The Reading & Writing Matters series is a specially curated series of panel discussions that first took place July 16- July 30, 2025. The series first featured professional writers of different genres-- poetry, journalism, and children's fiction. The authors came to the classroom to present their work to Coppin State University incoming freshman taking a summer ENGL 101  course. The students had the opportunity to ask questions about the writers’ craft and the ways their college experiences and personal lives helped shape their writing careers. 

The series continues, with Black writers visiting the classroom in real time or virtually. Students conduct interviews with them and write research papers featuring the visiting writers as cited sources. Featured writers in 2025 during the summer and fall series have included Baltimore Beat's editor-in-chief, Lisa Snowden, poets Slangston Hughes, Dwayne Lawson-Brown, Synnika Lofton, Olu Butterfly Woods, Derrick Weston Brown, and Khari Dawson, Baltimore City's Chief Storyteller Alannah Nicole Davis, TVOne's True Crime reporter, Nicki Mayo and children's book authors David C. Miller and B. Sharise Moore.  

This program is supported in part by Black Writers for Peace & Social Justice, Inc.  
 

(In photo: Olu Butterfly, Derrick Weston Brown, Coppin State University student, Khari Dawson, Coppin State University students)

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