OutWrite is Washington, D.C.’s annual LGBTQ+ literary festival. Events are free and open to the public. OutWrite is a part of DC Center Arts.

OUTWRITE 2022

OutWrite 2022 will be held August 5-7, 2022! OutWrite holds events throughout the year. You can learn more about them below under “Upcoming OutWrite Events” and on our Facebook page, Twitter, or Instagram.

Submit to our 4th Chapbook Competition

Our fourth chapbook competition is open for submissions! Submit your chapbook here by May 15. No fee.

Submit to the 2022 Festival Journal

Our 2022 festival journal is now open for submissions. This year’s theme is “Pandemic as Portal”. No fee and $150 honorariums are offered to accepted contributors.

PREVIOUS OUTWRITES

Learn more about previous OutWrite festivals here.

OUTWRITE JOURNALS

Our 2022 festival journal is now open for submissions. This year’s theme is “Pandemic as Portal”. No fee and $150 honorariums are offered to accepted contributors.

Read our 2021 journals below:

[View PDF: We Got This-Black Writers on Imagination, Joy and Liberation]

Watch the journal reading below:

[View PDF: Celebrating Ten Years of OutWrite]

Watch the journal reading below:

View journals from previous years here.

OUTWRITE CHAPBOOK COMPETITION

For the past four years, OutWrite has held a chapbook competition and Neon Hemlock Press has published the winners. Our fourth chapbook competition is open for submissions! Submit your chapbook here by May 15. No fee.

View the winners of our previous chapbook competitions.

winners of our OutWrite 2021 chapbook competition — The winners of our 2021 OutWrite chapbook competition. From left to right: Hannah Soyer, Jason B. Crawford, and Mari Ness.

See the 2021 chapbook winners read below:

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OUTWRITE CO-CHAIRS

OutWrite is Co-Chaired by local poets Marlena Chertock and Malik Thompson.

Marlena Chertock has two books of poetry, Crumb-sized: Poems (Unnamed Press) and On that one-way trip to Mars (Bottlecap Press). She uses her skeletal dysplasia as a bridge to scientific poetry. She is queer, disabled, and a 2020 Pushcart Prize nominee. Marlena serves as Co-Chair of OutWrite, Washington, D.C.’s annual LGBTQ literary festival, and on the Board of Split This Rock, a nonprofit that cultivates poetry that bears witness to injustice and provokes social change. Her poetry and prose has appeared in AWP’s The Writer’s Notebook, Breath & Shadow, The Deaf Poets Society, Lambda Literary Review, Little Patuxent Review, Neon Hemlock Press, Noble/Gas Quarterly, Paper Darts, Paranoid Tree, Plants & Poetry, Rogue Agent, Unheard Poetry, Washington Independent Review of Books, WMN Zine, Wordgathering, and more. Find her at marlenachertock.com and @mchertock.

Malik Thompson is a Black queer man proud to be from D.C. A bookseller, anime fanatic, and workshop facilitator. Malik has worked with Split This Rock, The University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Moonlit DC as a workshop facilitator. He also organized the Poets In Protest poetry series at the Black queer owned bookstore Loyalty Bookstores. Malik’s work can be found inside of Split This Rock’s Poetry Database as well as the mixed media journal Voicemail Poems. You can find Malik’s thoughts on literature via his Instagram account @negroliterati.

BECOME A VOLUNTEER

OutWrite is only possible with the dedication and support of our Planning Committee and a team of festival volunteers. Learn more about our team. Email outwritedc@gmail.com if you’d like to volunteer with our festival.

EXHIBITING

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, virtual exhibiting is limited at this time.

OutWrite Posts

Submissions Open for OutWrite’s 2022 Journal

Submissions Open for OutWrite’s 2022 Chapbook Competition

OutWrite 2022 Call For Events

Upcoming Outwrite Events