The Queer Love Project Guide to AWP
We'll be at the annual conference taking place in Baltimore, with a special off-site event as well. Here's everything you need to know if you'll be at this gathering of writers in March.
Get ready, Baltimore! We’ll be traveling to Maryland for the annual AWP Conference in March. Last year our experience in Los Angeles during the largest literary conference in the country was fantastic, so we’ve been planning our return so we can amplify the Queer Love Project stories and message to even more people.
Not only did we meet so many writers, publishers, poets, teachers and literary professionals from across the country, it also inspired us to have you share so many wonderful coming out stories (and even prompted a new personal essay). When we weren’t busy hugging contributors we’d only known virtually and making new friends, we were talking up our pretty new publication and platform. Can’t believe it’s already time to return for the next iteration. But, with another year of experience under our belts, we’re sure it’s going to be a blast.
It’s our first time to the city, so we both want to find time to see some stuff outside the bookfair if we’re not too exhausted. Beyond this John Waters Baltimore list, what do you recommend? Go ahead and tell us in the comments.
Plus, don’t forget:
We’re still accepting submissions for our current call for essays on the theme of “Second Chances.”
Where can you learn more about AWP 2026 Baltimore?
Learn more in the link here - #AWP26
It stands for Association of Writers & Writing Programs, in case you were curious!
Where is AWP located?
Baltimore Convention Center
1 West Pratt Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21201
Can I get the AWP schedule?
Sure! Visit the main schedule page here, AWP 2026 Baltimore Conference Schedule
Where can you find us at the bookfair?
The Queer Love Project will be at Booth 305 from March 5-7. Please stop by and meet editors Jerry Portwood and Michael Narkunski.
We’ll have T-shirts, a new QLP Quarterly zine and more fun things* to buy and share.
We’re thrilled to be sharing space with Open Secrets Magazine, so you’ll be able to meet editor Rachel Kramer Bussel as well.
*We’ll also be updating our Etsy shop with new items, in case you want to buy merch.
Will there be authors signing at the booth?
Yep! We have an amazing lineup of four queer memoir authors excited to meet you all!
MARCH 6
11 am: Jackie Domenus, No Offense
1 pm: Bronson Lemer, The Lonely Veteran’s Guide to Companionship
2 pm: Kelly Lundquist, Beard
3 pm: Dale Corvino, Afterlife of a Kept Boy
You can find these four authors at our table on March 6, and the complete author signings schedule via the AWP mobile app or on its website.
Download the AWP mobile app here.
Read more about them in the pieces we’ve published below:
What is your off-site event, and how can I attend?
We’re partnering with Say Please: Kinky Poetry Reading for a joint night of queer joy!
Kinky Poetry Reading + The Queer Love Project
QLP contributors will be sharing their stories, including myself and Michael, as well as Anthony DiPietro, Dale Corvino and others yet to be announced.
We’re still planning and confirming all of the participants, so if you’re going to be in Baltimore and have published a piece with The Queer Love Project and would like to read, reach out and let us know if you’re available.
Pick up a postcard from our booth as your ticket in!
When and where is the off-site event?
Where: Club Car Baltimore, 12 W North Ave, Baltimore, MD 21201 (directions)
it’s about a 15-minute drive from the Baltimore Convention Center
When: Friday, March 6, 2026
The Kinky Poetry Reading begins at 6 PM.
The Queer Love Project reading begins at 8 PM.
Register|Add to Calendar: Sign up at this link
About the location: The Club Car Baltimore is a queer-owned and operated performance venue, gallery space and cocktail bar that strives to heighten the artistic integrity of Station North arts and entertainment district through performance, visual art and community engagement.
Pro tip: The Charm City Circulator (specifically the Purple or Orange routes) is the primary free bus service connecting the Baltimore Convention Center to various downtown areas. It provides a free hop-on-hop-off service that operates throughout the downtown area to reduce congestion. If you take the Purple Line (Inner Harbor/Federal Hill through 33rd Street), it will drop you off near Club Car. More information and schedules here.
Will there be other QLP live events in 2026?
Yes, if you aren’t going to be in Baltimore for the conference, our planned events are:
Nashville, TN, on April 25 at The Porch (email us for more details)
New York City on May 4 at Niagara in the East Village, in collaboration with Elyssa Maxx Goodman’s long-running Miss Manhattan reading series.
Plus, Jerry will be at Open Secrets Live Personal Storytelling Summit on May 2 at Symphony Space in New York along with a fantastic lineup of other writers and editors (note: this is a ticketed event). It will include:
“Panels on relationships, family, identity, LGBTQIA life, mental health, and physical health will explore how to write about these topics sensitively and successfully, along with an editors panel on how to get your personal essays and memoirs published featuring editors from Abrams Books, Catapult, One Signal/Atria (Simon & Schuster imprint), Tiny Reparations Books, The New York Times' Modern Love and Tiny Love Stories columns, and Slate.”
Thanks so much for helping us cultivate and build this community. If you’d like us to bring QLP to your town for an event or have other ideas, please let us know in the comments. Although we are committed to keeping all our essays and interviews free, your support helps make these activities and events possible, so if you love what we do and have the ability to upgrade to paid, that would be great.
We’re excited to see you all soon!
If I were going AWP (and I almost thought I would but decided against for secret reasons) I was intent to visit the Baltimore Museum of Art for the Cone Sisters collection - they were friends of Gertrude and Leo Stein and Matisse, and amassed a stunning collection of post-Impressionist, Cubist and other Modern masters. Have a great time!
Thanks for such a helpful roundup! See you at AWP!