Jump In!
Free copies of the book to attendees while supplies last
2:00 PM
Justina Ireland, author of Tales from Cabin 23: The Boo Hag Flex and Hanna Alkaf, author of Tales from Cabin 23: Night of the Living Head
Sunday, September 29th
31st Street Stage
Presented by The Ivy Bookshop
11:00 AM
The Playground: Voices from the Swingsets of Baltimore
Writers in Baltimore Schools
12 NOON
Telling Baltimore’s Story
Devin Allen, Tia Goodson, Alexis Taylor, & Alanah Nichole Davis
1:00 PM
The Many Cultures of Maryland, Told Through Short Stories
Susan Muaddi Darraj & Rion Amilcar Scott
2:00 PM
Taking Friendship Seriously: Writing the Relationships that Sustain Us
Rhaina Cohen & Lilly Dancyger in conversation with Emefa Addo Agawu
3:00 PM
Remembering the 300 Man March
J.M. Giordano & Darnyle Wharton
32nd Street Stage
Presented by Red Emma’s
11:00 AM
Hahrie Han & Rev. George Hopkins
Undivided: The Quest for Racial Solidarity in an American Church
12 NOON
Alexis Pauline Gumbs & Danielle Evans
Survival Is a Promise: The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde
1:00 PM
Mike Africa, Jr. & D. Watkins
On a Move: Philadelphia’s Notorious Bombing and a Native Son’s Lifelong Battle for Justice
2:00 PM
MK Asante & Persia Nicole
Nephew: A Memoir in Four Part Harmony
3:00 PM
Bill Ayers
When Freedom Is the Question, Abolition Is the Answer
30th Street Kids Stage
Presented by Baltimore Read Aloud
10:00 AM
ABCs for Affirmation and Growing Up
Jamila Romero and Phallon Perry in conversation
11:00 AM
Tiffany Semmons, author of What Did We Miss?
12 NOON
Memoir for Young Readers
Carole Boston Weatherford and Katherine Haas in conversation
1:00 PM
Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich, author of Operation Sisterhood
2:00 PM
Sanaa Chege, author of A Diver Like Me
3:00 PM
Simone Brown, author of Selah Has a Secret
Presented by Urban Reads
4:00 PM
Public Speaking for Kids
An interactive activity with Jessica Montgomery
Peabody Heights Stage
401 E 30th Street
Presented by Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association
11:00 AM
Funtasy and Science Function: Humor as De(con)struction
James Beamon, Kathy Flann, Emily Thiede, Sean Gibson
12 NOON
Beyond the Chosen One: Confronting Western Mainstream Storytelling
Patricia Jackson, Sunny Moraine, R.R. Virdi, James Beamon
1:00 PM
We Are What We Read: What Hope in Speculative Fiction Means for Our Collective Survival
John Appel, Jo Miles, LH Moore, Phoebe Wagner
2:00 PM
For the Queen: Live Storytelling Demo
Claudine Griggs, Sunny Moraine, Richard White, Brigitte Winter
3:00 PM
The Life and Times of SciFi & Fantasy
Michael Capobianco, Nicole Glover, Christiane Knight, Aram Sinnreich, Christopher Mark Rose
4:00 PM
Don’t Worry; the Monster’s Got Your Back
Darius Jones, Sarah Pinsker, Samara Shanker, Nicole Wolverton
Normals Books & Records Stage
425 E. 31st Street
Normals presents a Cosmic Smorgasbord of Readings
1:00 PM
Eleanor Lewis (The Endless Undoing)
1:30 PM
Cullen Gallagher (High Fliers, Middleweights, and Lowlifes: David Goodis in the Pulps & Looking for Lost Streets: A Bibliographic Investigation of David Goodis’s Pulp Fiction)
2:00 PM
Ralph Hubbell (Trans. Waiting For The Fear by Oguz Atay)
2:30 PM
Lish Ciambrone
3:00 PM
Megan McShea (Steeping In the Boil & A Mountain City of Toad Splendor)
3:15 PM
Cara Hoffman (Co-Founder, The Anarchist Review of Books)
3:45 PM
Jacob Budenz (Tea Leaves)
Charm City Cultural Cultivation
3100 Greenmount Avenue, Suite A
12 NOON
Creating Under the Ancestral Gaze
Victoria Adams-Kennedy, Mama Koko, Shantrelle Lewis, & JuJu Bae
Red Emma’s Stage
3128 Greenmount Avenue
11:00 AM
Education As My Agenda: Gertrude Williams, Race, and the Baltimore Public Schools
A conversation with Mary Pat Clarke, Yvonne Fisher, Angela Rodgers-Koukoui, and Jo Ann Robinson, moderated by Ellie Robinson
12 NOON
The Every Body Book of Consent: An LGBTQIA
Inclusive Guide to Respecting Boundaries, Bodies, and Beyond
Rachel E. Simon
1:00 PM
Turning the Tide: Tarot for Social Transformation
Lane Smith, Phillip Clark, & Sara Calverese
2:00 PM
Lend & Rule: Fighting the Shadow Financialization of Public Universities
With The Coalition Against Campus Debt