Sunday, September 24, 2017
11AM
National Aquarium presents: Amy Sutherland, Kicked, Bitten and Scratched and Rescuing Penny Jane
Whether you are a fan of the furry or finned, bestselling author and journalist Amy Sutherland will delight you with true-life tales about animals and the people that care for them. Learn about National Aquarium staff featured in Kicked, Bitten and Scratched, Amy’s memoir of the year she spent shadowing students at the top college for exotic animal trainers, and hear about her newest book, Rescuing Penny Jane, about the dedicated people who work to save shelter dogs.
INNER HARBOR STAGE PRESENTED BY TOWSON UNIVERSITY
Event Details
11AM
Self-Publish Like a Boss
Self-publishing provides exciting new opportunities for all authors at all levels. Join our superstar indies who’ve mastered the business and art of self-publishing like a boss and learn from the best.
LaQuette
Terri E. Laine
Kelly Maher
Harper Miller
Laura Ward
Jasinda and Jack Wilder
Robin Covington (Moderator)
MARYLAND ROMANCE WRITERS STAGE
Event Details
11AM
Podcasts & Audiobooks
Love to read but don’t have time? Try audio! This panel is all about discovering science fiction and fantasy you can listen to, as well as podcasts that interview your favorite authors.
Authors: Kate Baker, Scott Edelman, Jeremy M. Gottwig, Sunny Moraine, K.M. Szpara
SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY WRITERS OF AMERICA
Event Details
11AM
Ebb & Nova, Acoustic
MUSIC STAGE SUPPORTED BY WTMD
Event Details
11AM- 7PM
100 Thousand Poets for Change
CityLit Stage joins 100 Thousand Poets for Change in a Global Event in an expression of peace, justice and sustainability. The day highlights artists of poetry, intention, song and words. Over 400 events in 100 countries are scheduled in a global effort on September 30th to include poets, writers and artists organizing events to promote environmental, social, and political change. They will create, perform, educate and demonstrate, in their individual communities, and decide their own specific area of focus for change within the overall framework of peace and sustainability, which co-founder Michael Rothenberg stated, “…is a major concern worldwide and the guiding principle for this global event.”
CITYLIT STAGE
Event Details
11:30AM
Daniel Jose Older, Shadowshaper and Bone Street Rhumba
Daniel José Older is the author of the Bone Street Rumba urban fantasy series from Penguin’s Roc Books and the Young Adult novel Shadowshaper (Scholastic’s Arthur A. Levine Books, 2015). Publishers Weekly hailed him as a “rising star of the genre” after the publication of his debut ghost noir collection, Salsa Nocturna. He co-edited the anthology Long Hidden: Speculative Fiction from the Margins of History. His short stories and essays have appeared in The Guardian, NPR, Tor.com, Salon, BuzzFeed, Fireside Fiction, the New Haven Review, PANK, Apex and Strange Horizons and the anthologies Subversion and Mothership: Tales Of Afrofuturism And Beyond.
LITERARY SALON
Event Details
11:30AM
Libbie Summers, 15 Minute Healthy Desserts
Libbie Summers first earned her culinary chops below deck as a chef on private yachts—honing her cooking skills under extreme weather and guest conditions. Today, Summers is the artistic director of her own lifestyle brand, A Food-Inspired Life, and creative culinary director of Baltimore-based meal kit delivery service, Terra’s Kitchen. Summers is the author of three books: The 2014 Indie Award winning Sweet and Vicious –baking with attitude (Rizzoli, 2014), Brown Sugar (Short Stack Editions, November 2014) and the NY Times notable book, The Whole Hog Cookbook (Rizzoli, 2011). She maintains her body and body of work are both food inspired.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT STAGE
Event Details
12PM
Getting Started in Comics with Jordan Clark
Starting out in comics can be hard, so come out and learn Jordan Clark a few tricks to make getting started easier. From getting all your ideas organized to where to print and publish your stuff, don’t miss out on these tips.
