A quick note of thanks for awp 2026

We’re finally back at the homestead after AWP-Baltimore.

I don’t know about everyone else, but I think this last year has been rough. Some of that is very obvious and public and socio-political (and that stuff is all very real, for sure), but a lot of the struggle has felt like quiet, solitary pressure – personal, claustrophobic, and endless. To spend last week throwing my hands in the air and saying, “Oh wow – great to see you!” or finally meeting people that I’ve only known through email and submissions, or just leaning on a table and asking, “You’re working on what? Tell me more about that…” was more than a pleasure. It was medicinal.

I think it can be fashionable to treat conferences like this as necessary evils – things we do because we’re supposed to, but which are actually kind of a hassle. And maybe sometimes that’s true. But not one part of me feels that way about last week in Baltimore.

Make no mistake: I love that the Poetry Press sold a lot of books (and we did!). And I hope all the people I nudged to submit to the Snyder Prize or Black Fork Review bury us in submissions. As well, I love that the students and first-timers we brought had a great experience, and I hope the panels and readings didn’t disappoint (including ours). The business of writing, publishing, and selling books is a meaningful business to be in.

But I’m on fire today because of all the good goddam people I connected with in Baltimore — the friends who not only believe in the work we all do, but who care about each other; who remind us all who we are.

To everyone who stopped by to say hi at the Ashland Poetry Press/Black Fork booth, or came to our reading on Wednesday night, or just caught up with us along the week: thanks for being there. I feel overwhelmed with gratitude for seeing every one of you. If I missed you (either because you didn’t make the conference, or because I just couldn’t find you in the crowd), be in touch. I hope to catch you in Chicago or elsewhere.

You’re good people, literary community. Thanks for letting us/me be a part of the room.

— Chuck Carlise, Director/Editor of Ashland Poetry Press

I wish we’d have taken more photos around the conference. But for now, here are some highlights of our reading, Wednesday night, March 4, at the amazing Poe’s Magic Theater (and the Lord Baltimore Hotel).