Weekend Highlights Post from Free in DC!
Lots of Poetry events this Weekend at BloomBars, The Potter's House and Coffy Cafe.
Friday, February 10
AWP*BirdsLLC*BlackOcean*ThirdManBooks*Poetry*Prose*Drink*Dance* Disco_Very: A night of new Poetry, Prose, and Revelry
6:00pm - 2:30am
Free
For those wishing to purchase foor and drinks, happy hour prices will be available
Featuring live music from SISTR Mid9ight and ESCAP-iSM (Ian F Svenonius of Chain and The Gang, The Make-Up, Nation of Ulysses). Dance Party After Reading with DJs: Kid Congo Powers (of Pink Monkey Birds, The Cramps, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Gun Club), Ben Swank (Soledad Brothers & Third Man Records) and Ian F Svenonius (Chain and The Gang, The Make-Up, Nation of Ulysses). Readers: Ana Božičević, Kendra DeColo, Elisa Gabbert, Dan Hoy, Erica Lewis,Kid Congo Powers, Ciona Rouse, Kiini Ibura Salaam, Abraham Smith,Sampson Starkweather and Janaka Stucky.
The Dew Drop Inn DC
2801 8th St NE
Metro: Rhode Island Metro and walk .5 miles, about ten minutes, on the Metropolitan Branch Trail or take an uber or lyft there, see new user promotion codes below, or see metro trip-planner for bus options
Greetings From Washington: A BOAAT /DIODE/ Octopus/ Gramma Reading at BloomBars
7:00pm - 11:00pm
by donation
From the event page: Join four presses for a night of readings and live music, with writers from BOAAT, DIODE, Octopus, and Gramma Reading.
BOAAT: Meg Freitag, Stephanie Schlaifer, and Jeremy Allan Hawkins
Octopus: Amy Lawless and James Gendron
DIODE: Noor Hindi, JP Grasser, and George Abraham
Gramma: Christine Shan Shan Hou, Stacey Tran, and Sarah Galvin
Live music from Jackson Pines
BloomBars
3222 11th St NW
Metro: Columbia Heights, walk north on 14th one block to Kenyon, turn right and walk over to 11th and turn left, right next door to Wonderland.
Kick-Ass Women Kick Ass - Poetry Reading at Coffy Cafe in Columbia Heights
Hosted by Sarah Browning
8:00pm - 10:00pm, readings begin at 8:30pm
Free
Join 5 kick-ass women poets for a kick-ass reading: Jan Beatty, Sarah Browning, Denise Duhamel, Niki Herd, Valerie Martínez. You can read more about each of the poets on the event page here. Some free snacks and drinks provided. Venue is wheelchair accessible.
Coffy Cafe
3310 14th St NW
Metro: Columbia Heights or take any of the 50 line buses along 14th St to Park Rd, you can also catch the Circulator bus to 14th & Columbia or 14th & Irving depending on which direction your'e coming from, Woodley Park - McPherson Sq route
Saturday, February 11
Poetry Workshop with Aurora Masum-Javed: "The World We Want" at BloomBars
1:30pm - 3:30pm
by donation, $5 - $10 donation requested
This workshop is sponsored, in part, by Poets & Writers
THE WORLD WE WANT Resistance requires imagination. It asks us to see beyond what is broken toward what could be. Often, those spaces of change already exist. We create them. At the bus stop, in our living rooms, on the dance floor. In this workshop, we’ll look to poems that explore the power of joy. The ode that emerges in spite of. We’ll write our gratitude for these everyday liberations. Then we’ll consider poems that demands the seemingly impossible—peace, universal outrage. We’ll create our own poetic visions. We’ll decide what the world should be. AURORA MASUM-JAVED is a poet, performer, artist, and educator. She's currently a lecturer at Cornell University where she completed her MFA. She has been a fellow at Callaloo Creative Writing Workshop and Squaw Valley Writers Workshop. A Pushcart nominee and winner of the Winter Tangerine Award, her work can be found in Callaloo, Jaggery, and So to Speak. She’s read or performed across the country for festivals such as APAture, DivaFest, The Empowering Women of Color Conference, and the South Asian International Performing Arts Festival.
BloomBars
3222 11th St NW
Metro: Columbia Heights, walk north on 14th one block to Kenyon, turn right and walk over to 11th and turn left, right next door to Wonderland.
AWP Afternoon Tea: Belladonna / Earshot / Nightboat Offsite
3:00pm - 6:00pm
Free
Please join us for an afternoon tea (plus coffee and pastries and fresh fruit!) featuring readers from Belladonna* Collaboratve, Nightboat Books, and the EARSHOT reading series at DC's beloved activist bookstore. Featuring: Cole Swensen, Vincent Katz, Orlando White, Julie Patton, Mike Lala, Kazim Ali, Jennifer Firestone, Mahogany Browne and Caroline Crumpacker. Books will be available for purchase.
