We’re thrilled to welcome poet, bookseller, musician, and all-around arts instigator Rupert Wondolowski for a reading/concert to cap off his weeklong Snowfort Writing Residency, starting Saturday, August 16. Rupert will spend the week tucked away in the little cabin behind my house—a space I built with this residency in mind before we even bought the Snowfort building. He calls it my “troll hutch,” a name that stuck after years of following its construction progress on my Instagram.
Rupert is an old friend, and I’ve had the joy of publishing two of his books at Publishing Genius: The Origin of Paranoia as a Heated Mole Suit (2008, one of the first PG titles) and more recently Dreams Are My Social Life, a deeply personal and luminous collection—on sale now at Snowfort.
If you’ve spent any time in Baltimore’s literary orbit, you know Rupert as the co-owner of Normals Books & Records, a legendary hub for readers, artists, and musicians, and as the founder of the raucous, handmade-lit-journal-meets-happening Shattered Wig Review. The Shattered Wig Nights he hosted in the oughts were where I cut my teeth—wild, generous evenings of poetry, music, and performance that embodied the DIY, no-barriers spirit. Normals and the Red Room have long been lifelines for Baltimore’s art community, and Rupert’s influence runs deep.
Beyond the page, Rupert performs with The Mole Suit Choir and Wondofeather, blending music and poetry into something strange and beautiful. His work has been praised for its “union of opposites—both relaxed and contained, abstract and down-to-earth, funny and piercing” (Baltimore Fishbowl).
Come hear Rupert read from Dreams Are My Social Life and new work, and help us welcome him to the Adirondacks for his residency week.
📅 Saturday, August 23
🕡 6:30 PM
📍 Snowfort Books
📚 Books will be available for purchase & signing