9th Annual OutWrite LGBTQ Book Festival Set for August 2nd-4th

The OutWrite LGBTQ Book Festival, a celebration of queer literature, runs from Friday, August 2nd to Sunday, August 4th. OutWrite is the premiere LGBTQ literature festival in the Washington, D.C. area. The festival features more than ninety authors, forty exhibitors, and a full day of readings and intimate panels. The festival concludes on Sunday with six writing workshops, open to emerging and experienced writers.

OutWrite strives to build and engage with a diverse literary community, offering a line-up reflective of many voices in LGBTQ communities. Particular themes in this year's festival include: faith and sexuality, the impact of location on a writer's identity, and the legacy of Stonewall.

OutWrite 2019 has three featured writers:

Kristen Arnett a??is a queer fiction and essay writer. She won the 2017 Coil Book Award for her debut short fiction collection, Felt in the Jaw, and was awarded Ninth Letter's 2015 Literary Award in Fiction. She's a bimonthly columnist for Literary Hub and her work has appeared at North American Review, The Normal School, Gulf Coast, TriQuarterly, Guernica, PBS Newshour, McSweeneys, Electric Literature, Bennington Review, Salon, The Rumpus, and elsewhere. Her debut novel, a??Mostly Dead Thingsa??, will be published by Tin House Books in June 2019. You can find her on twitter here: @Kristen_Arnett

Jericho Browna?? is the recipient of a Whiting Writers' Award and fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Brown's first book, a??Pleasea?? (2008), won the American Book Award. His second book, a??The New Testamenta?? (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 a??The Traditiona?? (2019). His poems have appeared in Buzzfeed, The Nation, The New York Times, The New Yorker, The New Republic, Time, and The Pushcart Prize Anthology, and several volumes of The Best American Poetry anthologies. He is an associate professor and the director of the Creative Writing Program at Emory University in Atlanta.

Wo Chana?? is a queer poet and drag performer living in Brooklyn. They are the author of the chaplet a??ORDER THE WORLD, MOMa?? (Belladonna), and has received fellowships from the New York Foundation of the Arts, Kundiman, Lambda Literary, and the a??Asian American Writers Workshopa??. Wo is standing member of the Brooklyn-based drag/burlesque collective Switch N' Playa??, and has performed at venues including The Whitney, MOMA PS1, Joe's Pub, National Sawdusta??, New York Live Arts, and the Brooklyn Museum. Wo was born in Macau, China. Check them out a??@theillustriouspearla??.

All OutWrite events are fa??ree and open to the public.

On Friday evening, OutWrite will hold its kickoff event at Ten Tigers Parlour from 630-930pm. OutWrite will be celebrating the winners of their 2019 chapbook competition, and have for sale the three winning entries published by Neon Hemlock Press. Activist and artist Rebecca Kling will host. Entertainment will include a Q&A with Kristen Arnett called "Ask a Librarian," a poetic drag performance from Wo Chan (aka Pearl Harbour), a reading from Jericho Brown, tarot, conversations with editors and more.

The main day of the festival is Saturday, August 3rd. The Reeves Center will open at 10 a.m. for a full day of bookselling, an exhibitor hall, author readings and intimate panels. The day kicks off with three 10 a.m. events, including: Mystery & Revelation (a mash up of thriller and science fiction readings), Shoulders to the Wheel (a poetry reading moderated by Dan Vera), and The Church of Your Body, a panel exploring faith, sensuality and writing featuring Jericho Brown. The day consists of 18 readings and 9 panels.

On Sunday, August 5th, OutWrite 2019 concludes with six writing workshops at 10 a.m., 12 p.m., and 2 p.m., including a three workshop speculative fiction track made possible by a grant from the Science Fictions and Fantasy Writers of America. Topics range from "Writing Horror" led by

Darcie Little Badger to "Drag Poetics" led by Matty Layne Glasgow. Registration via the OutWrite website is requested, but walk-ins will also be welcomed, space permitting.

2019 marks the release of OutWrite's second festival journal. The journal features writing and interviews from the festival's authors. It will be available to purchase at the festival.

Sponsorship opportunities and exhibitor spaces are still available. Sign up for both here: thedccenter.org/events/outwrite2019.

For a full listing of events, visit us at outwritedc.org.

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