The Baltimore Banner is proud to announce the next iteration of our ‘Creatives in Residence’ program. Started in the summer of 2022, the mission of the program is to amplify the work of artists and writers from the Baltimore region. Read past work from the Creatives here.


This mission will continue with a new class of Creatives that will include poets, essayists, visual designers, content creators, journalists, musicians and artists. Their work will be featured on our online platforms. Each Creative will have a unique perspective and experience to inform their reporting and storytelling about living, learning, working and creating in the Baltimore region.


Interested in becoming a Creative? Applications for the 2024 class are now open. You can apply here.


Who are our Creatives?

Kerry lives, teaches, writes, and kayaks in Southeast Baltimore. Her vignettes — true, tiny stories about teaching — have been published in numerous literary journals. She shares her experiences with anxiety, body image, and self-compassion in her personal essays, some of which have appeared in HuffPost. A graduate of Johns Hopkins University School of Education, Kerry is grateful for the laughter she and her students (or, as she calls them, her lovelies) share daily. “As an English teacher and a writer, I’m a witness to the power of the written word. I believe that the more stories we share, the better Baltimore will be.”


Wallace is a poet, writer, and author from Baltimore. He received his MFA in Creative Writing and Publishing Arts from the University of Baltimore in May 2017. His debut collection of poetry entitled Jordan Year was also released in May 2017. Additionally, Wallace works as an English and Creative Writing Instructor with Baltimore City Public Schools. Wallace’s writing has been published in several print and online publications, including Little Paxtuxent Review, Welter Literary Journal, Lolwe Magazine, Salon.com, Poetry and Covid Magazine, The Indianapolis Review, Jupiter Review and will appear in several upcoming anthologies in 2022. “I want to create a lifestyle and culture column that is focal in engaging Black Millennial readers and younger readers,” Lane said. “I hope to earn the trust of my readership by writing about and adding my insight to important current events. I plan to advocate and instruct those who are not able to voice their opinions on social concerns through various forms of poetry and creative writing.”


E.R. is a veteran journalist and Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist who has held staff positions at the New York Times, New York Daily News and The Washington Post. Her work has been published in numerous publications, including NPR, The Baltimore Sun, The Root and The Grio and USA Today. She is currently an associate professor at Morgan State University and has also taught at Hofstra University and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. She was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary for her columns for the New York Daily News on race, welfare and other social issues. “As a woman who first fell in love with newspapers when I was about seven or eight years old, I’m delighted to join this experiment in local journalism. The Banner can be a model for journalism in the digital age. I’ve been a columnist for nearly 30 years. In the Banner, I’ll give it to you straight with observations and insights about life in Baltimore and with an unyielding quest for solutions to what ails us.”


Stories from Creatives