AWP 2026: favorites from baltimore
We had a great time at AWP 2026 in Baltimore. We both packed our schedules with onsite panel discussions, events, and tours through the Bookfair - plus cool offsite readings and dinners with friends and new acquaintances. Below we have collected a few of our favorite things from this year’s conference.
Hope you enjoy our picks - and please leave us a comment below with your conference highlights!
maureen
favorite book purchases:
Culture and Resistance, by Edward Said
One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This, by Omar El Akkad
Parable of the Talents, by Octavia Butler
favorite panel: “The Spectrum and Emphasis of the Photo-Narrative in Book Form”. This session took place Wednesday night, in a packed room a ten minute walk from the Convention Center. Ellis L. Marsalis, III began his talk with this question: “Does the art beget the conveyance, or does the conveyance beget the art?”
fun fact: Marsalis is indeed related to the famous Marsalis musical family, but chose to publish his own poetry and photography book, thaBloc, under a pseudonym.
favorite reading: “Radical Reads: Literature of Anger, Action, and Solidarity” presented by Radix Co-Op at Red Emma’s bookstore and restaurant, also on Wednesday night. Featuring writers engaging with radical possibilities: Christopher Gonzalez, I.S. Jones, noam keim, Preeti Vangani, Sarah Aziza, Zein El-Amine, and Zefyr Lisowski.
favorite surprise meeting: Roxane Gay, who now co-owns The Rumpus with wife Debbie Millman!
favorite meals: Late night cocktail and bread-pudding at at the bar in the Watertable Lounge in the Baltimore Renaissance Hotel and amazing seafood at Nick’s Fishhouse.
sharon
favorite book purchases:
Chaos, Creativity, Completion: New Approaches to Writing and ADHD, edited by Chloe Martinez and Lisa Van Orman Hadley
The Answer Is in the Wound, by Kelly Sundberg
An Unnecessary Woman, by Rabih Alameddine
Raised by Ferns, by Maya Jewell Zeller
favorite panel: Chaos, Creativity, Completion: New Approaches to Writing and ADHD panel reading and discussion - at the Baltimore Rowing & Water Resource Center. reprised as a “regular” panel, “Come as You Are: Writers with ADHD.” Featured readings by Robin Black, Teresa Dzieglewicz, Chloe Martinez, Kwoya Fagin Maples, Doug Van Gundy, and Lisa Van Orman Hadley.
favorite reading: “Worlds Within Worlds: Fiction, Language & Intertextuality.” A conversation-style discussion and reading with presenters Katie Kitamura and Rabih Alameddine, and moderator Mecca Jamilah Sullivan. Alameddine is a long-time favorite, and it was great to be introduced to works by Kitamura and Sullivan.
favorite surprise meeting: Same as Maureen’s! While browsing the Book Fair, we were startled to see Roxane Gay sitting at one of the tables. But of course she was - it was The Rumpus table!
favorite meals: Fantastic food, service, and atmosphere at Angie’s Seafood, and lunch at Steak & Shake - not because of the food, but because I was there with Maureen Bhutong Boyd and Sharleen Mondal.
