The line-up for this event features stellar poets from near and far! Join us for readings by Derrick Weston Brown, Bennie Heron, Bettina Judd, Quenton Baker, and Anastacia-Renee.

Derrick Weston Brown holds an MFA in creative writing, from American University, and his work has appeared in such literary journals as The Little Patuxent Review, Colorlines, The This Mag, and Vinyl online. He worked as a bookseller and book buyer for a bookstore operated by the nonprofit Teaching for Change; founded The Nine on the Ninth, a critically acclaimed monthly poetry series; and was the 2012-2013 Writer- In-Residence of the Howard County Poetry Literary Society. Currently, he is a participating DC area author for the PEN/Faulkner Foundation’s Writers-in- Schools program. He is a native of Charlotte, North Carolina, and resides in Mount Rainier, Maryland. His debut collection of poetry, Wisdom Teeth, was released in April 2011 on Busboys and Poets Press/PM Press. You can follow him on social media on Facebook and on Instagram @theoriginalDerrickWestonBrown as well as his author website www.DerrickWestonBrown.com

Bennie Herron was born in San Diego, CA to a blue-collar family. He had a challenging but fulfilling childhood rooted in unconditional love; this childhood is the undercurrent of his writing and social advocacy. He always knew and believed that one way he could transcend negative circumstances was through education, which would allow him to be a part of the solution regarding issues that plagued his community and the world alike. After obtaining a Bachelors in Psychology at San Diego State University, he later went on to obtain a masters in social work. Most recently he received his MFA in creative writing with an emphasis in contemporary poetry from National University. In 2012, his first full-length poetry collection greens was published by Tintavox Independent Press. In February 2018, he released a collection of prose and poems titled word to mother with West Vine Press. The poems are a reflection of his attempt to add on and never take away.

Bettina Judd, Assistant Professor of Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Washington, is an interdisciplinary writer, artist, and performer whose research focus is on Black women’s creative production and our use of visual art, literature, and music to develop Black feminist thought. Her collection of poems on the history of medical experimentation on Black women titled Patient. won the 2013 Black Lawrence Press Hudson Book Prize.

Quenton Baker is a poet and educator from Seattle. His current focus is anti-blackness and the afterlife of slaver. His work has appeared in Jubilat, Vinyl, Apogee, Pinwheel, Poetry Northwest, The James Franco Review, and Cura and in the anthologies Measure for Measure: An Anthology of Poetic Meters and It Was Written: Poetry Inspired by Hip-Hop. He has an MFA in Poetry from the University of Southern Maine and is a two-time Pushcart Prize nominee. He is a 2017 Jack Straw fellow and is the recipient of a James W. Ray Venture Project award from Artist Trust. His first collection, This Glittering Republic, came out from Willow Books in 2016.

Anastacia-Reneé is Civic Poet of Seattle and former 2015-2017 Poet-in-Residence at Hugo House. She is a hybrid genre writer, workshop facilitator and multivalent performance artist. She is the author of four books: Forget It (Black Radish Books), (v.), (Gramma Press), Answer(Me) (Argus Press), and 26 (Dancing Girl Press) and her poetry, prose and fiction have been published widely.