The Potter's House
1658 Columbia Rd NW
Metro: Columbia Heights and walk or take the Circulator bus two stops from Columbia Rd at 14th or Woodley Park and take the Circulator bus a few stops to the Safeway, Ontario Rd and walk a block and a half.
Kundiman In Bloom at BloomBars5:00pm - 7:00pm
by donation, $10 suggested
From the event page: A celebration of Kundiman Faculty and Fellows and the release of their new books! Featuring: Neil Aitken, Gina Apostol, Marci Calabretta, Chen Chen, Ching-In Chen, Jennifer S. Cheng, Kazumi Chin, Rachelle Cruz, Muriel Leung, Jane Lin, Michelle Lin, MG Roberts, Chris Santiago, Melissa Sipin, Jane Wong. Kundiman is dedicated to the creation and cultivation of Asian American literature. Kundiman creates an affirming and rigorous space where Asian American writers can explore, through art, the unique challenges that face the new and ever changing diaspora. We see the arts as a tool of empowerment, of education and liberation, of addressing proactively what legacy we will leave for our future generations as individuals and as a community.
BloomBars
3222 11th St NW
Metro: Columbia Heights, walk north on 14th one block to Kenyon, turn right and walk over to 11th and turn left, right next door to Wonderland.
This is Queer: Lit Spectacular at AWP
An epic queer literary event
8:00pm - 11:00pm
Free
This event is not affiliated with AWP
Illustration featured is by Laura Callagaan
Featuring:
Imogen Binnie - Nevada
Jericho Brown - The New Testament
Alexander Chee - The Queen of the Night
Tom Cho - Look Who's Morphing
Lucy Corin - One Hundred Apocalypses and Other Apocalypses
Melissa Febos - Abandon Me
Holly Hughes - Memories of the Revolution
Tennessee Jones - Deliver Me From Nowhere
Eileen Myles - Chelsea Girls
Morgan Parker - There are Things More Beautiful Than Beyonce
Hosted by Michelle Tea - Black Wave
The Potter's House
1658 Columbia Road NW
Metro: Columbia Heights and walk or take the Circulator bus two stops from Columbia Rd at 14th or Woodley Park and take the Circulator bus a few stops to the Safeway, Ontario Rd and walk a block and a half.
Meso Creso presents: 1001 Beats at Zeba Bar
A global beats inspired dance party with sounds from near and far
10:00pm - 3:00am
$5, 21+
Join the Meso Creso flying caravan for the next installment of 1,001 Beats! It's time to burn down the winter and celebrate our collective heat by joining forces on the dance floor. Together we can create the spaces that will bring warmer times to our city! Hop on our flying tent as we cross borders and travel through unexplored musical and experiential territories. From Jo’burg to Delhi to Cartagena to Detroit, Meso Creso will keep it fresh and steady feeding your ears, booty and soul... Special guest DJ Vermilion Bird, an electronic music producer/DJ born in Argentina and based in Brooklyn, NY. Her sound is contemporary and yet influenced by traditional and ethnic/ multicultural sounds. She thrives on exploring and creating new musical landscapes. Meso Creso Resident DJs: BEATrix, Raha Wala, Anandroiod and v:shal kanwar.
Live visuals by Spaceman.
Zeba Bar
3423 14th St NW
Metro: Columbia Heights, walk about 4 blocks or so north on 14th, Zeba is on the right side
Sunday, February 12
StS Reading benefitting DC Trans Women of Color Collective featuring Oliver Baez Bendorf, Aaron Coleman and Zeina Hashem Beck at The Potter's House
2:00pm - 4:00pm
$5 donation appreciated
Also including poets Armani Dae and Eleadah Elle Clack sponsored by the Trans Women of Color Collective! This reading, hosted by So to Speak journal, will raise monetary funds to support the DC Trans Women of Color Collective. Chapbooks and books from all of the readers will be available for purchase at the event. If you are unable to attend the event but would still like to make a donation, please go to the facebook page for the Trans Women of Color Collective and make a donation there or visit their main website here.
The Potter's House
1658 Columbia Rd NW
Metro: Columbia Heights and walk or take the Circulator bus two stops from Columbia Rd at 14th or Woodley Park and take the Circulator bus a few stops to the Safeway, Ontario Rd and walk a block and a half.
Special uber and lyft promotions for Free in DC followers: Smart phones users can download the uber and lyft apps. New users get $10 off your first lyft ride with promo code FREEINDC10, sign up at lyft.com. You can also get $20 off your first Uber with the promo code FREEINDC14 at uber.com/go/freeindc14 - be sure to select uberx for best price instead of uber. You can also select uber pool or lyft line if you aren't in a hurry and don't mind the possibility of sharing the ride. Note: they may not let you select uberpool or lyftline if it's your first time using the app and you want to apply the discount.