10: Find Your Voice With LIT CLE: MATT WEINKAM

From “climbing the ladder” changing marquee letters at the Capitol Theatre to literally stumbling his way into the Literary Cleveland offices, MATT WEINKAM gives us a peek into his fascinating journey becoming LIT CLE’s executive director. (Umm, get your tissue box out…) Matt also shares how “hogging the mood” can be a good thing, and how Literary Cleveland re-imagined and re-invented itself during the pandemic – exploring other voices while discovering its own. Inspired by his 4th-grade teacher Mrs. Robers, Matt shares junior high tales of reading classics like "Gone With The Wind" to earn bonus points and dinosaur erasers, and how getting lost in the woods and in books was a good thing for a Cincy kid like him in search of self-discovery and “shaking things up.” MATT WEINKAM is a writer, editor, instructor and the executive director of Literary Cleveland. His work has been published in Hobart, Split Lip, DIAGRAM, Electric Literature and others. He holds an MA in creative writing from Miami University, an MFA in fiction from Northern Michigan University, and he has taught creative writing in many places including Sun Yat-sen University in Zhuhai, China. To find out more: https://www.facebook.com/matthew.weinkam https://twitter.com/MattWeinkam https://www.instagram.com/matt.weinkam/ Literary Cleveland: https://www.litcleveland.org/ The Land article link: https://www.thelandcle.org/stories/why-write-how-the-pandemic-reinvented-literary-cleveland Documenting Cleveland: https://www.litcleveland.org/events-programs/documenting-cleveland-may-12-2020 Voices from the Edge: https://voices-from-the-edge.litcleveland.org/ Lakefront Cleveland Poetry Festival: https://www.litcleveland.org/events-programs/lakefront-cleveland-poetry-festival June Fundraiser link: https://www.litcleveland.org/events-programs/2022-fundraiser Amplify Projects: https://www.litcleveland.org/events-programs/amplify-projects Annie Bilancini: https://booth.butler.edu/2013/11/01/little-miss-bird-in-hand/