CHARM CITY COMIC PAVILION
Event Details
12PM
Quentin Vennie, Strong in the Broken Places: A Memoir of Addiction and Redemption through Wellness
Quentin Vennie is a celebrated wellness expert, motivational speaker and author of the forthcoming memoir, Strong In The Broken Places. He grew up in Baltimore, a city once identified as the “Heroin Capital of America,” under conditions defined by adversity, struggle, and hopelessness. He was raised by a single mother who fought tirelessly to give him a better life, get him out of the city, and on a path to something better. After years of fighting a war of anxiety, depression and addiction, he set out on a journey to heal himself. His unbelievable road to recovery has been publicly celebrated by notable figures in the world of wellness and beyond. Quentin’s transformation has inspired thousands worldwide and has raised global awareness of anxiety, depression and addiction.
INNER HARBOR STAGE PRESENTED BY TOWSON UNIVERSITY
Event Details
12PM
An Afternoon at the Improv: Interactive Plotting
Bestselling and award-winning authors share their top tips and tricks on plotting your novel. Bonus: audience ideas welcome for a round of flash plotting debate and discussion! Come see how it’s done!
Christi Barth
Alexa Jacobs
Brigid Kemmerer
Lea Nolan
L. Penelope
Maya Rodale
Mia Sosa
MARYLAND ROMANCE WRITERS STAGE
Event Details
12PM
Whose Book Is It Anyway?: Isabel Bandeira, Meg Eden, L.V. Pires, Michelle Ray, and Sharon Huss Roat
Face off against five wily YA authors and win a signed book! Can you spot which book excerpts are real and which are clever fakes? Don’t miss this lineup: Isabel Bandeira, Dramatically Ever After, Meg Eden, Post-High School Reality Quest, L.V. Pires, Extension, Michelle Ray, Much Ado About Something, Sharon Huss Roat, How to Disappear. Moderator: Kathy MacMillan, Sword and Verse.
ENOCH PRATT FREE LIBRARY CHILDREN’S STAGE
Event Details
12PM
A Revolutionary Summer: In Our Words
A Revolutionary Summer (ARS) is an intensive critical reading and writing program dedicated to shifting harmful narratives about Black women and girls through both the meaningful study and creation of art and the deliberate application of self-inquiry. For eight Sundays each summer, daughters ages 15 and older gather to discuss works like The Bluest Eye, and Their Eyes Were Watching God. Founder and director Andria Nacina Cole talks with daughters and coordinators to discuss the impact of Black women’s art on Black women’s inner and outer worlds, and how the program helps them reach beyond race, gender, and story to discover (and live) lives that have not been prescribed for them. The daughters will present excerpts from Ntozake Shange’s “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf”.
CITYLIT STAGE
Event Details
12PM
Politics, Resistance, & Speculative Fiction
Science fiction and fantasy have always been political, and have always used genre trappings to explore the here and now through the past and future. What does that look like in the current political climate?
Authors: Lara Elena Donnelly, Ruthanna Emrys, Craig Laurance Gidney, Addison Gunn, Malka Older. Moderator: Scott H. Andrews
12PM Signing: Sam J Miller
SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY WRITERS OF AMERICA
Event Details
12PM
Eric Holt-Giménez, Land Justice: Reimagining Land, Food, and the Commons with local organizers
Agroecologist Eric Holt-Giménez, director of Food First, leads a discussion with local food justice and land access organizers on resilience, resistance, and regeneration.
RADICAL BOOKFAIR PAVILION
Event Details
12PM-2PM
Pets on Wheels
Children will be partnered with a therapy dog (or cat!) from Pets on Wheels; and after selecting a favorite book, the child is invited to sit and read to their furry friend. These gentle canines are amazing listeners. They do not tease, laugh or judge the child. As a result, even the shyest child or reluctant reader is encouraged to improve their literacy skills. http://www.petsonwheels.org/
TOP OF THE WORLD OBSERVATION LEVEL
Event Details
12:30PM
Alexis Joyce, R&B
MUSIC STAGE SUPPORTED BY WTMD
Event Details
1PM
Lily Tuck, Sisters in conversation with Marion Winik, First Comes Love
Lily Tuck is the author of six novels: The Double Life of Liliane; I Married You for Happiness; Interviewing Matisse or the Woman Who Died Standing Up; The Woman Who Walked on Water; Siam, or the Woman Who Shot a Man, nominated for the PEN/Faulkner Award; The News From Paraguay, winner of the National Book Award; the short story collections The House at Belle Fontaine and Limbo, and Other Places I Have Lived; and the biography Woman of Rome: A Life of Elsa Morante.
Longtime All Things Considered commentator Marion Winik is the author of First Comes Love, The Glen Rock Book of the Dead and seven other books. Her award-winning column on BaltimoreFishbowl.com appears monthly, and her essays have been published in The New York Times Magazine, The Baltimore Sun and elsewhere. She is the host of The Weekly Reader radio show and podcast and reviews books for Newsday, People, and Kirkus Review. She is a professor in the MFA program at the University of Baltimore. More info at marionwinik.com.
IVY BOOKSHOP STAGE
Event Details
1PM
Chitra Agrawal, From Brooklyn to Bangalore (and now to Baltimore!)
Author of Vibrant India: Fresh Vegetarian Recipes from Bangalore to Brooklyn and the blog ABCDs of Cooking, as well as founder of Brooklyn Delhi, an award-winning Indian condiments line, Chitra shares her family’s vegetarian recipes from India with a slant on seasonality and local ingredients. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, Food & Wine, Saveur, and Zagat, among others.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT STAGE
Event Details
1PM
Stacey Patton, Spare the Kids: Why Whupping Children Won’t Save Black America
A vision of parenting for Black America that looks beyond traditions of corporal punishment that replicated and reproduce the traumas and violence outside the home, and towards a vision of positive and nonviolent discipline.
RADICAL BOOKFAIR PAVILION
Event Details
1PM
Dangerous Voices Variety Hour Presents Daniel Jose Older and Sam. J Miller
A fast-paced quiz show in the vein of Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me! brought to you by the Baltimore Science Fiction Society. Win free books and learn things you never knew about your favorite authors.
Authors: Sarah Pinsker & Michael R. Underwood host guests Daniel Jose Older and Sam J. Miller.
1PM Signing: Craig Laurance Gidney, Tom Doyle
SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY WRITERS OF AMERICA
Event Details
1PM
Featured Poet: Samantha Thornhill
Samantha Thornhill is a Trinidadian-born poet, writer, performer and educator. She has performed her work globally, and has published in dozens of journals and anthologies. She taught poetry to actors at The Juilliard School in New York City, and co-founded the grassroots collective, Poetry In Unexpected Places, which was profiled in The New York Times for its surprise pop up poetry showcases in public spaces. She just finished a residency at the Furious Flower Poetry Center. Her third children’s book, A Card For My Father, is forthcoming.
CITYLIT STAGE
Event Details
1PM
Diverse Books: Own Voices in Fiction
Bestselling and award-winning authors talk about the importance of diverse self-representation in fiction and the publishing industry.
Andie J. Christopher
Pintip Dunn
Dawn Ibanez
LaQuette
J.L. Lora
Harper Miller
Mia Sosa
MARYLAND ROMANCE WRITERS STAGE
Event Details
1PM
Kevin Shird, Uprising in the City: Made in America
Kevin Shird is having a remarkable impact on young people worldwide with his amazing life story. Recognized as an international author, national youth advocate and inspirational speaker — Kevin is dedicated to helping youth understand the perils of street culture which has destroys many lives. He confronts the dysfunction of inner city streets that have shattered the lives of several young people and their families. In 2016 Kevin released his second book titled “Uprising in the City” which documents the 2015 Baltimore riots. Following the death of Freddie Gray after his arrest by police in 2015, Baltimore became the setting of protests, civil unrest, and violence. In this book, Kevin leads the reader through a detailed account of the events, from the inciting case of Gray to the emergency’s aftermath.
INNER HARBOR STAGE PRESENTED BY TOWSON UNIVERSITY
Event Details
1PM
Leland Melvin, Chasing Space: An Astronaut’s Story of Grit, Grace, and Second Chances
Leland Melvin is the only person drafted into the National Football League to have flown in space. The Pro Football Hall of Fame honored his athletic and academic accomplishments by placing his Detroit Lions jersey under glass in Canton, Ohio. Through these professional experiences working on high stakes teams he developed a deep and nuanced understanding of effective team dynamics. Leland has a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry and a Master’s degree in materials science engineering. He worked at NASA Langley Research Center in the area of nondestructive testing creating optical fiber sensors for measuring damage in aerospace vehicles, resulting in publications in numerous scientific journals. After hanging up his space boots he was appointed head of NASA Education and served as the co-chair on the White House’s Federal Coordination in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S.T.E.M.) Education Task Force developing the nation’s 5-year STEM education plan. Leland was the United States representative and chair of the International Space Education Board (ISEB), a global collaboration on learning about space.
