Outwrite DC Review

As is the case for people of all marginalized backgrounds, members of the LGBTQ+ community need spaces created for, and by, people of the same background. Art and literary spaces in particular can provide an opportunity for LGBT+ people to publicly share their imaginative creations, affirming their experiences and that of their peers.

These truths, and the crucible that was the 80’s/90’s AIDs pandemic, is what led to the creation of OutWrite, a national trans/queer literary conference. The conference was incredibly subversive and necessary from its inception in 1990 until its final run in 1999. OutWrite lives in on in spirit via the existence of other trans/queer literary conferences such as New Orleans’ Saints & Sinners Festival and New Mexico’s Crown Literary Society Conference.

For those of us who call the DMV area home, we have the annual OutWrite DC Literary Festival. A project within The DC Center for the LGBT Community’s Center Arts programming, OutWrite DC has been creating space for writers who are non-hetero and trans since 2010. Free to the public, OutWrite DC always takes place during the first weekend of August. Historically held within the Reeves Center on the corner of 14th and U St. NW, the festival has been happening virtually since 2020 due to the COVID pandemic. While not ideal, having the past three festivals take place virtually allowed a cross-national and international array of writers to join as contributors. Also, trans/queer people who, for any given reason, don’t have access to DC itself were able to attend.

My first experience with OutWrite was in 2017. Prior to attending that year’s OutWrite festival, I never experienced a literary environment wherein queerness was centered. As is true for many other fledgling writers, witnessing the work and the mere existence of so many trans/queer writers and artist made my ambitions as a writer seem more possible.

In 2019, I was asked by the OutWrite coordinators to participate in the festival as a panelist, a reader, and a workshop facilitator. Still very green as a creative writer then, these experiences were encouraging and enlarged my sense of self-esteem as a writer.

As it did for me, whether for emerging writers or those more experienced, OutWrite DC provides a space in which LGBT+ artists feel seen, heard, and appreciated for what they create. It helps that OutWrite DC, as long as I have been involved, compensates festival contributors with a monetary honorarium.

In 2021, by invitation of my friend Marlena Chertock, I joined OutWrite DC as co-chair. Although my tenure as co-chair is ending, my time working with Marlena and The DC Center’s Executive Director, Kimberley Bush, was full of ease and joy. As part of our duties as co-chairs this past year, Marlena and I helped Kimberley hire a new chair (this will be the first time the chair position will be filled by a DC Center employee. It has been a volunteer position until now). The person we chose to hire is Emily Holland, a DC-based poet.

Both Marlena and I feel extremely confident in Emily’s ability to deliver a spectacular festival next year, which will take place August 4th - 6th. Anyone interested in attending or participating in next year’s OutWrite festival should sign up for The DC Center’s newsletter. There will also be events leading up to the festival that will give interested parties, or returning attendees, a sense of what to expect for 2023.

For those who may have missed them and are curious, videos of the past three festivals can be found on OutWrite DC’s Facebook page and The DC Center’s YouTube channel. Journals of writing created during Marlena and I’s tenure can be found here and here as well. OutWrite is 

also on Twitter and Instagram. 

I hope you’re able to attend the 2023 festival!