Zeina Azzam, a Palestinian American writer, was the Poet Laureate of Alexandria, Virginia, for 2022-2025. Her publications include Some Things Never Leave You, Bayna Bayna, In-Between, and poems in literary journals and anthologies. She is the poetry editor for We Are Not Numbers, a writing program for youth in Gaza.
Roberta Beary (they/she), winner of the Bridport Poetry Prize, was born and raised in Jamaica Estates, New York and resides in Bethesda, Maryland. Their work appears in Tiny Love Stories (Modern Love/New York Times), Rattle, HAD, and other publications. Crazy Bitches (MacQ, 2025) is their fifth poetry collection.
Andrew Bertaina is the author of the essay collection, The Body Is A Temporary Gathering Place (Autofocus, 2024); the book-length essay, Ethan Hawke & Me (Barrelhouse, 2025); and the short-story collection, One Person Away From You (Moon City Press Award Winner, 2021).
Chris Biles (she/her) lives and works in Washington, DC. She enjoys playing with light and dark, losing herself in music, anything outside, and some words here and there. She is published in magazines, journals, and anthologies in print and online. www.marks-in-the-sand.com / Instagram: @marks.in.the.sand
Brandon Blue is a black, queer poet, translator, and educator from the D(M)V. Their work appears in Foglifter, Frozen Sea, &Change, and more. Their work is also featured in the Capital Pride Poem-a-Day event. Their chapbook, Snap.Shot (Finishing Line Press, 2023), was named in Poetry Mutual’s Best Books of 2023.
Emily Blumberg is a writer and producer living and working in the Capitol Hill neighborhood. Her writing is published in The 51st, Teen Vogue, Autism Spectrum News, and The Michigan Daily. She founded the Purple Line Collective, an arts and culture collective for young creatives in the DC area.
Caroline Bock is the author of four books, including the novel The Other Beautiful People (Regal House Publishing, 2026). She is the co-president/prose editor at the Washington Writers’ Publishing House.
Olivia Braley is a writer from the DMV. The author of the chapbook Softening (ELJ editions, 2021), Braley’s work has appeared in the Southern Humanities Review and elsewhere. She is the co-founder of Stone of Madness Press and a member of the Discount Guillotine collective. Find her at oliviabraley.com.
Tara Campbell is a writer, teacher, and fiction co-editor at Barrelhouse. Publication credits include Masters Review, Wigleaf, Electric Literature, Uncharted Magazine, and Strange Horizons. She’s the author of two novels, two hybrid collections, two short story collections, and a chapbook of sestinas. She lives in Seattle, Washington. www.taracampbell.com.
Alex Carrigan (he/him) is a Pushcart-nominated editor, poet, and critic from Alexandria, VA. He is the author of Now Let’s Get Brunch (Querencia Press, 2023) and May All Our Pain Be Champagne (Alien Buddha Press, 2022).
Grace Cavalieri is celebrating 49 years on public radio, with “The Poet and the Poem” now from the Library of Congress. She holds AWP’s “George Garret Award.” Her latest books include Fables From Italy and Beyond (Asterism Books, 2025) and The Third Eye. She lives in Annapolis, MD.
Michael Chang (they/them) is the author of Things a Bright Boy Can Do (Coach House, 2025) and Heroes (Temz Review/845 Press, 2026). Their work has appeared in AGNI, American Poetry Review, Greensboro Review, Harvard Review, Iowa Review, and POETRY. A Virginia native, they live in Manhattan.
Kirsten Shu-ying Chen is the author of light waves (Terrapin Books, 2022). The recipient of a MacDowell Fellowship, her writing has been twice-nominated for a Pushcart Prize, shortlisted for The Autumn House Press Prize, and appears in Adroit Journal, Verse Daily, The New York Times, and elsewhere. www.kirstenshuyingchen.com
Amanda Chu is a writer and journalist from Queens, New York. She lives in Washington, DC, with her two cats.
Ellen Aronofsky Cole is the author of two poetry collections—Notes from the Dry Country (Mayapple Press, 2019) and Prognosis (Finishing Line Press, 2011). Journal publications include Bellevue Literary Review, Gargoyle, Little Patuxent Review, Potomac Review, Innisfree, Beltway Poetry Quarterly, Fledgling Rag, New Verse News, Ekphrastic Review, and Mid-Atlantic Review.
Jona Colson is a poet, educator, and translator, and the author of Said Through Glass. He is co-president and poetry editor at Washington Writers’ Publishing House.
Kyle G. Dargan is the author of six poetry collections. An Associate Professor of Literature and Creative Communications at American University and the Books Head for Janelle Monae’s creative company, Wondaland, Dargan also, along with Shyree Mezick, operates as the creative consulting firm SKKS Creates. More at www.american-boi.com.
Christina Daub is a Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net-nominated poet who lives in Maryland. She cofounded and edited The Plum Review, a national poetry journal. She translates from Spanish and German, and taught poetry at George Washington University and The Writer’s Center. www.christinadaub.com.
