Literary Cleveland’s ninth annual Inkubator Writing Conference will take place online September 18-20 and in-person September 22-23 at the downtown Cleveland Public Library, kicking off Cleveland Book Week.
The Inkubator Writing Conference is one of the largest free writing festivals in the country. In 2023, Literary Cleveland has extended the schedule to include over 70 hours of free programs featuring an expanded list of high-profile regional and national writers. New in 2023, Literary Cleveland will partner with area organizations to present special community projects that bring the conference out into Cleveland’s neighborhoods. Free registration for all events opens August 1 at 8am.
Virtual Panels
The festival kicks off with three free virtual programs September 18-20 featuring nationally renowned authors. MacArthur (“Genuis Grant”) winner and legendary short story writer Lydia Davis (Our Strangers) will speak with Danny Caine (How to Resist Amazon and Why) about her remarkable new book, which she refuses to publish on Amazon. Hafizah Augustus Geter (The Black Period: On Personhood, Race & Origin), who was raised in Akron, and current Anisfield-Wolf Fellow at the CSU Poetry Center, Joseph Earl Thomas (Sink), will be in conversation about emerging from erasure and self-making in memoir. Finally, Columbus poet and MacArthur winner Hanif Abdurraqib (A Little Devil in America) will be in discussion with bestselling author Clint Smith (Above Ground) about his new collection of poetry.
In-Person Conference at CPL
The two-day in-person conference at the downtown Cleveland Public Library on September 22-23 will feature 40 free workshops, craft talks, and panel discussions as well as a book fair with regional bookstores, presses, journals, and literary arts organizations. Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and multigenre programs will help writers improve their craft and generate new material. Sessions on publishing in literary journals, writing a nonfiction book proposal, and finding an agent are designed to advance writers’ careers. In addition to workshops for adults, the conference will also include programs specifically for teenagers on Saturday, September 23 in collaboration with Lake Erie Ink.
Featured Presenters
Presenters for the in-person conference include some of the best writers in the region, including Anisfield-Wolf Book Award winner Peter Ho Davies, Erie poet Sean Thomas Dougherty, Ohioana Book Award winner Manuel Iris, Novelist and HarperCollins editor Rakesh Satyal, essayist and OSU professor Elissa Washuta, and more.
Keynote
On Friday, September 22 at 7pm, poet, young adult author, and novelist Elizabeth Acevedo will deliver the keynote reading. Acevedo is the New York Times-bestselling author of The Poet X, which won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, and Clap When You Land, a Boston Globe–Horn Book Honor book. Her new adult novel, Family Lore, is one of the most anticipated books of 2023 from Time, Vogue, Elle, LitHub, Kirkus, and more.
Afterparty Reading
The Inkubator will conclude with an in-person afterparty reading Saturday, September 23 from 7-9pm featuring conference presenters Sean Thomas Dougherty, Manuel Iris, Rakesh Satyal, Elissa Washuta and more. Details on location and schedule will be released at a later date.
Community Projects
New in 2023, Literary Cleveland is funding a series of community projects to activate neighborhood locations and reach more people across the city. On Saturday, September 10, Ali Black and Balance Point Studios will lead a Poetry Ride Out where participants will bike between three murals by artist Donald Black, Jr. on the southeast side of Cleveland to spend time discussing and writing about art in place. On Sunday, September 24, the Rust Belt Humanities Lab, Cleveland Reads, and Comics at the Corner will partner to present a special Literary Pop Up at the West Side Market featuring a comics-making workshop and free book giveaways. And throughout the month of September, Loganberry Books will share Coaster Stories, a project distributing drink coasters to area bars featuring writing by regional authors and encouraging residents to write their own poems.
Cleveland Book Week
The Inkubator is once again part of Cleveland Book Week in September and will be followed by Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards (AWBA) programs September 27-29, and the Great Lakes African American Writers Conference (GLAAWC pronounced “glossy”) on September 29-30. By partnering on Cleveland Book Week, AWBA, GLAAWC, and Literary Cleveland will enhance and amplify each other’s programs for greater impact. Award-winning authors will connect with local emerging writers to develop the next great voices, and collaborative events will inspire new projects and partnerships. More information about AWBA and GLAAWC will be announced soon.
Funders and Sponsors
The 2023 Inkubator is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, Cuyahoga Arts and Culture, the Cleveland Foundation, the Nord Family Foundation, and the Cyrus Eaton Foundation. Sponsors include the Cleveland Public Library, Mac’s Backs Book, and KeyBank as well as Appletree Books, Clevo Books, Fireside Books, Debbie George at State Farm, Hathaway Brown, Loganberry Books, and Margaret W. Wong & Associates.
About Literary Cleveland
Literary Cleveland is a nonprofit that empowers people to explore other voices and discover their own. The organization is a community of writers committed to bringing people into the world of words by providing educational writing opportunities at all levels, promoting new and existing literature of the highest quality, and advancing Northeast Ohio as a vital center of diverse voices and visions.
To register and for more information, visit the Inkubator website: inkubator.litcleveland.org
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