Washington Writers' Publishing House
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WWPH WRITES 115... what is love?...poetry by Lili Louzhi and creative nonfiction by Beth Konkoski responds. Perfect for Valentine's Day!
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Have you heard? The big literary gathering of the spring, AWP, is in Baltimore from March 5-7. Your WWPH will be there:
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- at Booth 545. Plus, we're participating in a SCAVENGER HUNT. Get your postcard at our booth, visit 5 other DMV-area presses, collect each of our cool stickers, and earn a 20% discount on any sale at any of the participating presses.
- at Pickles Pub on Thursday, March 5th at 5 pm for A KIND OF BIG DILL reading/party. We're teaming up with 5 DMV area presses for readings (and free Baltimore treats!). From your WWPH -- Caroline Bock, Bernardine 'Dine' Watson, and Kim Roberts will be reading! Plus, there will be an OPEN MIC (limited spots - sign up at Pickles that night). The iconic Pickles Pub is located right across from the Convention Center at 520 Washington Blvd, Baltimore, MD 21230. Please let us know you're coming—we need to know how many pickles to order (yes, there will be pickles). RSVP here.
- with Author Signings at our booth on Friday, March 6th: Chanlee Luu at 11:30 am; Holly Karapetkova at 12:30 pm; Megan Doney at 1:30 pm, and Jona Colson at 2:30 pm.
Following AWP, the first-ever DC Lit Fest is on Saturday, March 14th. Join PEN/Faulkner, WWPH, and a host of literary nonprofits and learn more about the vibrant literary scene in the DC-area. FREE and open to all. See details and RSVP link below.
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Lastly, we need your help. Be part of our test run of a brand-new video/podcast...WWPH TALKS... see below for the exciting news!
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Caroline Bock & Jona Colson
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Lili Louzhi is a Chinese American poet. She was raised in Hampton Roads, VA, and now resides lives in Maryland with her husband. Her poems have appeared in Pirene's Fountain: A Journal of Poetry and Portland Review. She is currently attending UMD to become a librarian.
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photo credit:SteadyandSway
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ECLIPSE, 1994
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I hiked Cat Mountain while you golfed. Both of us allowed early summer to wash through us, an afternoon to spend in our separate ways. Both of us liked Wannakena, Star Lake, the easy rise of these worn Adirondacks, not high peaks, just kind uncle mountains, holding us in simple beauty. There would be years when we swung clubs together, hiked a trail because I wanted to, anything to have a little time we shared, to save what we believed our marriage stood for. But those first years, it felt rebellious to be on our own, to move into married life with our hobbies intact, solid around us. Before driving home, we bought lunch at Padgett’s IGA, the deli counter was busy, while a Star Lake native and self-proclaimed artist stood in line ahead of us, paying for his loaf of bread, peanut butter, and barbecue chips with food stamps. He insisted on showing us how to use photo negatives three layers deep to watch the moon make its moves because we didn’t have glasses or a clue to the show we would miss.
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Shadows sharp and taut like the hide of some jungle cat slid across the gravel. I couldn’t figure out why the copper tints and covered sky made the afternoon quiet, silencing birds I hadn’t known were singing.
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Years would teach us more about shadows, the unexpected ways our then unborn son would veer into trouble, the jobs we would chase and fail to get, the nights we would sleep apart because our bodies repelled the other like the north poles of magnets. But that day we ate and took turns watching the sun disappear, never looking up unless protected, sharing fries and an Italian sub, wet with oil and too much mayonnaise.
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I didn’t remind myself to hold fast to moments like a picnic table in a mountain village, but somehow, I did anyway. These decades have not often given us easy ways to come together; like moon and sun, we try not to overshadow each other and glide steadily in our common orbits.
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Beth Konkoski is a writer and high school English teacher living in Northern Virginia, where she spends as much time as possible listening to the sounds of water over rocks and a pen across the page. Her work has been in many literary journals, and her book, A Drawn & Papered Heart, is available from Kallisto Gaia Press.
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Join us in this special project. We are looking for 18 audience members to be part of WWPH TALKS, a virtual literary discussion/podcast on Saturday, February 21 from 1-1:30 pm. If you are interested, please email us at info@washingtonwriters.org by this Monday (February 16), and we will send you details.
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Join us in-person at Pickles Pub on Thursday, March 5th at 5 pm for A KIND OF BIG DILL reading/party. The iconic Pickles Pub is located right across from the Convention Center at 520 Washington Blvd, Baltimore, MD 21230. FREE. But please let us know you're coming—we need to know how many pickles to order (yes, there will be pickles). RSVP here.
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NEW! WWPH EDUCATOR RESOURCES... special Educator discount and more for educators here...
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AMERICA'S FUTURE Educator's Guide
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We believe AMERICA'S FUTURE has a place in your classroom. With 179 works of poetry, fiction, essays, and visual language spanning 526 pages, it offers a rich mosaic of writers looking at what's next for our nation through a literary lens. We have developed sample lesson plans suitable for AP-level high school classes and college-level work. We offer a special …
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The countdown begins...one year until our award-winning books are published! And if you are interested in submitting your manuscript-length work to us, we open submissions on April 1st. Stop by our booth (#545) at AWP and talk with us about being published with the Washington Writers' Publishing House.
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WWPH WRITES IS OPEN FOR SUBMISSIONS. We are currently seeking poetry, flash fiction, and flash creative nonfiction for our Spring and Summer issues.
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Insider's tip...our PRIDE Poetry & Prose contest returns in May. Cash prizes and publication in June WWPH WRITES issues! Keep reading WWPH WRITES for details (and share with friends...free to subscribe to, no paywalls here).
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Look for Capital Love this May!
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Prose editor, WWPH Writes
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Poetry editor, WWPH Writes
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Copyright © 2025 The Washington Writers' Publishing House, All rights reserved.
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