LITERARY SALON
Event Details
1:30PM
Ronald L. Smith, The Mesmerist, Renée Watson, Piecing Me Together and Carole Boston Weatherford, Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library, moderated by Matthew Winner
Ronald L. Smith, 2016 Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Author Award, Renée Watson, NAACP Image Award nominee and team member of We Need Diverse Books, and Carole Boston Weatherford, award-winning New York Times bestselling author, discuss their new books with Matthew Winner of the All The Wonders podcast.
ENOCH PRATT FREE LIBRARY CHILDREN’S STAGE
Event Details
1:30PM
Poets Take: Rienne Scott, Nina Lyrispect Ball & Charles Xavier
Rienne Scott is a Baltimore City high school teacher, poet, mentor, and advocate for all LGBTQ+ people of color. She is the 2015 DC Black Pride Slam Champion, and created “OUTspoken” – an LGBTQ+ open mic and networking party. Nina “Lyrispect” Ball is a lyricist, co-founder and executive producer of the Harvest Open Mic in Philadelphia, and author of The PreCursor, the first of seven installments of Spectrum of a Supernova, a multimedia series of signature work. Charles Xavier is an Atlanta native who is a performance poet, self-care and mental health wellness advocate, and case manager at the LGBTQIA community center for Baltimore. As a man of trans experience, he feels it’s his responsibility to use his transition to facilitate open conversations.
CITYLIT STAGE
Event Details
1:30PM
How to Draw Anime with Darren Soto
AWA artists will teach participants how to create anime characters and designs. Using common anime shows as reference, this workshop breaks down what makes an anime an anime and how to utilize certain aspects of the art in your own work.
CHARM CITY COMIC PAVILION
Event Details
2PM
Donna Kaz, UN/MASKED: Memoirs of a Guerilla Girl On Tour, interviewed by Rahne Alexander
Donna Kaz is a multi-genre writer and the author of UN/MASKED, Memoirs of a Guerrilla Girl On Tour. Along with her alter ego, Guerrilla Girl and Guerrilla Girl On Tour, Aphra Behn, she creates visual art and performance to attack sexism and prove feminists are funny at the same time.
Rahne Alexander is a multimedia artist, producer, musician, and performer. Her video art has been screened in galleries and festivals across the country. Rahne performs frequently with her several bands, including Santa Librada, Guided By Wire, 50’?, and the Degenerettes. She is an occasional comedian and essayist, and also an arts organizer whose labor has supported the Transmodern Festival, the Maryland Film Festival, the High Zero Foundation, and Wide Angle Youth Media.
INNER HARBOR STAGE PRESENTED BY TOWSON UNIVERSITY
Event Details
2PM
Tim Murphy, Christodora in conversation with Marion Winik, First Comes Love
Tim Murphy has reported on HIV/AIDS for twenty years, for such publications as POZ Magazine, where he was an editor and staff writer, Out, Advocate, and New York magazine, where his July 2014 cover story on the new HIV-prevention pill regimen PrEP was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Magazine Journalism. He also covers LGBT issues, arts, pop culture, and travel for publications including the New York Times, Conde Nast Traveler, Details, and Yahoo! Style. He is the author of Getting Off Clean and The Breeders Box. He lives in Brooklyn.
Longtime All Things Considered commentator Marion Winik is the author of First Comes Love, The Glen Rock Book of the Dead and seven other books. Her award-winning column on BaltimoreFishbowl.com appears monthly, and her essays have been published in The New York Times Magazine, The Baltimore Sun and elsewhere. She is the host of The Weekly Reader radio show and podcast and reviews books for Newsday, People, and Kirkus Review. She is a professor in the MFA program at the University of Baltimore. More info at marionwinik.com.