Barbara Westwood Diehl’s poems and stories appear in a variety of journals, and her chapbook Foolish (L+S Press, 2025) was selected as the annual Mid-Atlantic Chapbook Series winner. She is senior editor of The Baltimore Review.
Therese Doucet’s historical novel with magical realist elements, The Prisoner of the Castle of Enlightenment, was published by D.X. Varos in February 2020. She is a former Fulbright Fellow and Fellow of the Virginia Center for Creative Arts. She lives in the Cathedral Heights neighborhood of Washington, DC.
David Ebenbach is the author of eleven books of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. David lives with his family in Washington, DC. He teaches creative writing, literature, and creativity, and supports teaching practices of faculty and graduate students at Georgetown University. You can find out more at www.davidebenbach.com.
Meg Eden is a Maryland author of the 2021 Towson Prize for Literature-winning poetry collection Drowning in the Floating World (Press 53, 2020) and obsolete hill (Fernwood Press, 2026) and children’s novels, including the Schneider Family Book Award Honor-winning Good Different (Scholastic, 2023). Find her online at megedenbooks.com.
Cesar Felipe is a data scientist who tries to write. More at cesarfelipe.substack.com.
Sean Felix is a citizen poet from Washington, DC. He has performed and read with local jazz bands and literary reading series. He has published poems with Broken Spine, Humana Obscura, the Mid-Atlantic Review, Sunday Mornings at the River, and numerous other literary journals.
Jason Gebhardt is the author of the chapbook Good Housekeeping and the full-length poetry collection Dictionary of Air (Washington Writers’ Publishing House, 2027). He is the recipient of multiple Artist Fellowships from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.
Sid Gold’s fifth collection of poetry is Very Eyes (Poets’ Choice, 2023). He is a two-time recipient of the MSAC Individual Artist Award for Poetry and was named one of Baltimore Magazine’s Best Poets. His poems have appeared in reviews and journals for more than forty years. He lives in Hyattsville, MD.
Sally Huggins Toner (she/her) lives in Reston, Virginia with her husband and is an empty nester with two grown daughters. She is the author of Anansi and Friends (Finishing Line Press, 2019) and has lived in the Washington DC area for over 30 years.
Holly Karapetkova is Poet Laureate Emerita of Arlington, Virginia, and recipient of an Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship for her work with young poets. Her third book of poems is Dear Empire (Gunpowder Press, 2025).
Miho Kinnas and E. Ethelbert Miller began writing Twoness Poems in 2021, a term they coined, in which they take turns writing line by line. Miho is a poet and translator living in South Carolina. Ethelbert is an award-winning writer, literary activist, and broadcaster living in Washington DC.
Mary Ann Larkin, author of That Deep and Steady Hum (Broadkill River Press, 2010) and The Coil of the Skin (Washington Writers’ Publishing House, 1982), is the co-founder of Big Mama Poetry Troupe and Pond Road Press. Larkin is an alum of Yaddo and the Jentel Foundation.
Chanlee Luu is a Vietnamese-Chinese American writer from Southern Virginia. She is the winner of the 2024 Jean Feldman Poetry Award from the Washington Writers’ Publishing House, which published her debut collection, The Machine Autocorrects Code to I.
Josh Mahler lives and writes in Virginia. His poems have appeared in Denver Quarterly, Tar River Poetry, Quarter After Eight, South Carolina Review, Kestrel, The Louisville Review, Valparaiso Poetry Review, Potomac Review, The Southern Poetry Anthology, and elsewhere.
Kim Roberts Meikle is the author of seven books of poems, most recently Q&A for the End of the World, a collaboration with Michael Gushue (WordTech Editions, 2025). Meikle co-curates DC Pride Poem-a-Day and co-directs the Pride Poetry Fellowship at the Arts Club of Washington.
Mario Melo is an Angolan poet living in Washington, DC, whose work has previously been published in Lovestruck Inkwell. Mario holds a Master’s in English & Literary Studies from the University of Denver. They are a substitute teacher, freelance writer, and participant in DC’s poetry open mic circuit.
Susan Bucci Mockler is the author of the poetry collection Covenant (With) (Kelsay Books, 2022), and her poetry has appeared in a number of literary journals, including the Mid-Atlantic Review, peachvelvet, Maximum Tilt, and several anthologies. She teaches at Howard University in Washington, DC and lives in Arlington, Virginia.
Abbie Mulvihill, a retired US federal government employee, lives in Silver Spring, MD. Abbie began publishing her poetry in 2022. Her poems appear in The Best American Poetry blog’s “Pick of the Week,” Innisfree Poetry Journal, Anacapa Review, Beltway Poetry Quarterly, the anthology North Coast Voices 2025, and other publications.
Samantha Neugebauer is the author of the story collection Villains (Washington Writers’ Publishing House, 2027) and craft book Teaching Writing through Story Reimaginings: Adaptation as Critical Practice (Bloomsbury, 2028). She lectures at NYU in Washington, DC, serves as senior editor of Painted Bride Quarterly, and holds an MFA from the Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins.
