CityLit Festival
22st ANNUAL CITYLIT FESTIVAL: OUR STORIES GIVE LIGHT TO THE FUTURE
The two-day 22nd CityLit Festival presents this spring with a signature theme honoring iconic poet Nikki Giovanni with Our Stories Give Light to Our Future in a display of some of the region’s finest authors and nationally-recognized figures. Through the art of story and the vigor of poetry – from page to spoken word – this year explores critical subject matters. It beckons us to observe and grow from the experience, to be challenged, and to choose a path of understanding in light of these extraordinary times of adversity, toxicity, and upheaval. The signature event is in partnership with the historic Lord Baltimore Hotel at 20 West Baltimore Street on Saturday, April 5, 2025, from 9:30 a.m. – 6 p.m.
For the daylong event, Festival highlights include a Master Class with esteemed mystery author Dan Fesperman; a conversation with novelist Bernice L. McFadden, Firstborn Girls; the follow up to Michele Filgate’s surprise bestselling book but the second act involves our relationships with fathers, What My Father and I Don’t Talk About; multiple voices from Palestinian authors, including Najla Said; trans authors including Casey Plett; and climate change engagement through novels with Oprah’s book club pick Eric Puchner’s Dream State and Mary Annaïse Heglar’s, Troubled Waters. The Festival offers a Literary Marketplace and stories that shed audacious light and shape our regard for those who live between two worlds, alongside those who face erasure. The Ivy Bookshop is the festival bookseller.
Friday, April 25, 2025, welcomes a robust day reserved for rhythm and verse. a good time for the truth presents a Youth Poetry Summit featuring national poetry slam champion Rudy Francisco and Maryland’s Poet Laureate Lady Brion at Baltimore Unity Hall, at 1505 Eutaw Place. Expect a public reading of young poets from ten Baltimore City and County high schools from 1:30-3:30 pm in partnership with DewMore Poetry. The festival finale, We Who Do Words features phenomenal poet Dominique Christina, musical guest artist Wifty Bangura, with an ensemble of illustrious poets, Erica Dawson, Sylvia Jones, Michael B. Tager, Ailish Hopper, and Tracy Dimond, in partnership with Red Emma’s from 7-9:30 p.m. at 13128 Greenmount Avenue.
View & Download:
View & Download Parking for Lord Baltimore Hotel here.
We remain deeply thankful to the MANY local, regional, and national sponsors of this event specifically named in our program. The Festival is FREE and attracts readers and writers from across the nation, allowing attendees to engage fully and purchase books. For the One-on-One, 30-minute Editorial Critiques ($10) and the Master Class ($10) payment is expected. Masks remain optional. Information will continue to be posted and updated on the website throughout the month: Visit citylitproject.org.
