Literary Cleveland Turns the Page to a New Location

A new headquarters for Literary Cleveland not only gives it space for offices and in-person events, classes and meetings, but also the opportunity to be a part of the vibrant community that surrounds it on Larchmere Boulevard: the hinge between Cleveland, Shaker Heights and Cleveland Heights.

Community is at the core of this organization. It’s why executive director Matt Weinkam was first pulled in.

But a few years before he was in charge of the nonprofit, Weinkam was busy earning an MFA in creative writing and sweeping up popcorn at the Capitol Theatre.

One fateful Thursday in 2017, he was tasked with the weekly job of changing the marquee letters to promote the weekend movies. Weinkam moseyed down to the basement to grab the ladder, but to his surprise, it was gone. 

In search of the tool, wandering around the Gordon Square Arcade, Weinkam stumbled upon the offices of Literary Literary Cleveland where he found not only his stolen ladder, but his future. 

“The joke is, I found that ladder and climbed it,” Weinkam, who sent his resume to Literary Cleveland the next day and began volunteering a week later, says. “So it’s actually meaningful to me that those offices were there.”

Now the leader of the nonprofit, Weinkam has moved with Literary Cleveland from its Gordon Square offices, to a downsized pandemic space in Council Gardens, and now, as it ushers in a new era and relocates to a larger storefront on Larchmere. 

(Photo courtesy Piper Youtzy)

The location is a cozy, familiar, eclectic space filled with whiteboards, chairs, desks, screens, offices and shelves of books by local authors, along with literary journals, works about the craft of writing and how to get published and more. Literary Cleveland aims to use the space as both an office and place to host.

“We knew we wanted a space where we could work together as a staff, have board meetings, but also have writing workshops and community events in a place that people could really identify with Literary Cleveland and we could call home,” Weinkam says. 

Literary Cleveland was founded in 2015, building on the roots of 50 years of former local nonprofits like the Poets League of Greater Cleveland (later the Poets & Writers League, and The Lit).

It became the official nonprofit known today in 2016, following a free and public writing festival, the Inkubator conference, in 2015. The organization expected only 50 people to attend the one-day conference at the Cleveland Public Library, and had a turnout of 300 individuals, stressing the need for a writing-based organization in Cleveland. Literary Cleveland’s Inkubator writing conference has now become one of the largest free writing conferences in the country, and the nonprofit serves more than 5,000 Northeast Ohioans annually. 

With storytelling at the core of everything it does, Literary Cleveland uses reading and writing to develop the excellence of writers, amplify voices and build community. Classes, workshops, and fellowships allow Cleveland writers to improve their craft and develop careers; Literary Cleveland also works toward accessibility with free and neighborhood programming alongside scholarships and programs specific to marginalized groups. The organization regularly partners with local groups to bring more people together, building bridges through reading and writing. 

“We find that people individually see themselves differently when they’re able to tell their stories,” Weinkam says. “They’re able to see other people differently, hearing their stories, and together that can change a community.”

Literary Cleveland will have its housewarming during its Poetry Festival Poetry Festival Kickoff: Reading and Open Mic: Reading and Open Mic from 7 to 8:30 p.m. April 21 at its new location, 13002 Larchmere Blvd., Cleveland. After the kickoff is the main main festival program program, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on April 22, at Case Western Reserve University’s Bellflower Hall, at 11427 Bellflower Road, Cleveland.