IVY BOOKSHOP STAGE
Event Details
2PM
FAAME and emaaf Band, Hip Hop
MUSIC STAGE SUPPORTED BY WTMD
Event Details
2PM
Poets Speak: Raw Wounds, Wise Blood, Speak Water
Kondwani Fidel, author of Raw Wounds, has been featured in Business Insider and CNN. He is a writer, speaker, and spoken word poet who is a 2016 recipient of the Ford: Men of Courage Award. Robert Earl Price is an author of four books of poetry, including Wise Blood. He has had eleven plays produced here and abroad, and is the recipient of the American Film Institute’s William Wyler Award. Truth Thomas is a singer-songwriter and poet. His work includes Speak Water, winner of the 2013 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work in Poetry. He’s the founder of Cherry Castle Publishing, LLC, and his poems have been twice nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Ron Kipling Williams, who uses art, media, performance, and education to break down walls, facilitate open and honest conversations, and build community, and author of Black Freak Mosh Heaven will moderate.
CITYLIT STAGE
Event Details
2PM
Fantasy: It’s Epic, it’s Historic, it’s Dark or Weird or High or Low or Urban
How are all of the categories of fantasy even the same genre? From dungeons to dragons to vampires in our midst, our panel will discuss what they love, what they write, and what you should be reading.
Authors: DH Aire, Ruthanna Emrys, Craig Laurance Gidney, Jeremy M. Gottwig, Ilana C. Myer, Ruth Vincent. Moderator: Jon Skovron
2PM Signing: Malka Older, Vivian Shaw
SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY WRITERS OF AMERICA
Event Details
2PM
China Martens, The Future Generation, Tenth Anniversary in conversation with Katherine Arnoldi, The Amazing True Story of a Teenage Mom
China Martens, The Future Generation and Katherine Arnoldi, The Amazing True Story of a Teenage Mom in conversation. In honor of the new anthology edition of Baltimore’s beloved punk parenting zine, “The Future Generation,” two essential voices for the power of creative motherhood reflect on the twenty years since the initial publication of their respective stories.
RADICAL BOOKFAIR PAVILION
Event Details
2PM
The Craft of Writing
Bestselling and award-winning authors share their top craft tips and tricks to create books that will keep readers turning the page.
Christi Barth
Jamaila Brinkley
Sarah MacLean
Lea Nolan
L. Penelope
Nancy Weeks
Tracey Livesay (Moderator)
MARYLAND ROMANCE WRITERS STAGE
Event Details
2PM
Maryland Humanities presents Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the 2017 One Maryland One Book author, Purple Hibiscus
Maryland Humanities presents Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the 2017 One Maryland One Book author. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie grew up in Nigeria. Her work has been translated into thirty languages and has appeared in various publications, including The New Yorker, Granta, The O. Henry Prize Stories, the Financial Times, and Zoetrope. She is the author of the novels Purple Hibiscus, which won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, and Half of a Yellow Sun, which won the Orange Prize and was a National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist, a New York Times Notable Book, and a People and Black Issues Book Review Best Book of the Year; and the story collection The Thing Around Your Neck. Her latest novel Americanah, was published around the world in 2013, and has received numerous accolades, including winning the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction and The Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize for Fiction; and being named one of The New York Times Ten Best Books of the Year.
LITERARY SALON
Event Details
2:30PM
Chef Shaun O’Neale, My Modern American Table (Winner of MasterChef Season 7)
Chef Shaun O’Neale, a DJ from Las Vegas, Nevada, earned his spot in the MasterChef Kitchen by cooking a surf and turf dish topped with foie gras and a bone marrow buerre blanc sauce. He didn’t stray from his high-end, fine-dining influence on his dishes, which led him to winning multiple Mystery Box Challenges and securing his spot in the finale. The finale is where he wowed not only Gordon and Christina, but also guest judges Wolfgang Puck and Daniel Boulud with his three delicious dishes: an appetizer of miso halibut cheeks with vadouvan carrot puree and pickled mushrooms; an entrée of ancho coffee-roasted venison loin with roasted chanterelles and smoked plums with a truffle demi-glaze; and a salted caramel chocolate tart for dessert. In the end, it was Shaun’s exquisite flavors and thoughtful dishes that won over the judges and earned him the MasterChef title.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT STAGE
Event Details
3PM
My Comic Life: Building a Comics Career with C. Edward Sellner
Visionary Co-Founder and CCO C. Edward Sellner has carved a unique career in the comics industry. He has built a highly successful production studio that is one of the best known in the business. He has been paid professionally and published as an editor, writer, colorist, and artist. He has worked with top professionals and helped several aspiring ones launch their own careers. Join him for a frank and honest conversation about building a career in comics, what it really takes to make it as a creative freelancer. (Pro Development/ Teens and Adults)
CHARM CITY COMIC PAVILION
Event Details
3PM
Latin American Voices Panel: Chantel Acevedo, The Living Infinite and Santiago Gamboa, Return to the Dark Valley moderated by Michael Reynolds, Editor-in-chief, Europa Editions
Chantel Acevedo’s novels include Love and Ghost Letters (St. Martin’s Press), which won the Latino International Book Award and was a finalist for the Connecticut Book of the Year, Song of the Red Cloak, a historical novel for young adults, A Falling Star (Carolina Wren Press), winner of the Doris Bakwin Award, and National Bronze Medal IPPY Award, and The Distant Marvels, (Europa Editions), one of Booklist’s Top Ten Historical Novels of 2015.
