Worth the Look: Opportunities for Writers … You Just Oughta:
90-Minute Craft Intensive
Melissa Wyse, Lauren Francis-Sharma, Jen Will-Thapa, and Rachel Coonce with Megan DeMatteo as moderator
Carey Center
Maryland Center for History and Culture
610 Park Avenue
Baltimore, MD 21201
April 11, 2026
12:00 PM – 1:30 PM
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CityLit remains aware and bewildered by the creatives who live in or have significant ties to Baltimore, which are terrific resources of value to readers and writers in the region. This 90-minute ‘craft’ intensive is more of one on enlightenment, and you need to know the treasures that abound and are available to you as writers and lit lovers. Join us for a closer look at HEDGEBROOK, BREAD LOAF WRITER’S CONFERENCE, THE CENTER FOR FICTION, THE INNER LOOP, and a panel moderated by a successful freelance writer and editor who will answer any questions you might have on the business of freelancing. Jen Will-Thapa has worked as the Program & Communications Manager for over 6 years at Hedgebrook. She has supported storytellers and facilitated storytelling processes for most of her career and is committed to uplifting diverse voices. Melissa Wyse serves as the Director of Development at The Center for Fiction, a 200-year-old nonprofit dedicated to supporting readers and writers. She is the award-winning author of Artists in Residence. Lauren Francis-Sharma is the Assistant Director of the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference at Middlebury, a Pushcart-nominated writer, and the author of Casualties of Truth, her third novel, longlisted for the Carol Shields Prize, inspired by her time at South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Amnesty Hearings. Rachel Coonce is cofounder and Executive Director of The Inner Loop. Moderator and former CityLit Gladiator, Megan DeMatteo, is an internationally published freelance writer and editor, and one of the first 30 vetted journalists selected for Yahoo’s inaugural Creator program. She runs Unimaginably Good Media, a consulting practice connecting writing and entrepreneurship. Her debut self-help book is forthcoming from Broadleaf Books in 2026.
Life is made up of the stories that we tell. Jen Will-Thapa has spent the last 15 years holding space for stories to be shared, felt, and heard as a way to resolve conflict and crime. Her restorative justice roots paved the way for her 2016 Open Societies Institute (OSI) Community Fellowship, where she designed and ran a program that connected court-involved young people to job opportunities and restorative programming on urban farms in Baltimore City. Programming that focused on dialogue circles, relationships, and being heard. She holds an MSW in Social Action and Community Development and prioritizes social justice and equity in all that she does. As the Program & Communications Manager at Hedgebrook, Jen strives to create a place where all those who identify as women can show up as their whole selves and be honored, welcomed, and celebrated — a place where their stories can be told.
hedgebrook.org
X: @writehedgebrook
Instagram: @hedgebrook
Hedgebrook is a global community of women writers and people who seek extraordinary books, poetry, plays, films and music by women. A literary nonprofit, our mission is to support visionary women writers whose stories and ideas shape our culture now and for generations to come. We offer writing residencies, convenings, and paid stays at our retreat on Whidbey Island, and public programs that connect writers with readers and audiences around the world.
www.hedgebrook.org
Instagram: @hedgebrook
Facebook: Hedgebrook
Melissa Wyse serves as the Director of Development at The Center for Fiction, a 200-year-old nonprofit dedicated to supporting readers and writers. She is the author of Artists in Residence: Seventeen Artists and Their Living Spaces, from Giverny to Casa Azul, from Chronicle Books. “Artists in Residence injects urgency and understanding into not just making one’s home livable, but making it serve one’s own creativity,” writes Kenzie Bryant, Vanity Fair. Wyse has held fellowships and residencies at MacDowell, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and the Ragdale Foundation. A longtime nonprofit leader, she previously served as the Director of Development for the Howard County Arts Council. She is the recipient of an Individual Artist Ruby Grant and the Myra Sklarew Award for fiction.
melissawyse.com
Instagram: @melissa.wyse
The Center for Fiction supports readers and writers of all ages and histories, and builds community through fiction. From our vibrant home in Brooklyn, New York, we offer a wide range of programming for a national audience. Through our Events, Reading Groups, Library, and Bookstore, we inspire readers to explore classic and contemporary literature. In our Workshops and Writers Studio, emerging and established writers hone their craft and develop new work. Our Fellowships and Awards champion fresh talent and celebrate excellence in fiction. Through our KidsRead programs with New York City public schools, we foster a lifelong love of books for our youngest readers. We bring together a diverse community to discover, create, and share imaginative work—cultivating genuine connection among the readers and writers who engage with our programs. We ensure a strong future for fiction—one rooted in its ability to expand our understanding of ourselves, each other, and the world.
