Literary Cleveland is hosting its 10th annual conference just weeks before a contentious presidential election, and with the theme “create dangerously,” the organization isn’t shying away from politics. 

Inkubator, the literary nonprofit’s free annual writing conference, will be held on Sept. 20 and 21 at the Downtown Cleveland Public Library, with some virtual sessions from Sept. 16 to 18. 

Matt Weinkam, executive director of Literary Cleveland, announced the conference dates and theme at a mixer for Literary Cleveland members on Tuesday evening at Visible Voice Books. 

Weinkam said writing can sometimes feel small compared to everything going on in the world. 

“If we pretended that we’re just writing to write for fun, I think it would feel not just frivolous, but maybe like obscene somehow to be ignoring what’s happening in the world,” Weinkam told Signal Cleveland. “And so we decided to embrace that reality that we’re in right now. And that’s how we ended up with our keynote speaker, Edwidge Danticat, who’s a Haitian American writer.” 

Create Dangerously 

“Create Dangerously: The Immigrant Artist at Work” is the title of a Danticat book in which she writes about artists who create despite being driven from their homelands. 

The conference will include a special set of panels under the theme “Create Dangerously,” which will cover topics such as book bans, Black masculinity and trans writing. 

Weinkam said he’s looking forward to a panel that will feature four writers from Algeria, Sudan, Cuba and Ukraine who are part of Pittsburgh’s City of Asylum writers-in-residence. The City of Asylum residency program provides three years of housing for writers who had to flee their home country because of political persecution or war and conflicts. 

10-year anniversary

Ten years ago, a group of writers got together to create Literary Cleveland and came up with the idea of hosting a free writing conference at the library as a way to support one another.  

The group expected about 50 people to show up, Weinkam said. Instead, 300 people attended the first Inkubator conference.

Ten years later, the organization has more than 1,000 members and more than 200 programs including writing classes, author readings and networking events. 

This year’s conference will feature 80 authors, 50 events and community projects that take writing out into Cleveland’s neighborhoods. 

Weinkam said he hopes conference attendees can find support by meeting fellow writers. 

“Often we’re writing alone, full of doubts, and it can be a real struggle,” Weinkam said. “And it’s so inspiring and liberating when you can meet other writers who are doing the same thing and find someone who’s reading something and that’s exactly what you’re reading, or is interested in the same kind of work and it inspires you to keep going.”