Santiago Gamboa is one of Colombia’s most exciting young writers. In the manner of Roberto Bolaño, Gamboa infuses his kaleidoscopic, cosmopolitan stories with a dose of inky dark noir that makes his novels intensely readable, his characters unforgettable, and his style influential. His debut novel, Páginas de vuelta (1995), established him as one of the most innovative voices in Colombian literature. He has since published seven novels and two collections of short stories. His journalism appears regularly in El Tiempo (Colombia) and Cromos, and he is a regular contributor to Radio France International.
INNER HARBOR STAGE PRESENTED BY TOWSON UNIVERSITY
Event Details
3PM
How Accurate Does Your Historical Novel Have to Be?
Bestselling and award-winning authors explore the challenges of research, readability, and fact in fiction in historical novels.
Laura Kamoie
Sarah MacLean
Diana Quincy
Maya Rodale
Joanna Shupe
E. Elizabeth Watson
MARYLAND ROMANCE WRITERS STAGE
Event Details
3PM
YA/Adult Genre Crossover Panel: Meg Eden, Post-High School Reality Quest, Tracy Gold, Hollow Tree, Kathy MacMillan, Sword and Verse, CP Patrick, The Truth About Awiti, Nikki Richard, Pretty Things and Laura Shovan, The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary
Want to know about the writing process and writing for different audiences? Join us for a group of Maryland authors in conversation about their books and experiences writing for young adults and adults.
ENOCH PRATT FREE LIBRARY CHILDREN’S STAGE
Event Details
3PM
Derek Hyra, Race, Class, and Politics in the Cappuccino City with Dominic Moulden, co-founder OneDC
A new critical look at the rapid process of gentrification in DC’s Shaw neighborhood, drawing on an extensive partnership with a grassroots organization fighting on the frontlines against displacement.
RADICAL BOOKFAIR PAVILION
Event Details
3PM
Hey, you punks! Steampunk, solarpunk, spypunk, dieselpunk
What does sticking __punk onto a genre mean, anyway: an aesthetic or a political stance? Our authors talk about a whole bunch of genres that will change the way you think (and maybe the way you dress).
Authors: Gwendolyn Clare, Lara Elena Donnelly, Day al-Mohamed Moderator: Jon Skovron
3 PM Signing: DH Aire, Ilana C. Myer
SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY WRITERS OF AMERICA
Event Details
3PM
The Spirit of Poetry in Baltimore
A celebration of poets in Baltimore, curated by Shirley Brewer and Joey Reisberg, as a national community poetry project for his term as a 2016 National Student Poet. Poets share their work, as well as the work of the enduring poetic talents of Baltimore greats, Lucille Clifton, Adrienne Rich, Edgar Allan Poe, Ogden Nash, and Frank O’Hara. The session features an Open Mic, showcasing the spirit of upcoming poets. Brewer will read from her new work, Bistro in Another Realm. Reisberg is a senior at the George Washington Carver Center for Arts and Technology. Mejdulene B. Shomali is a writer, teacher, and researcher, whose work has published in The Feminist Wire, Mizna, and Tinderbox. Jamesha Caldwell is a multifaceted college student, whose work surrounds the plight of her environment, womanhood, and Blackness. A portion of this session includes an Open Mic.
CITYLIT STAGE
Event Details
3PM-6PM
University Writers Program
Featuring student readers from the following universities: University of Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University, UMBC, Towson, Loyola, Stevenson, Goucher, Coppin, Morgan State, and MICA.
