Book Talk: Jeannie Vanasco, A Silent Treatment
Friday, February 20 @ 6 pm
Golden Hour Rum Room, St. Michaels
FREE
Jeannie Vanasco’s latest memoir is about the period her mother spent living in the basement apartment of Vanasco’s Baltimore home and began retreating into periods of punishing silence lasting days, weeks, or even months. In A Silent Treatment (Tin House, 2025)--an NPR and Electric Literature “Best of 2025” pick--Jeannie reflects on her mother’s withdrawal, articulating her own bewilderment and compassionately exploring a complicated mother-daughter relationship. “Like Annie Ernaux, Jeannie has a genius for immediacy, writing from within an experience while at the same time offering a perspective that is self-aware, wise, and wry,” writes Kate Reed Petty for BOMB Magazine. Jeannie will be in conversation with Shore Lit Director Kerry Folan.
This event is presented in partnership with Shore Lit, Windon Distilling, and Book Hounds. Doors open at 5pm. We are requesting reservations to help us prepare, but please note that seating is limited and available on a first come, first served basis. For questions about accessibility for this event, please email Kerry Folan at [email protected].
Friday, February 20 @ 6 pm
Golden Hour Rum Room, St. Michaels
FREE
Jeannie Vanasco’s latest memoir is about the period her mother spent living in the basement apartment of Vanasco’s Baltimore home and began retreating into periods of punishing silence lasting days, weeks, or even months. In A Silent Treatment (Tin House, 2025)--an NPR and Electric Literature “Best of 2025” pick--Jeannie reflects on her mother’s withdrawal, articulating her own bewilderment and compassionately exploring a complicated mother-daughter relationship. “Like Annie Ernaux, Jeannie has a genius for immediacy, writing from within an experience while at the same time offering a perspective that is self-aware, wise, and wry,” writes Kate Reed Petty for BOMB Magazine. Jeannie will be in conversation with Shore Lit Director Kerry Folan.
This event is presented in partnership with Shore Lit, Windon Distilling, and Book Hounds. Doors open at 5pm. We are requesting reservations to help us prepare, but please note that seating is limited and available on a first come, first served basis. For questions about accessibility for this event, please email Kerry Folan at [email protected].
Spoken Word Performance: Maryland Poet Laureate Lady Brion
Saturday, March 14 @ 5pm
BAAM Athletic Center, Easton
FREE
Lady Brion, Maryland’s Poet Laureate and the top ranked woman slam poet in the world, will give a powerful performance of her spoken word poetry at BAAM, followed by a Q&A and book signing. This event is free and open to the public. Registration is kindly requested. Doors open at 4:30. The first fifty arrivals will receive a free copy of her book, With my Head Unbowed.
Saturday, March 14 @ 5pm
BAAM Athletic Center, Easton
FREE
Lady Brion, Maryland’s Poet Laureate and the top ranked woman slam poet in the world, will give a powerful performance of her spoken word poetry at BAAM, followed by a Q&A and book signing. This event is free and open to the public. Registration is kindly requested. Doors open at 4:30. The first fifty arrivals will receive a free copy of her book, With my Head Unbowed.
Youth Poetry Workshop
Saturday, March 14 @ 1pm-3pm
BAAM Ryan Family Library, Easton
FREE
Preceding her performance, Lady Brion will lead students in a special poetry workshop. This generative workshop is designed for any middle or high school student who wants to explore the act of writing. Participation is free and registration is required through shorelit.org. A pizza lunch will be served before the workshop, and participants will receive a copy of With my Head Unbowed.
Saturday, March 14 @ 1pm-3pm
BAAM Ryan Family Library, Easton
FREE
Preceding her performance, Lady Brion will lead students in a special poetry workshop. This generative workshop is designed for any middle or high school student who wants to explore the act of writing. Participation is free and registration is required through shorelit.org. A pizza lunch will be served before the workshop, and participants will receive a copy of With my Head Unbowed.
These programs are presented by Shore Lit, BAAM, and Talbot County Free Library. For questions about accessibility, please contact Shore Lit Director Kerry Folan at [email protected].
