The 19th Annual CityLit Festival

Maryland Humanities is partnering with CityLit Project to support the 19th-annual CityLit Festival, a live and virtual celebration for readers and writers. How We Break Free: Confronting Hard Truths is the underlying theme of the month-long event that includes a keynote by Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones of The 1619 Project. The Festival begins with a virtual event March 1, 2022, daylong programming on Saturday, March 12, 2022, at the Pratt Central Library, and ends on April 1, 2022, at Busboys and Poets, with a nod and declaration of National Poetry Month.

The festival will feature writers such as Kristen Radtke, Melissa Febos, Matt Bell, Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai, Nadia Hashimi, Saima Sitwat, and DaMaris Hill.

Registration will open later in February.

Register for CityLit Festival Events Here

Combined image of Keynote Speaker Nikole Hannah-Jones and the book cover of The 1619 ProjectPulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones of The 1619 Project: The New Origin Story will offer the keynote on March 12 at 2:00 p.m.

The 1619 Project was introduced in 2019 in a major multimedia initiative in The New York Times Magazine to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the beginning of slavery. She brings this national, invigorating conversation about the contributions of Black Americans and how the legacy of slavery informs our lives, with historian Martha S. Jones from Johns Hopkins University.

CityLit Festival Events

  • NAVIGATING SOLITUDE

    TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2022: VIRTUAL

    7:00 – 8:00 pm | The Writer’s Room 8:00 – 8:30 pm

    Kristen Radtke and Natalie Eve Garrett with moderator Nguyên Khôi Nguyên

  • WRITING, REVISING & EDITING YOUR STORY

    TUESDAY, MARCH 8, 2022: VIRTUAL
    7:00 – 8:30 pm

    A 90-minute craft intensive: Matt Bell, Melissa Febos, Dean Smith and Nguyên Phan Quê Mai with moderator Aditya Desai.

  • ONE-ON-ONE 30-MINUTE EDITORIAL CRITIQUE SESSIONS

    SATURDAY, MARCH 12, 2022: VIRTUAL, FEE
    10:00 am – 12:00 pm

    Bret McCabe, Karen Houppert, Rosalia Scalia, Laura
    Ballou, Nora Belblidia and Chelsea Lemon Fetzer

  • BECOMING AMERICAN

    SATURDAY, MARCH 12, 2022: LIVE & VIRTUAL AT CENTRAL PRATT BRANCH
    10:00 – 11:30 am

    Eman Quotah, Nadia Hashimi, Mariam Thakkaur and Maryland State Delegate Joseline A. Pena-Melnyk with curator Saima Adil Sitwat

  • THE “REAL” BUSINESS OF WRITING CREATIVE NONFICTION (YOU CAN’T MAKE IT UP)

    SATURDAY, MARCH 12, 2022: LIVE AT CENTRAL PRATT BRANCH
    12:00 – 1:30 pm

    A 90-minute craft intensive: Angela Carroll, Rebekah Kirkman, Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson and Ron Cassie

  • BLACK GIRLS: BONE BLACK & BREATHING

    SATURDAY, MARCH 12, 2022: LIVE & VIRTUAL AT CENTRAL PRATT BRANCH
    12:00 – 1:30 pm

    Nia June, Glory Edim and DaMaris Hill with moderator Jamesha Caldwell

  • THE 1619 PROJECT: CONFRONTING HARD TRUTHS

    SATURDAY, MARCH 12, 2022: LIVE & VIRTUAL AT CENTRAL PRATT BRANCH
    2:00 – 4:00 pm

    Keynote Speaker Nikole Hannah-Jones (The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story & Born On the Water) with moderator Martha S. Jones

  • KEEPING IT IN THE HOUSE

    TUESDAY, MARCH 15, 2022: VIRTUAL, FEE
    7:00 – 8:30 pm

    A Master Class with Kiese Laymon (Heavy)

    The art and necessity of exploring virtue and villainy in our writings about home

  • HOW WE GET FREE: THE BIRTH OF PROMISE

    TUESDAY, MARCH 29, 2022: LIVE AT MOTOR HOUSE THEATRE
    7:30 – 9:00 pm | The Writer’s Room w/ K. Carter 7:00 – 7:30 pm

    Christine Platt, Chloe Dulce Louvouezo & Kristoffer Carter with moderator Alanah Nicole

  • KILLING RAGE: A FESTIVAL OF POETS

    FRIDAY, APRIL 1, 2022: LIVE AT BUSBOYS AND POETS – BALTIMORE
    7:00 – 9:00 pm | Musical Guest Like Water 7:00 – 7:30 pm