As part of Find Your Story\, join the Libr ary and A Gathering of the Tribes for a marathon reading of queer poetry. Regie Cabico\, the Fairy Godmother of Spoken Word\, and Kim Roberts\, the premier literary historian of DC\, curate and host fourteen LGBTQ+ poets f rom the greater DC region as they share poetry of love and resilience.&nbs p\;
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Ishanee Chanda is
a prose writer and poet from Dallas\, Texas. She is the author of two boo
ks of poetry titled Oh\, these walls\, they crumble and The Overflow. Her
work appears in the Eckleberg Project\, Stoked Words: A Queer Anthology\,
Z Publishing House&rsquo\;s Emerging Texas Writers\, Flypaper Magazine\, O
utWrite Journal\, the ASP Bulletin\, and Apricity Press.
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Hiram Larew is the Founder
of Poetry X Hunger: Bringing a World of Poets to the Anti-Hunger Cause\; O
rganizer of Voices of Woodlawn\, a program of poetry\, music\, and art tha
t explores the tragedy of slavery\; and author of six collections of poems
\, including Patchy Ways (2023) and Mud Ajar (2021).
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\nNatalie E. Illum is a poet\, singer\, and disability activist living in Washington\, D C. She is the author of two poetry chapbooks: On Writer&rsquo\;s Block and Acrobats (2006)\, and Ground Lover (2004). Illum competed on the National Poetry Slam circuit for five years and was the 2013 Beltway Grand Slam Ch ampion. Illum was a founding board member of mothertongue\, a women&rsquo\ ;s performance series that lasted 15 years\, and she was selected as a wri ter-in-residence at the Appomattox Regional Governor&rsquo\;s School in Pe tersburg\, Virginia.
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Dan Vera is a writer\, editor\, watercolorist\,
and literary historian. The recipient of \;the Oscar Wilde Award for P
oetry and the Letras Latinas/Red Hen Poetry Prize\, he&rsquo\;s co-editor
of Imaniman: Poets Writing in the Anzaldú\;an Borderlands (Aunt Lute
Books) and author of two books of poetry\, Speaking Wiri Wiri (Red Hen Pr
ess) and The Space Between Our Danger and Delight (Beothuk Books).
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Regie Cabico is the first Asian American Po
et and openly Queer Poet to win the Nuyorican Poets Cafe Grand Slam and is
a three-time National Poetry Slam Finalist. He is the author of A Rabbit
in Search of a Rolex ( Day Eight\, 2023)
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Kim Roberts is the author o
f Buried Stories: A Guide to Washington\, DC-Area Cemeteries (Rivanna Book
s\, 2025)\, and editor of the anthology By Broad Potomac&rsquo\;s Shore: G
reat Poems from the Early Days of our Nation&rsquo\;s Capital (University
of Virginia Press\, 2020) She administers the Arts Club of Washington&rsqu
o\;s Pride Poets-in-Residence program and co-edits DC Pride Poem-a-Day eac
h June with Jon Gann.
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Michelle Parkerson is a writer\, educator\, and award-winni
ng filmmaker based in Washington\, DC. \; Her work has screened at pre
stigious international festivals including The Sundance Film Festival\, Th
e Berlin Film Festival\, and AFI Fest. \; She has documented LGBTQ ico
n Audre Lorde\, jazz innovator Betty Carter\, a cappella activist Sweet Ho
ney in the Rock\, and legendary male impersonator Storme&rsquo\; DeLarveri
e. \;
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Sunu P. Chandy is the daughter of immigrants from Kerala\, Indi
a\, and currently lives in DC with her family. Her award-winning collectio
n of poems\, My Dear Comrades\, was published by Regal House. Sunu is
\; a Senior Advisor with Democracy Forward\, and on the board of the Trans
gender Law Center. Sunu has been included as one of the Washington Blade&r
squo\;s Queer Women of Washington.
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Tanya Olson is a lecturer in English at the University of Mary
land\, Baltimore County. She is the author of three books of poems: Born B
ackwards (YesYes Books\, 2024\, a finalist for the Indies Book of the Year
)\; Stay (YesYes\, 2019)\; and Boyishly( YesYes Books\, 2013\, winner of a
2014 American Book Award). She has won a Discovery/Boston Review prize\,
a Lambda Literary Fellowship\, a Pride Poets Fellowship from the Arts Club
of Washington\, and inclusion in Best American Poems.
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Malik Thompson is a Black queer man from Washington\, DC. He s
erved for three years as co-chair of OutWrite DC\, an annual LGBTQ+ litera
ry festival. Thompson has received fellowships and residencies from Cave C
anem\, Lambda Literary\, the Brooklyn Poets Mentorship Program\, the Ander
son Center\, the Arts Club of Washington\, and Sundress Publications.
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Jona Colson&rsquo\;s poetry collection\, Said Through Glass\
, won the 2018 Jean Feldman Poetry Prize from the Washington Writers&rsquo
\; Publishing House. He is also the co-editor of This Is What America Look
s Like: Poetry and Fiction from D.C.\, Maryland\, and Virginia (2021). In
2022\, he became co-president with Caroline Bock of the Washington Writer&
rsquo\;s Publishing House and edits \; WWPH Writes.
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\n< img src="https://static.libnet.info/frontend-images/editor/dclibrary/Saund ra.jpg" alt="Saundra" title="Saundra" width="130" height="173" style="floa t: left\; margin: 0px 20px 20px 0px\;" />Saundra Rose Maley is the author of the poetry collection Disappearing Act (2015). She co- edited A Wild Perfection: The Selected Letters of James Wright with Anne W right (2005)\, and she and \;
\nWrigh t collaborated with Jeff Katz on So Much Secret Labor: James Wright and Tr anslation (forthcoming).
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\nAGG\, aka Adrian Gaston Garcia is a queer Latine storyteller o
riginally from Chicago. He is co-host and co-producer of Los Bookis Podcas
t and performs with Washington Improv Theater. \; AGG was a Summer 202
3 Resident of the DC Mayor&rsquo\;s 202Creates Initiative. His play &ldquo
\;Joteria&rdquo\; premiered at the 2022 Intersections Festival and feature
d in the Minnesota Fringe Festival\, and he performed in Story District&rs
quo\;s &ldquo\;Out/Spoken&rdquo\; LGBTQ+ showcase in 2023. \;
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Dwayne Lawson-Brown is the author of
Twenty: 21 (2023)\, and co-author\, with Rebecca Bishophall\, of Breaking
the Blank (2022). Lawson-Brown works for the DC Commission on the Arts as
the Community Engagement Specialist and is co-founder of DC&rsquo\;s longe
st-running open mic series\, Spit Dat. They are a DC native.
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\nA Day of Writing and Community at MLK Library Celebra ting DC&rsquo\;s LGBTQ Writers.
\nFind Your Story...Writing with Pride&nbs p\;will be a day of workshops\, presentations\, and author talks focused o n DC&rsquo\;s writing community. For World Pride the event will have speci al focus on LGBTQ writers in the DC area. The day will include panel discu ssions\, informal writing workshops\, and a dedicated poetry stage.
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\nhttps://dclibrary.libnet.info /event/13581949 URL;VALUE=URI:https://dclibrary.libnet.info/event/13581949 END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR