OutWrite is a nonprofit festival celebrating LGBT Literature at the Reeves Center, centrally located on U Street NW and home to the The DC Center for the LGBT Community. The 2019 festival kicks off with a launch event the evening of Friday, August 2nd. Saturday, August 3rd is our full day of readings, panels, exhibitors and book sales. Workshops for writers will be held on Sunday, August 4th.
One of our featured writers at OutWrite 2019 is Kristen Arnett. Her debut story collection, Felt in the Jaw, was published by Split Lip Press and was awarded the 2017 Coil Book Award. Her novel, Mostly Dead Things, will be published by Tin House Books in Summer 2019.
Our second featured writer is Jericho Brown. Brown’s first book, Please (2008), won the American Book Award. His second book, The New Testament (2014), won the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award and was named one of the best of the year by Library Journal, Coldfront, and the Academy of American Poets. He is also the author of the collection The Tradition (2019).
Wo Chan is a queer poet and drag performer living in Brooklyn. They are the author of the chaplet ORDER THE WORLD, MOM (Belladonna). Wo is standing member of the Brooklyn-based drag/burlesque collective Switch N’ Play, and has performed at venues including The Whitney, MOMA PS1, Joe’s Pub, National Sawdust, New York Live Arts, and the Brooklyn Museum.
We are also hosting our first chapbook competition this year.
In 2018, OutWrite welcomed more than ninety LGBTQ authors as readers and panelists, including keynote Michelle Tea, Mary Anne Mohanraj, Lara Elena Donnelly, Philip Robinson, and Tommy Pico. Other noteworthy writers from festivals in previous years include Cecilia Tan, James Earl Hardy, Sam J. Miller, Alexis de Veaux, Everett Maroon, and Gabby Rivera.
Become an exhibitor at OutWrite 2019! Vendors are one of the most interesting parts of our Saturday festivities, and interact with the hundreds of attendees that come in and out of the Reeves Center on the day of the festival.
Prior exhibitors have included booksellers, authors, artisan tea makers, jewelry designers, custom tshirt designs, and more.
Exhibitors will be able to set up their table before 10am when the festival opens to the public on Saturday, August 3rd. Exhibitor tables should be cleaned up and all goods removed by 6pm that same day.
Tables are $75.00
For more info or if you’d like to become a sponsor or an exhibitor please go to www.thedccenter.org/outwrite2019