IVY BOOKSHOP STAGE
Event Details
3:30PM
Lenore Lenoire, Rock
MUSIC STAGE SUPPORTED BY WTMD
Event Details
3:30PM
Alice McDermott, The Ninth Hour
Alice McDermott is the author of seven novels, the latest of which, Someone, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the National Book Award. Someone was also a finalist for the 2014 Patterson Prize for Fiction. Her fifth novel, Child of My Heart, was a Book-of-the-Month Club Main Selection, one of Book Magazine’s 10 Best Novels of 2002 and a nominee for the International Impac Dublin Literary Award. Her fourth, Charming Billy, received the 1998 National Book Award for fiction, the American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation, and was short-listed for the International Impac Dublin Literary Award. Her third novel, At Weddings and Wakes, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Her second, That Night, was nominated for the National Book Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the PEN/Faulkner Award and was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Her articles, reviews, and stories have appeared in The New York Times and The Washington Post, USA Today, The Atlantic Monthly, The New Yorker, Redbook, Ms., Commonweal, and elsewhere. She is the recipient of a Whiting Writers Award, the F. Scott Fitzgerald Award and the Corrington Award for Literature.
LITERARY SALON
Event Details
4PM
BE FREE LIVE! hosted by Love the Poet (Michelle Antoinette Nelson)
Baltimore’s longest running monthly open mic live at The Baltimore Book Festival.
Almighty Ra
SimPly Sherri
HanaLyn Colvin
Antoine Hayes
Najah Bayyan
Rahsaan “Wordslave” Eldridge
Ana “Temple” Rodney
Jamaal St John
Michelle Antoinette Nelson aka LOVE the poet is an artist, innovator, and Founder of Brown and Healthy a non-profit and global health and wellness initiative for people of color. She’s dedicated over a decade to her life’s work to authoring books, plays, writing arts + education curricula, and providing platforms for artists to explore and discover the true nature of their art. Michelle is an activist for social justice and a polymathic creator who is also known for her work as a published photographer, producer, musician, and actor.
INNER HARBOR STAGE PRESENTED BY TOWSON UNIVERSITY
Event Details
4PM
Jason Reynolds, Patina in conversation with Deborah Taylor
Jason Reynolds, New York Times bestselling author, NAACP Image Award Winner, and the recipient of multiple Coretta Scott King honors, talks about his books with Deborah Taylor, school and student services coordinator at the Enoch Pratt Free Library.
ENOCH PRATT FREE LIBRARY CHILDREN’S STAGE
Event Details
4PM
Otherworldly Romance: Writing Paranormal and Fantasy
Speculative fiction takes readers on an otherworldly journey full of unique creatures, fantastical worlds, and magical possibilities. Join authors discussing the challenges and possibilities of writing paranormal and fantasy stories.
Dawn Ibanez
Jean Murray
Lea Nolan
Andy Palmer
L. Penelope
MARYLAND ROMANCE WRITERS STAGE
Event Details
4PM
Featured Songstress: This is Lea
Lea Morris has shared the stage with luminaries including Odetta, Mavis Staples, Dar Williams and Anthony Hamilton, LEA performs at a far-ranging array of venues, including arts centers, universities, festivals, and places of worship. Washington Area Music Association recognizes her as one of the region’s best vocalists, songwriters and recording artists. LEA’s latest recording, “Let You In,” is a collection of songs the artist hopes will cultivate greater compassion for femininity. Lea will be joined by an ensemble.
CITYLIT STAGE
Event Details
4PM
Forget What You Learned In School: Alternate History, Secret History, Real History
From Game of Thrones to Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad to Connie Willis’s Oxford Time Travel books, there are a ton of SFF books that draw on real or rewritten history, or the gaps where history books fail to tread.
Authors: Tom Doyle, Arkady Martine, Day al-Mohamed, Ilana C. Myer, Malka Older
SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY WRITERS OF AMERICA
Event Details
4PM
Black Voices in Music Criticism Are Essential, with Greg Tate, Laina Dawes, Rashida K. Braggs, and Jordannah Elizabeth
Renowned authors and music critics share their perspective on Black music criticism and the ways in which they have been able to succeed in an industry still controlled by white mainstream and alternative media.
