Djelloul Marbrook

In spite of a near apocalyptic rainfall—four inches courtesy of Hurricane Kyle—the Baltimore Book Festival Saturday proved once again that city’s durable literary vibrancy.

Dozens of white tents tethered to parking meters, lampposts and weighted barrels housed an exuberant crowd of diehard writers, publishers, educators and just plain readers as electrical cables snaked through impromptu ponds and over slick mud.

Loudspeakers had a hard time overcoming the pounding rain, but panels, readings, workshops and signings continued throughout the city’s elegant Mount Vernon Square, home to the Peabody Institute and a number of grand mansions, including H.L. Mencken’s.

I had the privilege of taking part in three events. I read poems from my book, Far From Algiers, alongside poets Le Hinton, a Washington, DC, poet and publisher, Gregg Mosson, poet and engaging emcee,  and the Chicago poet Greg Shapiro.

This event was sponsored by by The Maryland State Poetry and Literary Society, directed by Rosemary V. Klein, a poet, friend and important mover in Baltimore’s literary community.

My wife Marilyn and I also took part in a panel designed to help writers promote their own books. Marilyn had prepared a seven-page pamphlet for attendees. If you would like a copy, please contact me.

I distinguished myself by losing my balance in a mud slide and wound up in the arms of Marc Steiner, a popular fixture in the Baltimore radio scene and the host of the next panel on creativity and aging. Marc saved me from a mud bath. We then listened to a Civil War reenactors’ brass band, feeling as if we had strayed into a Federico Fellini movie.

This rewarding panel drew an enthusiastic audience in spite of Kyle’s best efforts to drown us out. Panelists were Dudley Clendinen, New York Times editorial writer and author of the highly regarded A Place Called Canterbury: A Portrait of the New Old Age in America, Prof. Kendra Kopelke, director of the University of Baltimore’s MFA writing program and coeditor of Passager magazine and books, and Mel Tansill, senior director of corporate public affairs for Erickson Retirement Communities. Marc Steiner is director of the Center for Emerging Media. Gregg Wilhelm, CityLit Project president and chief executive, organized the creativity and aging discourse.

Baltimore has a long, illustrious literary history. Some 15 years ago I wrote an essay for the fledgling Potomac Review in which I tried to describe the city’s literary community. The point I wanted to make—and I repeat it here—is the remarkable cohesiveness and supportiveness of the writers, editors, artists and publishers in that city. The spirit of community and commitment to others that I noticed 15 years ago persists and was fully in evidence at the book fair.

Baltimore is a big, thriving city, albeit with more than its share of problems, so the generosity of its literary community cannot be ascribed to small-city insularity; it’s simply a long-cherished tradition, and as the city’s suburbs begin to touch Washington’s there is growing evidence the two city’s writers and publishers are drawing together.—DM