The Association of Writers & Writing Programs annual Conference & Bookfair — known simply as “AWP” — descends on a different city every year. It brings upwards of 10,000 writers and poets to town, enough to overflow the conference center, flooding bookstores and bars with hundreds of off-site literary events.
With Baltimore hosting AWP this year, the local literary community is showing up strong. From Wednesday, March 4 through Saturday, March 7, expect to see readings, parties, games, open mics, poetry, dancing, and more all over the city, and mostly free. It’s a little bit like a pop-up book festival, often lasting long into the night.
Even if you don’t plan to attend the conference itself, be sure to catch some of the events hosted by and featuring hometown writers and poets — starting with two big dance parties, which will bring together almost every Baltimore press and lit org:
A SOCIAL PARTY at The Clifton House: Join The Clifton House for a night of community, music, and refreshments. Thursday, March 5, 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. at The Clifton House (2605 Talbot Road)
Hard Times Require Furious Dancing : CityLit Project knows how to throw a party, and they’re spearheading a massive gathering bringing together a host of local lit organizations and national partners. This high-energy evening will be “defiant in joy,” with music curated by Baltimore’s DJ Chris Brooks as well as a live band, light bites, a photo booth, and a cash bar. Hosted in the new event space at 4MLK, with local partners Wexford Science & Technology, BioPark at the University of Maryland, The Loft Literary Center, Kundiman, Pen Parentis, Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance, Wintergreen Women Writers Collective, George Mason University, Watershed Lit, Mid Atlantic Arts, Radius of Arab American Writers, Furious Flower Poetry Center, Hurston Wright Foundation, Cave Canem, The Watering Hole, and Obsidian. Partner organizations also include Baltimore Beat, Baltimore Magazine, BmoreArt, The Clifton House, The Ivy Bookshop, Maryland Institute College of Art, Morgan State University, Red Emma’s Bookstore Coffeehouse, Scribente Maternum, and Yellow Arrow Publishing. Free, but registration is required: citylitproject.org/event. Friday, March 6, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at 4MLK (4 Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard)
Read the Room: A Celebration of Literary Baltimore: Baltimore will close out the last night of AWP with a huge party organized by the editors of The Hopkins Review and looping in another wide swath of Baltimore’s lit community. The evening starts with readings by Hopkins Review contributors and food from Blue Pit BBQ, along with a silent auction benefiting local lit nonprofits. The dance party starts at 7:30 with DJ Heavenly C. and Gary 108, DJ, Esq. (aka writers celeste doaks and Michael B. Tager). Free. Saturday, March 7, 5:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. at 2640 Space (2640 St. Paul Street).
Alchemical: Spells for Survivors celebrates art’s role in expanding entangled consciousness and shattering alienating silence. Benefiting House of Ruth and RAINN, the reading features a lineup of nationally acclaimed poets and writers: Jan Beatty, Elizabeth Hazen, Tonee Mae Moll, Jenny Molberg, Caridad Moro-Gronlier, Somayeh Shams, Scott Stubs, and Jen Sperry Steinorth. Free. Wednesday, March 4, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Bird in Hand Coffee & Books (11 E. 33rd Street)
Balancing Act: Literary Circus brings an evening of burlesque, drag, and literary performance hosted by Baltimore drag artist The Workshop Prince. Organized by fifth wheel press, Mason Jar Press, and JackLeg Press, and featuring readers Rahne Alexander, Yasmine Bolden, Genevieve DeGuzman, Eze Jackson, Dave K, Ani King, MANiC!, Amanda McCormick, Rita Mookerjee, Christopher Nelson, Karol Olesiak, Tramaine Suubi,, Jade E. Welsh, and Stephen Zerance. Free; tips accepted at the door to support Trans Maryland. Wednesday, March 4, 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. at The Club Car (12 W. North Avenue)
Kind of a Big Dill, hosted by six local publishers — The Baltimore Review, Yellow Arrow Publishing, Mason Jar Press, Washington Writers’ Publishing House, Akinoga Press, and Modern Artist Press — is right across from the conference center. Free. Thursday, March 5, 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Pickles Pub (520 Washington Boulevard)
Down River: Poets Remembering Baltimore’s Slave Trade is a memorial event featuring contemporary poetry and a short historical talk to honor the memory of thousands of people sold from Baltimore in the interstate slave trade, featuring poets Abdul Ali, abdu mongo ali, Hayes Davis, Teri Ellen Cross Davis, Reginald Harris, Taylor Johnson, Lauren Russell, and Stewart Shaw, along with scholar Lawrence Jackson. Free. Thursday, March 5, 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Enoch Pratt Central Library (400 Cathedral Street)
Wintergreen Women’s Collective presents a reading featuring poets and prose writers Mahogany L. Browne, Amanda Johnston, Remica Bingham-Risher, DaMaris B. Hill, Latorial Faison, Carla DuPree, Lauren K. Alleyne, and Patricia Smith. Free; RSVP at wintergreenwomenwritercollective.com. Thursday, March 5, 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Maryland Center for History and Culture (610 Park Avenue)
The University of Baltimore 100th Anniversary Celebration offers a multi-genre reading and literary celebration with Betsy Boyd, Jane Delury, Steven Leyva, Paisley Rekdal, Tim Seibles, and Marion Winik. (Stick around afterward and they will livestream the AWP keynote address, delivered by John Waters). Free. Thursday, March 5, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at UBalt Student Center, 5th Floor (21 W. Mount Royal Avenue)
Baltimore’s Big Trans and ‘Hon’-Binary Reading features DJ Abject Relations and Kotic Couture, with vendors Feminist Press and LittlePuss Press. Readers Vera Blossom, Tyler Vile, TT Madden, Tonee Mae Moll, Nic Anstett, Megan Milks, KM Szpara, Gwen Aube, and Alice Stoehr, hosted by Rahne Alexander. Free. Thursday, March 5, reading at 7 p.m. dance at 9 p.m. at The Club Car (12 W. North Avenue)
Baltimore Bites: Morgan State Creative Writers at AWP offers an afternoon of fresh food and fresh voices, celebrating Morgan State’s award-winning student writers and award-winning faculty. Featuring professor and author A.J. Verdelle, professor and poet Dr. DaMaris B. Hill, and two Morgan State AWP2026 HBCU Fellowship Awardees: Kassiah Drummond and Jolette Lima. Free.
Friday, March 6, 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at R. House (301 W. 29th Street)Charm City Slam, in partnership withButton Poetry Live,is hosting an unforgettable night featuring FreeQuency, Jay Ward, Lady Brion, Black Chakra, Mahogany Browne, Steven Willis, Porsha Olayiwola, Sean Patrick Mulroy, and more. One of the most talked-about spaces for poetry. Tickets are $15 in advance, $20 at the door. Friday, March 6, 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Baltimore Unity Hall (1505 Eutaw Place)