RADICAL BOOKFAIR PAVILION
Event Details
4:30PM
Building The Legacy of Kenzo with Michael Roberson
Sit back as Children’s Author Michael Roberson takes you from the dream that inspired him to write to the process of building The Legacy of Kenzo. This book has an in depth meaning that will not only educate but be a tool to help youth get thru hard times. The Legacy of Kenzo was built to remind children to embrace their creativity, and to never be afraid to be who they are.
CHARM CITY COMIC PAVILION
Event Details
5PM
Presented by Publik / Private
RADICAL BOOKFAIR PAVILION
Event Details
5PM
Super Bueno, Top 40
MUSIC STAGE SUPPORTED BY WTMD
Event Details
5PM
Doctor, Who…Should I read if I like Doctor Who…or Game of Thrones…or…?
Tell our panel your favorite TV shows and sci fi movies, and they’ll tell you what to read.
Authors: Tom Doyle, Jeremy M. Gottwig, Day al-Mohamed, Vivian Shaw
SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY WRITERS OF AMERICA
Event Details
5PM
Not Without Black Women Writers: Finding Joy and Humor in Resistance
Black women’s voices have been historically marginalized, generalized, ignored, overlooked, and devalued. Black Ladies Brunch Collective aims to uplift and inspire with their new collection, Not Without Laughter. Cave Canem fellows include: Saida Agostini, a queer Afro-Guyanese poet and social worker, Anya Creightney, a programs specialist at the Poetry & Literature Center in the Library of Congress, Teri Ellen Cross Davis, whose first collection Haint was published in 2016, poet and journalist celeste doaks, author of Cornrows and Cornfields, Tafisha A. Edwards, author of The Bloodlet; and Katy Richey, who hosts the Sunday Kind of Love reading series open mic at Busboys and Poets in Washington D.C.
CITYLIT STAGE
Event Details
5PM
Lynne Olson, Last Hope Island
Lynne Olson is a New York Times bestselling author of seven books of history, most of which deal in some way with World War II and Britain’s crucial role in that conflict. Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has called Olson “our era’s foremost chronicler of World War II politics and diplomacy.” Her latest book, Last Hope Island is a groundbreaking account of how Britain became the base of operations for the exiled leaders of Europe in their desperate struggle to reclaim their continent from Hitler. Olson’s previous two books, Those Angry Days and Citizens of London were New York Times bestsellers.
LITERARY SALON
Event Details
5:30PM
Book Launch and Reception: Allison Robicelli, 111 Places in Baltimore That You Must Not Miss
Hear the latest from James Beard-nominated food and travel writer, internationally lauded chef and occasional television personality Allison Robicelli and photographer, John Dean, in this ultimate insider’s guide to Baltimore.
INNER HARBOR STAGE PRESENTED BY TOWSON UNIVERSITY
Event Details
5:30PM
Joan Nathan, King Solomon’s Table: A Culinary Exploration of Jewish Cooking From Around The World
Joan Nathan is the author of numerous cookbooks, including Jewish Cooking in America and The New American Cooking, both of which won the James Beard Award and the IACP Award for best cookbook of the year. She was the host of the nationally syndicated PBS television series Jewish Cooking in America with Joan Nathan, based on the book. A frequent contributor to The New York Times, Tablet magazine, and other publications, Nathan is the recipient of numerous awards, including James Beard’s Who’s Who of Food and Beverage in America, Les Dames d’Escoffier’s Grande Dame Award, and Food Arts magazine’s Silver Spoon Award, and she received an honorary doctorate from the Spertus Institute of Jewish Culture in Chicago.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT STAGE
Event Details
6PM
Featured Poet: David Mills
David Mills is a writer and actor whose portfolio includes a one person show of the works of Langston Hughes. He has published two books of poetry, his second The Sudden Country. He has performed the works of Dr. King, including “I Have a Dream,” and “Promised Land” and has used excerpts from “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” to get participants to write epistolary poems. He is the subject of a recent documentary “Freak the Language”.
CITYLIT STAGE
Event Details
6:45PM- 7PM
Featured Musician: Jahiti of Brown FISH
Jahiti is a singer/songwriter based in Baltimore, MD. Jahiti has performed as part of Baltimore’s legendary group, Brown FISH, and as a solo artist throughout the US, Canada and Jamaica for the past 15 years. Bringing his own brand of roots, reggae and soul, Jahiti continues to build his solo legacy while remaining close to the spirit of the Brown FISH name.
CITYLIT STAGE
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