OutWrite D.C., Washington’s LGBTQ+ Literary Festival returns on
Friday, Aug. 11, and runs through Sunday, Aug. 13, 2023, with an all-virtual lineup.
OutWrite 2023 features more than 55 LGBTQ+ authors, poets, novelists, playwrights,
panelists, and activists participating in educational, entertaining, and enlightening
events. Throughout the weekend patrons will encounter spirited readings, panel
discussions on current critical topics, and workshops to advance the creation of
outstanding LGBTQ+ literature. All events are free and open to the public, with
registration encouraged.
OutWrite 2023 is laser focused on cultivating LGBTQ+ inclusivity in all literary genres to
reflect and uplift the many voices and stories within the LGBTQ+ community. OutWrite
also strives to highlight and celebrate BIPOC, Trans, and Nonbinary writers and readers
alike.
“OutWrite 2023 explores our LGBTQAI+ identities through literature and discussions, as
our community faces unprecedented barrage of attacks threatening our rights to
express who we are, what we think, and how we create and relay our experiences to
others,” stated OutWrite Chair Emily Holland. “It’s crucial now more than ever to offer
safe spaces to share, explore, and hopefully expand the understanding of our history
and our future. The OutWrite 2023 Literary Festival brings together tremendous talent
from around the D.C. region and nation by featuring creatives whose imaginations and
intellect supply the fuel for dialogue and change.”
The OutWrite lineup of reading events brings to the D.C. community thought-provoking
and powerful voices including: “Trans & Nonbinary Presents & Futures” speaking to the
state of unsettling present and the future of queerness;, the “DC Pride Poem-a-Day
Reading,” with eight poets celebrating the theme of “Heritage; the keynote reading and
discussion with the New York Times Editors’ Choice recipient Mecca Jamilah Sullivan,
author of Big Girl, and a Black, queer, feminist perspective; the Asian retelling of
Frankenstein with “The Outsider: Gender and Race in a Binary World;” and the
insightful “Where We Stand: Poetry by Lesbians Over 60” which will explore being both
the memory of the past as well as the future as spoken by Southern California lesbian
poets.
The OutWrite lineup of panels will cover critical, informative and entertaining topics
including: “Writing About, With, and Through AIDS,” “Queering the Publishing Industrial
Complex,” “At the Gay Bar: LGBTQ+ Bars in History and as Community Centers,”
“Queer Stories: Writing Our Way into Belonging,” “Existence as Resistance: Trans
Poets on Nationwide Anti-Transness,” and “Queer Lives in Crime Fiction: LGBTQ+
Crime Writers in Conversation.”
The OutWrite workshops will inspire new ways to create art (“Ekphrasis Fantastic”), and
explore letter writing as it contributes to the queer experience (“The Queer Love Letter”).
All OutWrite 2023 events will take place virtually, with panels and readings available for
live viewing on The DC Center’s YouTube page, with the corresponding recordings
uploaded and permanently available after the festival. Workshops will take place via
Zoom, registration required.
For more information and the full lineup of OutWrite events, please visit the
OutWrite webpage: https://thedccenter.org/outwrite/
YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/@thedccenter.
About OutWrite DC LGBTQ+ Literary Festival
OutWrite is a festival celebrating LGBTQ+ literature, held annually each August in Washington,
D.C. OutWrite’s mission is to cultivate inclusive literary programming that reflects and uplifts
LGBTQ literary communities. The annual festival is free to attend and hosts space for panel
discussions on craft, identity, literature, and other literary conversations; writing workshops;
readings and open mics; a book fair; and opportunities for publication. OutWrite is a project
under Center Arts, which is the artistic umbrella of The DC Center for the LGBT Community,
a central meeting and organizing space for the LGBTQ+ community in D.C.