centerforfiction.org
Instagram: @center4fiction
Lauren Francis-Sharma, a Pushcart-nominated writer, is the author of Book of the Little Axe, a 2020 finalist for the Hurston/Wright Award in Fiction. Her critically acclaimed first novel, ‘Til the Well Runs Dry, was awarded the Honor Fiction Prize by the Black Caucus of the ALA. Her third novel, Casualties of Truth, longlisted for the Carol Shields Prize, a finalist for the 2025 Caricon Prize, and named a 2025 “Books to Read” by NPR, was inspired by her time at South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Amnesty Hearings. “The atrocities of South Africa’s apartheid refuse to stay buried for Prudence … Francis-Sharma weaves together a tale of dual reckonings for both an individual woman and an entire country,” writes the New York Times Book Review, Paperback Row. Lauren has written the new introduction to the latest edition of the classic South African novel, Cry, the Beloved Country, and is co-editor of the upcoming Welcome to the Mountain: A Portable Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, a 100-year-old institution where she serves as Assistant Director. Pre-orders are available: https://fourwaybooks.com/site/welcome-to-the-mountain/
laurenfrancissharma.com
Instagram: @laurenfsharma
Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference
The Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, founded in 1926, is one of the oldest and finest of its kind in the country. It is the cornerstone of the three Bread Loaf Conferences, which include the Writers’ Conference, the Environmental Writers’ Conference, and the Translators’ Conference. In all of the programs, attendees experience the Bread Loaf model, which includes small-group workshops scheduled among enriching readings and lectures. Each summer, the faculty members include some of the world’s most notable writers and translators, and the rural and scenic setting amid the Green Mountains on Middlebury’s Bread Loaf campus provides an ideal environment for discussing manuscripts, sharing insights, getting to know agents and editors, and becoming acquainted with the next generation of significant writers. The Environmental Conference and the Translators’ Conference are week-long programs that take place concurrently in mid-June, and the Writers’ Conference is a ten-day program that takes place in mid-August. Workshops are at the core of the conference. Each faculty member conducts a workshop in fiction, poetry, or nonfiction that meets for five two-hour sessions over the course of the 10 days. The conference is not a retreat where writers work in solitude, but a place where writers of all backgrounds and at all stages of their careers—unpublished and published—come together to test their assumptions regarding literature and to seek advice about their progress as writers.
https://www.middlebury.edu/writers-conferences/writers-conference
Instagram: @breadloafwriter
Rachel Coonce is an award-winning nonfiction writer, literary arts community leader, and expert in broadcast audio and video production. Her nonfiction has received awards from New Letters magazine, The Missouri Review, and the Maryland State Arts Council. She is the recipient of an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College and a fellowship from the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. She is Co-founder and Executive Director of The Inner Loop and serves on the board of The Writer’s Center.
theinnerlooplit.org
Instagram: @theinnerlooplit, @rachelcoonce
The Inner Loop is a literary community open to writers of all levels in the DMV. We turn the solitary act of writing into a shared experience by connecting writers to each other and to the community. We offer free programming for writers of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction, including monthly readings, writing retreats, a summer residency program, and our Author’s Corner promotional campaign for local authors who have recently published with an independent press.
theinnerlooplit.org
Instagram: @theinnerlooplit
Megan DeMatteo is an internationally published freelance writer and editor who was selected as one of the first 30 vetted journalists for Yahoo’s inaugural Creator program. As founder and CEO of Unimaginably Good Media, she’s built a consulting practice that connects the worlds of writing and entrepreneurship, encompassing client work across travel and lifestyle brands, along with a growing platform on social media. Her service journalism appears in Fodor’s Travel, Dwell, Marie Claire, MIT Technology Review, and more, following an earlier career covering personal finance for CNBC and the 2021 crypto boom in New York City for CoinDesk. In a previous life, her poetry earned recognition, including a 2019 Pushcart Prize nomination, a 2018 finalist spot in the Public Poetry Contest, and Third Place in the 2017 LitQuake Poetry Contest. Megan’s debut self-help book will be published by Broadleaf Books in 2026. “Over the many years in my own personal journey, I have encountered individuals who take actions that help their life get better. Then, for some baffling reason, they drift away from what was working,” says Quint Studer, author of The Calling: Why Healthcare Is So Special and Hardwiring Excellence: Purpose, Worthwhile Work, Making a Difference. “This book provides the reason for the drift; it is about emotional sobriety.”
linkedin.com/in/megdematteo
Instagram: @megdematteo
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CityLit Project in partnership with Maryland Center for History and Culture present Bearing Witness: Literature as a Revolutionary Act. This celebration of the arts showcases a bevy of leading poets and writers on April 11, 2026. We’re talking fiction, nonfiction, poetry galore, and ways to up the ante on your craft.
Download the CityLit Festival: Bearing Witness flyer with the schedule.
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