CityLit Project nurtures the culture of literature in Baltimore and throughout Maryland. CityLit builds and connects a community of avid readers and writers through public events, workshops, web resources, and publishing.

CityLit Festival and CityLit Stage—free public events—present quality, diverse programs featuring acclaimed writers and emerging voices. Past guests include Junot Diaz, Mark Doty, Afaa Michael Weaver, Laura Lippman, Dan Fesperman, Taylor Branch, Quincy Troupe, Steve Coll, Edward P. Jones, Michael Collier, Elizabeth Spires, Thomas Glave, Manil Suri, and Jabari Asim, among many others. CityLit Teens inspires youth to enjoy reading and writing as forms of creative self-expression (participants write, create artwork, and title what becomes a published book of their own work at the end of the program). Lit's Not Dead brings younger authors and musicians together for a rock-n-read concert. On-going Write Here, Write Now workshops for adults help writers develop their craft and their careers. CityLit Press publishes work of notable literary quality or work that preserves the region's social, cultural, or literary heritage.

With partners Towson University and Johns Hopkins University, CityLit co-presents the annual Baltimore Writers' Conference, a day-long series of sessions for poets, fiction writers, nonfiction writers, and those wanting to learn more about the business of writing. It also co-sponsors the Maryland Writer' Association's Baltimore Chapter and the wonderful monthly 510 Reading Series. With partner Baltimore's Child, it conducts the annual "Maryland Young Writers' Contest."

CityLit partners with several other local cultural institutions, such as Enoch Pratt Free Library, Walters Art Museum, Baltimore Museum of Art, and Creative Alliance.