CityLit Project

💥In less than two weeks, join CityLit Project and Greedy Reads as we welcome Courtney Maum for A Premise Isn’t a Plot: Putting Mokentum Into Any Manuscript. This 90-minute, interactive workshop is designed to help you title your work in progress and get the attention it deserves as you prepare to query agents to share your manuscript.

June 9 from 6:30 - 8:00 pm at Re*****on. Registration is required. Tickets are $10.

Register through the QR code or at https://citylitproject.salsalabs.org/APremiseIsntaPlotPuttingMomentumintoAnyManuscript

CityLit Project, in partnership with Greedy Reads, presents A Premise Isn’t a Plot: Putting Momentum Into Any Manuscript - a Master Class with Courtney Maum, author of Before and After the Book Deal.

Join us at Re*****on on June 9 from 6:30 - 8:00 pm to learn how to transform your idea into a bestselling book!

Registration is required. Tickets are $10.

Register through the QR code or at https://citylitproject.salsalabs.org/APremiseIsntaPlotPuttingMomentumintoAnyManuscript

💰💵 CityLit Project welcomes FULTON BANK as a sponsor of this year’s 23rd CityLit Festival, in a partnership that allows a frank and open conversation about money. What writers/readers need to know to grow their wealth. Richard Conway, Financial Center Supervisor with Fulton Bank, will facilitate the session.

Integrity. Responsibility. Accountability.
You. That’s the core of how we think about banking. Our goal is to help our customers and communities thrive. To us, that means putting customers first, promoting inclusion, and making a positive difference in people’s lives. It all begins with the relationships we build with our customers. We strive to go beyond expectations and help change lives for the better - every day. Whether it’s helping people get on the right financial track or providing businesses with resources they need to grow, we’re here for you.

🎨🖼️Working with the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance, the William G. Baker, Jr. Memorial Fund established the Baker Artist Awards in 2008 to support artists and promote Greater Baltimore as a strong creative community. The Baker Artists Awards confer $90,000 in prizes annually on six area artists across each artistic discipline. Awardees receive showcase and exhibition opportunities at major Baltimore institutions. This year’s literary finalists convene for the first time with moderator, Aaron Henkin as host, who currently works at the Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation at Johns Hopkins University. Previously, Aaron spent 22 years creating and producing original radio programs and podcasts for Baltimore’s NPR affiliate, WYPR. Bry Reed (she/they) is a Baltimore-born and based writer committed to the legacy of “The City That Reads.” She’s a regular contributor to the Baltimore Beat. Michael Downs works in literary fiction and nonfiction, and is the author of three books. He also serves on the boards of the Baltimore Review and The Good Contrivance Farm Writer’s Retreat. Edgar Kunz is the author of Fixer (Ecco, 2023), a New York Times Editors’ Choice book, and Tap Out. He has been a National Endowment for the Arts Fellow, a MacDowell Fellow, and a Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford University. Ashley Elizabeth is a Pushcart-nominated local writer & educator, focusing on history and healing. Justin Sirois is a novelist and game maker from Baltimore. He founded and runs Severed Books, a local roleplaying and tabletop game publishing company and is also the founder of the annual Game Face Convention. An additional Baker Artist Literary finalist is Don Lee.

💼 Learn about the Baker Artist Portfolios and associated awards, why it is beneficial for writers, and get guidance, tips, and pointers on creating your portfolio with Alix Fenhagen , Program Manager. The Baker Artist Portfolios were created to support artists and promote Greater Baltimore as a strong creative community. The online portfolios are open to artists working in all disciplines, including writers, who live in Baltimore City and its five surrounding counties. Not only do the portfolios expose area artists’ work to regional, national, and international audiences, but artists with portfolios are also eligible for various opportunities, from free tabling space at Baltimore Book Fest and WTMD First Thursday Festival to showcases and exhibitions.

Artists who create a Baker Artist Portfolio are automatically eligible for one of six Baker Artist Awards. These awards of excellence include $90,000 bestowed annually to six area artists across the disciplines on Bakerartist.org

✨Join us for an unflinching conversation led by women who have lived through Maryland’s carceral system and emerged not broken, but fighting. For many women, release from incarceration is not the end of the story. It is the beginning of a new set of challenges: finding stable housing, securing employment, reconnecting with children and family, accessing health care, and navigating systems that often continue to define them by their record rather than their humanity. This session will center the voices of formerly incarcerated women who have lived these realities. Through personal reflection, honest dialogue, and practical insight, the conversation will explore what reentry looks like for women. Participants will hear about: the realities of reentry for women in Maryland, barriers related to employment, housing, parenting, and health the role of stigma, trauma, and gender in shaping women’s post-incarceration experiences the importance of lived experience in policy and advocacy work: Who should attend: Advocates, educators, policymakers, community leaders, students, and readers and writers interested in story, justice, and healing.
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📝 TO REGISTER PLEASE VISIT THE LINK IN OUR BIO ✅
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Kirsten Gettys Downs is the Director of Systemic Reform at the Maryland Office of the Public Defender and the Coordinator of the Maryland Justice Partnership, leading statewide efforts to advance equitable justice. A former district public defender and nonprofit executive, she brings deep experience in advocacy, collaboration, and transforming systems to center community needs.
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Monica Cooper is the founder and Executive Director of the Maryland Justice Project and a member of the Maryland Democratic State Central Committee.
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Rhonda R. Hall is a Baltimore-born healthcare professional, Patient Access Coordinator at the University of Maryland Medical System, and author of Crowned in the Streets.
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Iletha Murdaugh is a survivor, peer recovery specialist in training, and reentry advocate who spent 17½ years at the Maryland Correctional Institution for Women.

📘✨ Thank you to Baltimore Magazine for featuring this interview with our incredible Director, Carla Du Pree who discussed the CityLit Festival, happening this Saturday!

📘✨ Thank you to BmoreArt Magazine for the feature with ! We’re in store for a great conversation between Michaela Angela Davis and Bry Reed - “Tenderheaded” - THIS Saturday at the CityLit Festival!