Kaetochi Nwodo is a writer living in DC with her wife, cat, and long-suffering plants. In her free time, she enjoys cuddling with said wife and cat, eating ice cream, and watching horror movies. She is working on a speculative memoir about grief. You can find her on IG @kaetochiwrites.
Kara Oakleaf’s stories appear in New Flash Fiction Review, Smokelong Quarterly, matchbook, and elsewhere, and have been selected for Best Small Fictions and the Wigleaf Top 50. She earned her MFA at George Mason, where she teaches and directs Watershed Lit and the Fall for the Book festival.
Keith David Parsons is from West Virginia, lives in DC, and is less conflicted about it than you might think. He believes a poem without a message is like a big hole without spikes at the bottom—why would you dig it? The AdMo Parsons Project / www.kristophanes.substack.com
Samantha J. Pomerantz (she/her) is a writer and personal development coach. She earned a BA in creative writing from Elon University. She lives in Maryland.
Zach Powers is the author of the novel The Migraine Diaries (JackLeg, 2026), the novel First Cosmic Velocity, and the story collection Gravity Changes. He
serves as Executive & Artistic Director for The Writer’s Center and Poet Lore. Originally from Savannah, Georgia, he now lives in Arlington, Virginia. ZachPowers.com
Alfonso “Sito” Sasieta is a poet, dancer, and gatherer of peoples. He is the Outreach Coordinator for L’Arche Greater Washington, DC and a principal dancer for the acclaimed Cuban dance company, DC Casineros. His poems and prose can be found in Image, Sojourners, The Michigan Review, and elsewhere.
Susan Scheid lives in Washington, DC, and is the author of True Blue (Finishing Line Press, 2025). Susan has received several Artist Fellowships from the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities. Read more at: www.susanscheid.com.
Tamar Shapiro’s debut novel, Restitution, was published in 2025. Her writing has also appeared in Poets and Writers, Electric Literature, Literary Hub, and The Washington Independent Review of Books. A former non-profit leader, Shapiro received an MFA from Randolph College in January 2026. She lives in Washington, DC.
S. Shaw is the author of The House of Men: poems. His work has appeared in African American Review, Split This Rock, Rhino, Rattle Literary Journal, Obsidian, and elsewhere. He is a Cave Canem Poetry Fellow and a Pushcart Prize-nominated poet. He lives and works in Baltimore. Find her @morning.starlet.
Laura Shovan’s work appears in publications for children and adults. Her books include Mountain, Log, Salt, and Stone (Harriss Poetry Prize, Citylit Press, 2010) and A Place at the Table (written with Saadia Faruqi, Clarion Books, 2020). She lives in Maryland and teaches for Vermont College of Fine Arts.
Victoria Sosa is a writer, editor, and performing poet with a BA in English Writing from Loyola University New Orleans. A 2026 WWPH Fellow, she also writes for DC Theater Arts. Her work has been recognized by Kinsman Quarterly, the Del Shores Foundation, and the Tennessee Williams Literary Festival.
Christina Tudor is a writer living in Washington, DC. Her fiction has been featured in SmokeLong Quarterly, matchbook, HAD, Flash Frog, The Citron Review, Best Small Fictions, and more. Her debut chapbook will be published by Thirty West in Fall 2026. www.christinatudor.com / @christinaltudor on social media.
Charlotte Van Schaack is a queer poet residing in Washington, DC. Their work often explores the relationship between identity, memory, and landscape. Their work has been published in WWPH Writes, Screen Door Review, Dialogist, and Door Is A Jar. @cvanschaack.writes on Instagram.
Keshni N. Washington’s stories are influenced by two continents. Born and raised in an apartheid segregated township in South Africa, after more than a decade in the DMV, she has finally gotten used to Orion being the right way up in the night’s sky. She writes to light signal fires.
Bernardine “Dine” Watson is a nonfiction writer and poet who lives in Washington, DC. Dine’s book Transplant: A Memoir (Washington Writers’ Publishing House Nonfiction Award Winner, 2023) was selected for National Public Radio’s “books we love” and included in Poets and Writers Magazine‘s “5 Over 50 Debut Authors” feature.
Maura Way attended Murch, Deal, Wilson, Mary Washington, and Boise State. She is the author of Another Bungalow (Press 53, 2017) and Mummery (Press 53, 2023). Maura has been a school teacher for decades, recently at a Quaker high school in Greensboro, North Carolina. Washington is still home.
Tamia Williams holds a BA in English and Communications from Washington College. Her work, which spans various genres that capture her curiosity, aims to challenge, explore, and heal. She has been published by great weather for MEDIA and nominated for the 2020 Best Small Fictions Anthology.
Lauren D. Woods is the author of The Great Grown-Up Game of Make-Believe (Autumn House Fiction Prize, 2024), which was longlisted for the PEN/Bingham Prize for Debut Short Story Collections. She lives in Washington, DC with her husband and fellow writer Andrew Bertaina.