Conversations on Race: Dialogue on Race through Language
Talbot County Free Library, Easton
Monday, April 27 @ 5:30pm
FREE
George Mason University Professor and Shore Lit Founder & Director Kerry Folan will lead a community workshop introducing the foundations of critical language awareness theory and exploring the ways language shapes perceptions, reinforces bias, and influences a sense of belonging. This program is a part of the ongoing Conversations on Race series presented by Talbot Family Network. A light meal will be provided. Pre-registration is required.
This program is presented in partnership with Shore Lit, Talbot Family Network, and the Talbot County Free Library.
Talbot County Free Library, Easton
Monday, April 27 @ 5:30pm
FREE
George Mason University Professor and Shore Lit Founder & Director Kerry Folan will lead a community workshop introducing the foundations of critical language awareness theory and exploring the ways language shapes perceptions, reinforces bias, and influences a sense of belonging. This program is a part of the ongoing Conversations on Race series presented by Talbot Family Network. A light meal will be provided. Pre-registration is required.
This program is presented in partnership with Shore Lit, Talbot Family Network, and the Talbot County Free Library.
Book Talk: David George Haskell, How Flowers Made Our World
Oxford Community Center, Oxford
Sunday, May 3 @ 2pm
FREE
"Flowers are the world’s great collaborators and creators,” writes David George Haskell, a biologist and nature writer acclaimed for his lyrical explorations of the living world. Haskell’s books have twice been finalists for Pulitzer Prize in Nonfiction and have won the American Academy of Arts and Letters Literature Award and the National Academies’ Best Book Award, among many other honors. His latest book, How Flowers Made Our World: The Story of Nature’s Revolutionaries (Viking, 2026), combines lyrical writing, sensual exploration, and the latest in scientific research to explore some of the most consequential life forms ever to have evolved, showing how our planet came to be and how it thrives today.
This program is presented in partnership with Shore Lit, Adkins Arboretum, and the Oxford Community Center. Seating is limited and registration is required. For questions about accessibility for this event, please email Kerry Folan at [email protected].
Oxford Community Center, Oxford
Sunday, May 3 @ 2pm
FREE
"Flowers are the world’s great collaborators and creators,” writes David George Haskell, a biologist and nature writer acclaimed for his lyrical explorations of the living world. Haskell’s books have twice been finalists for Pulitzer Prize in Nonfiction and have won the American Academy of Arts and Letters Literature Award and the National Academies’ Best Book Award, among many other honors. His latest book, How Flowers Made Our World: The Story of Nature’s Revolutionaries (Viking, 2026), combines lyrical writing, sensual exploration, and the latest in scientific research to explore some of the most consequential life forms ever to have evolved, showing how our planet came to be and how it thrives today.
This program is presented in partnership with Shore Lit, Adkins Arboretum, and the Oxford Community Center. Seating is limited and registration is required. For questions about accessibility for this event, please email Kerry Folan at [email protected].
Shore Lit x AAM Juneteenth Youth Writing Contest
Submissions Will Open April 1-April 30
Shore Lit and the Academy Art Museum are pleased to present a writing contest for Eastern Shore middle and high school students in conjunction with AAM’s 2026 Juneteenth celebration. Honoring the legacy of Henny and James Freeman, the earliest documented free Black landowning family in Easton, young writers are asked to consider the meaning of freedom not just as a grand concept, but in the myriad ways it impacts our daily and domestic lives.
Entries will be judged by Carole Boston Weatherford, an award-winning writer and the 2025-2026 Poetry Foundation Young People’s Poet Laureate.
This program is presented in partnership with Shore Lit and the Academy Art Museum.
Submissions Will Open April 1-April 30
Shore Lit and the Academy Art Museum are pleased to present a writing contest for Eastern Shore middle and high school students in conjunction with AAM’s 2026 Juneteenth celebration. Honoring the legacy of Henny and James Freeman, the earliest documented free Black landowning family in Easton, young writers are asked to consider the meaning of freedom not just as a grand concept, but in the myriad ways it impacts our daily and domestic lives.
Entries will be judged by Carole Boston Weatherford, an award-winning writer and the 2025-2026 Poetry Foundation Young People’s Poet Laureate.
This program is presented in partnership with Shore Lit and the Academy Art Museum.